Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 851)

64 Part I Media and Project Management
Downmixing Multiple Audio Channels to a Stereo Mix
Even when you use multiple audio channels during editing and mixing, you often need
to create a stereo mix when outputting or distributing your movie. Downmixing
combines all audio output channels into a single stereo output. If you are working with
multiple output channels and you need to output or monitor a stereo mix, you can
select the Downmix option in the Audio Mixer.
With Downmix selected, all audio outputs in your sequence are output as stereo
whenever they’re played back, output to tape, or written to a movie file.
You can turn Downmix off at any time and your audio will be output to multiple
channels again. This is much more convenient than reassigning all of your tracks to a
single stereo channel and then reassigning your tracks to multiple outputs again.
All output channels
are downmixed to a
single stereo pair.
Downmix button
enabled
All channels are
output
independently.
Downmix button
disabled