Understanding Tracks, Channels, and Voices

Media Composer’s support of multichannel audio allows you create surround sound audio mixes directly within the editing system, using standard tools like the Audio Mixer. Multichannel support is relatively new in Media Composer, with stereo support being added in Media Composer 5 and surround sound being added in Media Composer 6.

There are a few terms—tracks, channels, and voices—that are helpful to understand when dealing with multichannel audio. These terms are also used throughout the Avid documentation.

Tracks Contain Clips of the Same Type

A track is the traditional track in the sense of a sequence. It’s where you place a clip. Tracks are specific to the kind of clip they can contain.

For example, a video track contains a video clip, whereas an audio track contains an audio clip. New in Media Composer 6 is support for 7.1 and 5.1 surround sound audio clips, while Media Composer 5 added support for stereo tracks. Just as a video track contains a video clip, a 5.1 surround audio track contains a 5.1 surround audio clip.