Importing XML with Multi-Track Audio into DaVinci Resolve

Whether you came here from inside Recut or you found this elsewhere on the internet, you've probably got this problem:

DaVinci Resolve happily imported your XML file, complete with the many audio tracks in your video, but every track is just a copy of the first one... or all but the first are muted, flat lines.

Repeated, Duplicated, or Muted audio tracks in DaVinci Resolve

Why The Audio Tracks are Wrong (Repeated or Muted)

This is, as far as I can tell, a longstanding bug in Resolve where it doesn't handle multiple audio tracks correctly when it imports XML or FCPXML files.

You can verify this by setting up a timeline with your video and its multiple audio tracks, then exporting an XML file of that timeline, then re-importing that same file into a new timeline. At least as of DaVinci Resolve 18.0.1 this is still the case.

For Recut I'm working on a more permanent workaround, but in the meantime, the fix is pretty simple:

1. Select The Clips

Select every clip on the timeline (using Cmd+A on Mac, or Ctrl+A on Windows)

Selecting every clip on the timeline

2. Open Clip Attributes

Right-click on any of the selected clips and choose Clip Attributes from the menu.

In the window that pops up, click on the Audio tab.

Open the clip properties window

3. Fix the Source Channels

Look at the Source Channel column: this is the part that Resolve got wrong.

It probably lists the same channel multiple times... or maybe it says "Embedded Channel 1" and the rest are "Mute".

Muted audio channels in DaVinci Resolve

These need to be reset so they go in increasing order. For instance, if you had 3 audio tracks in your file, it should go:

Use the dropdowns under the Source Channel column to reassign them.

Reassign the source channels in increasing order

Done!

Close the window by clicking Ok, and your timeline should be all fixed up!

Fixed the audio tracks on the DaVinci Resolve timeline

If you're a Recut user and you're still running into trouble, reach out to support and we'll help sort it out.

If you don't know about Recut, and you do any sort of video editing, you should check it out – it chops out the silent parts of your videos, and saves a ton of time on the rough cut. So if your editing involves leaving lots of pauses between takes, it can massively speed up your work. Learn more about Recut here.