5.1 audio mixdown software

ilauzirika

ilauzirika

Boring Senior Member
hi,
Im mixing the sountrack for a small project that will be delivered in dolby 5.1. Here comes the question. Based on your experience which pc software would be enough to mix the different channels and pan different sound clips around 5.1 audio system?
And would it be possible to output it into a single ac3 .1 file?
ie, i have a car passing by the car from behind so i need to change the car sfx from the back speaker to the front.
I already own adobe audition.
 
Since I will assume you don't want to spend upwards of $3000 (maybe you do) to get the software (hardware will double that at a minimum), I am guessing you want the cheap alternative. I have not used it but Vegas users claim to get good 5.1 from it. I think it is less then $300.

Cheers
 
i read that you need a plug-in to mix all the 6 channels in one .ac3
but i dont know if you need to register to pan the audio clips and then export them in 6 mono channels
 
ilauzirika said:
i read that you need a plug-in to mix all the 6 channels in one .ac3
but i dont know if you need to register to pan the audio clips and then export them in 6 mono channels
Click to expand...


No, you dont need to register to output 6 monos. Problem with that, is putting them back together to form a surround mix.

What you may be able to do is export as a .wmv which supports surround sound, and use a very low quality video setting, or even at half rez with a high quality audio setting, and use the audio from the .wmv and the video from your NLE.
 
no problem to mix the 6 outputs becouse one of my firends owns a 5.1 channel mixer the only thing i need is a surround panner which vegas have. I will try it and then decide if i go for it.
Has someone tried the vegas surround panner?
 
With Vegas + DVD (the full version, not the Movie Studio version) you get an AC3 encoder with the DVD builder. So, if all you are looking at delivering is a DVD, then you will be set. If you need to deliver it in some other form, then you will need to do more research.

Phil
 
Truly, you can do this in any audio sequencer that'll allow you to use multiple outputs. I'm using Soundtrack Pro on my mac now, with each different surround channel routed through a different output on my firepod. Then I mix it down to 6 aiff files, and use compressor to make the ac3 surround track.

On a related note, if anyone has any suggestions in here. The project I'm mixing is a feature film I made, it's a musical. For most of the music, soundtrack songs and scoring, I plan on using a two channel mix (similar to the stereo mix down from the music tracks i recorded) on the front right and left channels. Then I'll put a wet reverb signal with the tiniest delay in the rear surrounds for ambience of the track. However, for the actual musical numbers, do you guys think it would be appropriate to put the main vocal in the center channel and create actual surround mixes of the songs?

I'll probably play around with some different things, but if anyone has any suggestions, or knows how surround mixes typically get done in movie musicals, I'd love the input. Thanks.

-Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top