Need to access multi-track audio within OBS-recorded MKV file

[angelhair0]

Hello. I edit for a video interview podcast that has been using XSplit for quite some time. The computer that is recording and broadcasting is Windows, but I edit on a Mac. The MP4 files generated by XSplit allowed me to access multi-track audio, for editing in Logic Pro X or Final Cut Pro. I always have 6 multi-tracks, 2 of which I use (the host and the guest).

Recently the podcast host has been forced to switch to OBS Studio, due to various declining issues with XSplit and constantly header errors in the MP4 files XSplit would save.

How can I access the multi-track audio in an MKV file on my Mac? I understand I cannot drag an MKV into Logic or Final Cut, so I have to convert it first. I have plenty of great converters and encoder software, but I haven't been able to maintain the multi-track separation prior to conversion. Can I somehow get the multi-tracks from the MKV prior to converting?

Any help ASAP would be great, as I need to have an interview edited by the weekend.

(We chose MKV in OBS's settings because we did not want any more situations with header corruption. OBS warns that saving to MOV or MP4 may be problematic. Is this the case? Should we do MOV or MP4? And if so, will multi-tracks be maintained?)

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Congrats on following the advice to not record in OBS using MP4.
You can set OBS to remux (which does NOT re-encode, it only swaps out the container/wrapper) the recorded video file to MP4 automatically
For MKVs you already have, there are plenty of free utilities to swap the container format from MKV to MP4 (quick and easy).. again this doesn't touch the video... but sorry, not sure about audio tracks....

This isn't an area of expertise for me... hopefully I'm giving you some keywords to research that will provide greater clarity
On my OBS PC, based on knowledgeable commenters here, I got
- avidemux for cutting out sections of video without re-encoding; and
- mkvtoolnix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoTY6SYPoCo How to convert an MKV file to MP4 without re-encoding
but there are plenty of other tools as well https://www.reddit.com/r/mkvtoolnix/comments/iih6v4/how_to_convert_mkv_to_mp4/

 

[angelhair0]

THANKS! I would assume that if it doesn't touch the video, it probably maintains the multi-track audio as well. I will try!