Davinci Resolve.... where'd my audio go?

[pythonmegapixel]

I'm just giving Davinci Resolve a go because I've heard it's really good for something you get for free.

 

I'm editing a youtube video, and I have sucessfully imported the intro and placed it on the timeline, and it has sound

 

I now have another clip to put in. If I play the video directly from the "media pool" then it has sound, but if I drag it into the timeline after the intro then it only has the video (it doesn't even place any audio tracks in the timeline, unlike for the intro) and "Mute" in the context menu is permenantly selected.

 

What am I doing wrong?

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

I now have another clip to put in. If I play the video directly from the "media pool" then it has sound, but if I drag it into the timeline after the intro then it only has the video (it doesn't even place any audio tracks in the timeline, unlike for the intro) and "Mute" in the context menu is permenantly selected.

Look up your intro and the other video in Windows Explorer, go to its Properties > Details > Audio and check if both the videos have the same audio details.

Are they not the same? Please post the details of what the audio details are on the non-working clip.

Just so I'm understanding you correctly, if you drag the clip to the timeline, it doesn't have a green audio track? If that is not correct, please post a screenshot of the timeline.

[pythonmegapixel]

12 minutes ago, minibois said:

Look up your intro and the other video in Windows Explorer, go to its Properties > Details > Audio and check if both the videos have the same audio details.

Are they not the same? Please post the details of what the audio details are on the non-working clip.

 

Audio details for the intro:

 

Audio details for the next clip (the one where Resolve won't handle the audio):

 

Quote

Just so I'm understanding you correctly, if you drag the clip to the timeline, it doesn't have a green audio track? If that is not correct, please post a screenshot of the timeline.

I believe you are correct. The timeline looks like this:

 

 

[minibois]

22 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Audio details for the intro:

Audio details for the next clip (the one where Resolve won't handle the audio):

I believe you are correct. The timeline looks like this:

Seems like there are two possible causes for this:

1. variable framerate

2. incompatible audio codec

 

Check nr. 1. by going back to the details of the non-working clip and check Video > Frame rate. The number can be different, as it depends on the source of the video (and the settings used when recording). It probably should say 29.97, 30, 59.9, 60, etc. It probably shouldn't say something with a whole bunch of decimals.

Nr. 1 and 2 can be fixed by re-encoding the video, through ffmpeg or handbrake.

 

Handbrake is probably easier to use, but it may take a bit to encode, depending on the size of the clip and speed of your hardware. The first time following these steps, I recommend performing the OPTIONAL step #xyz. This makes it so you only re-encode a couple seconds of the video, so you can ensure it works; without spending too much time on the render.

1. Install & open Handbrake (free program which can be downloaded from https://handbrake.fr)

2. Drag your clip into it

(what video quality settings you should use depends on the quality of the original video, these are basic general settings)

3. go to the video tab and ensure:

3a. the 'Video Codec' is set to "H.264 (x264)"

3b. Quality is set to 20

3c. Optimize video is set to "Medium"

3d. Turn on "Fast Decode"

4. go to audio and check if the settings look something like this:

 

5. (OPTIONAL) at the top of the program, change the 'Range' to seconds and choose  start- & endtime, so you only render a part of the video (to check it works):

 

6. select a file name/destination on the bottom of the program

7. Press the "Start encode" button at the top and wait a bit (since you're only encoding 10 seconds, this should not take all that long).

 

Now try importing this clip into Davinci Resolve and see if the sound now works.

If this worked, check if the quality (of the video/audio) is still what you expect from it. If yes for both; now encode the entire video (change the 'Seconds' setting from step 5. back to "Chapters" and start the encode.

 

If this didn't work.. I would be kind of surprised, but would suggest to check if you're on the latest version of Davinci Resolve.

 

[pythonmegapixel]

14 minutes ago, minibois said:

Seems like there are two possible causes for this:

1. variable framerate

2. incompatible audio codec

 

Check nr. 1. by going back to the details of the non-working clip and check Video > Frame rate. The number can be different, as it depends on the source of the video (and the settings used when recording). It probably should say 29.97, 30, 59.9, 60, etc. It probably shouldn't say something with a whole bunch of decimals.

1. I'm reasonably sure it's not VFR because this footage comes from a proper camera, not a smartphone. Windows Explorer reckons it's 29.97fps.
2. DaVinci will quite happily play the audio if I click on the clip in the Media Pool, it just won't add it to the timeline. It also shows a little musical note icon next to the clip on mouseover which I assume means the clip has audio? I tried re-encoding with handbrake (which by happy coincidence I was already familiar with) and it didn't fix the audio issue.
3. I am on the latest version of Resolve; I literally downloaded from the website a few hours ago

[minibois]

8 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

1. I'm reasonably sure it's not VFR because this footage comes from a proper camera, not a smartphone. Windows Explorer reckons it's 29.97fps.
2. DaVinci will quite happily play the audio if I click on the clip in the Media Pool, it just won't add it to the timeline. It also shows a little musical note icon next to the clip on mouseover which I assume means the clip has audio? I tried re-encoding with handbrake (which by happy coincidence I was already familiar with) and it didn't fix the audio issue.
3. I am on the latest version of Resolve; I literally downloaded from the website a few hours ago

Are you in the Cut or Edit window?

 

I don't have experience with the cut window, but Edit always works for me.

just to be sure, could you make a new project, import said non-working clip (in the Edit window) and see if it works.

 

I don't really have any other fixes, other than maybe getting the clip from you and trying it in Davinci Resolve myself - if you're comfortable with that.

[pythonmegapixel]

OK I've worked out the answer to my question. @minibois thanks for your assistance as it helped me in reaching this conclusion.

 

Basically I had to import the footage from my camera first,  then accept the option for Resolve to auto-calibrate the video format to my project:

 

Then, I imported the intro. Now they both have audio

So, in a nutshell - if the audio from a specific source won't work, try importing clips from the source which doesn't work before anything else, to let Resolve calibrate itself properly.