Hello all,
I'm starting to dabble in some Dolby Digital 5.1 mixing. After some searching, the only halfway decent resource I could find on 5.1 mixing techniques came from Dolby's website. From their technical documents, I understood the system to function as follows. Are there any people who have done 5.1 mixes that can verify the following statements for me?
1. The L, C, R, Ls, & Rs channels do NOT need any low pass filtering, since home theater playback systems (using Bass Management) will perform this filtering on their own and route low frequencies to the subwoofer.
2. It is possible that the LFE channel may not play back when the mix is played in a stereo downmix (ie when the viewer does not have a 5.1 system and the audio is downmixed to stereo--aka Dolby Pro Logic(?))...Therefore, no essential bass that needs to be heard should be placed on the LFE channel alone.
3. Ls & Rs channels should be mixed at +3dB relative to the L, C, & R channels, since playback systems will lower the surround channels by 3dB.
I have a few additional questions:
1. Suppose I have a score playing in the L, R, Ls, & Rs channels that carries a decent amount of bass. When the Bass Management system pulls this bass out of the channels and routes it to the subwoofer, will this bass be 4 times louder than it should be, considering it went to the subwoofer as the sum from 4 separate channels?
2. What's better for frequency management: Do I apply 100 Hz high pass filters to the L, C, R, Ls, & Rs channels and then mix the 0-100Hz frequencies from these channels with the LFE channel, or just assume the viewer will have Bass Management and let their players do this?
Thanks for the help...Might have more related questions soon...
-Todd
I'm starting to dabble in some Dolby Digital 5.1 mixing. After some searching, the only halfway decent resource I could find on 5.1 mixing techniques came from Dolby's website. From their technical documents, I understood the system to function as follows. Are there any people who have done 5.1 mixes that can verify the following statements for me?
1. The L, C, R, Ls, & Rs channels do NOT need any low pass filtering, since home theater playback systems (using Bass Management) will perform this filtering on their own and route low frequencies to the subwoofer.
2. It is possible that the LFE channel may not play back when the mix is played in a stereo downmix (ie when the viewer does not have a 5.1 system and the audio is downmixed to stereo--aka Dolby Pro Logic(?))...Therefore, no essential bass that needs to be heard should be placed on the LFE channel alone.
3. Ls & Rs channels should be mixed at +3dB relative to the L, C, & R channels, since playback systems will lower the surround channels by 3dB.
I have a few additional questions:
1. Suppose I have a score playing in the L, R, Ls, & Rs channels that carries a decent amount of bass. When the Bass Management system pulls this bass out of the channels and routes it to the subwoofer, will this bass be 4 times louder than it should be, considering it went to the subwoofer as the sum from 4 separate channels?
2. What's better for frequency management: Do I apply 100 Hz high pass filters to the L, C, R, Ls, & Rs channels and then mix the 0-100Hz frequencies from these channels with the LFE channel, or just assume the viewer will have Bass Management and let their players do this?
Thanks for the help...Might have more related questions soon...
-Todd