Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 292)

Chapter 20 Capturing Audio 291
IV
How Multichannel Audio Clips Appear in the Viewer
Multichannel audio clips appear in the Viewer with a separate tab for each mono or
stereo grouping of clip items. The example below shows an 8-channel audio clip open
in the Viewer. Several of the clip items are mono, and some are grouped as stereo pairs.
How Multichannel Audio Files Are Stored on Disk
Final Cut Pro stores multichannel audio media as QuickTime media files. Each audio
channel captured is stored in its own track within a single QuickTime media file:
 Mono grouping: Each mono channel is captured to its own track in the QuickTime
media file.
 Stereo grouping: Each stereo channel is captured to a single interleaved track in the
QuickTime media file. A stereo interleaved audio track contains both left and right
audio samples.
For example, suppose you are capturing from an 8-channel audio device. The way the audio
is stored in QuickTime tracks depends on which channels you group as mono or stereo.
Here is just one example of track layout within a multichannel QuickTime media file:
Audio device
channels Audio grouping chosen
in Clip Settings tab QuickTime media
file track
Channels 1 and 2 Stereo pair 1 (Stereo)
Channel 3 Mono 2 (Mono)
Channel 4 Mono 3 (Mono)
Channels 5 and 6 Stereo pair 4 (Stereo)
Channel 7 Mono 5 (Mono)
Channel 8 Mono 6 (Mono)