Possible to convert an 8 channel music file to stereo?

[danielnrg]

My Audacity version is 2.4.1, and I have a question regarding music files. I have a bunch of music files in 8 channel surround, and I want to convert them into stereo. I don't think my iPhone will even play them if they're not stereo, and besides that I don't see any point in having them in 8 channel since I'll be using headphones. Is there a way to do this in Audacity? The files are FLAC. When I bring the tracks into Audacity they split up into 8 mono tracks. I haven't really found anything related to this online, since it seems most people want to turn stereo into surround or mono into stereo, the latter of which I've done on several occasions but I'm rusty on how to do it and don't know if it would work for 8 separate mono tracks.

[kozikowski]

I know the rules for 5.1 Dolby Surround, but 8 tracks is a little exotic. How did they get to be 8 track? What was the application?

Do you know what the identities are? Left-Front, Right-Front, Center. .... etc?

I think I can hear the senior elves urging you to bump yourself up to Audacity 2.4.2.

Koz

[danielnrg]

I know the rules for 5.1 Dolby Surround, but 8 tracks is a little exotic. How did they get to be 8 track? What was the application?

Do you know what the identities are? Left-Front, Right-Front, Center. .... etc?

I think I can hear the senior elves urging you to bump yourself up to Audacity 2.4.2.

Koz

They're music files from a video game. They were 8 channels already when I found them in the disc files. I don't really have any idea what the identities are, I don't think Audacity would tell me. I suppose I could try to figure it out with a listening test but it wouldn't be very reliable. I don't even know what 8 channels would mean... 2 lefts, 2 rights, 2 centers, and 2 rear?

[kozikowski]

The instant you touch any of the L/R sliders to the left of each track, Audacity will "convert" that track to stereo and push the sound to wherever you put the slider. So if you jam one of the tracks all the way to the Left, that track will come from the left speaker or headphone.

That will almost certainly sound unnatural, so somewhere short of all the way is probably called for. Any slider sound you don't touch will remain centered.

You should put your high quality headphones on and mess with the sliders until you get something you like. Have you ever played any of these games?

Koz

[steve]

They were 8 channels already when I found them in the disc files. I don't really have any idea what the identities are

8 channel audio is usually "7.1" (7 normal audio + Low frequency effects)
Wikipedia lists some of the more common channel mappings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_ ... tification

Example: Flac / WAV / MP3
L, R, C, LFE, SL, SR, RL, RR

[jademan]

Audacity can transform two consecutive mono tracks into a stereo L/R pair. On the upper-most track, click the drop-down arrow in the Track Control Panel. Then select Make Stereo Track. See here: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/spl ... eo%20track.

[kozikowski]

two consecutive mono tracks into a stereo L/R pair.

That will give you four stereo tracks. Without knowing what the original 8 tracks were, you could get a stereo show with dialog on the left and bass notes on the right.

You have to know something about the original show. Google/Research the original game and see if you can't divine how they did it.

Koz

[kozikowski]

From the top of the message thread:

I want to convert them into stereo. Is there a way to do this in Audacity?

Based on your starting point and what you know about the production, no.

Koz

[steve]

From the top of the message thread:

I want to convert them into stereo. Is there a way to do this in Audacity?

Based on your starting point and what you know about the production, no.

Looking at it the other way, "yes".
1. Import the the tracks
2. Pan some left and pan some right
3. "Ctrl + A" Select All
4. "Tracks menu > Mix > Mix and Render"
5. "Effect menu > Normalize"
6. Export

It may not be the "correct" stereo mix, but it will be "a" stereo mix.
The uncertainty is that we don't know for sure, which tracks should be panned left / right, how far left right, what the track gain should be for each track (though this post may help: viewtopic.php?p=412347#p412347). Some experimentation with the Mixer Board may be required.

[danielnrg]

I appreciate the help from everyone. This left and right manipulation seems a little beyond the scope of my Audacity know-how. In my hands and like others said without knowing the channels, there's a lot of room for error and ending up with some pretty bad-sounding music. I had hoped that there was a method as simple as turning mono to stereo, but it appears there isn't.

I had originally tried putting the 8 channel files in audacity and then just exporting them, thinking it might export as stereo. But it just ended up exporting as a single mono track, and a really horrible-sounding one at that. This music isn't important enough to me so as to justify going beyond my Audacity comfort zone and messing with L&R gain and all that stuff.