Surround Sound?

??? What exactly are you asking? Mastering what? DVD's? I've never actually heard the term "mastering" used for film work except in creating the master DVD for duplication.

But the term as used for music would imply a final critical pass. So first off you need a room that is big enough, then you need a good multichannel audio interface and then you need really good speakers either self powered or multiple channels of amp. Then you need someone to tune the room.
 
All of the above still applies, though you could be a little more lax on the specs IF your going to a mix stage. But today on a low budget film often there isn't much mixing beyond the edit room.

What are you cutting on?
 
Getting 6 channels out of the computer can be very expensive. However, Griffin sell a $99 product which may work. It's called FIREWAVE. Has anyone tried it?
 
It's no big deal to get the audio out there are lots of boxes that will let you get a lot more out than six. But if your system and room is not set up correctly then editing in surround is like doing color correction on a black and white monitor.
 
If your asking about how to hook it up you probably shooting try.
Surround sound isn't even looked at on any productions this forums talks about.
The cost for it is just way to high.
 
if you have a mac with an optical out then you can out put 5.1 to a stereo amp that handles 5.1 through the optical out put. Sound track Pro will allow you to edit and master the 5.1 in the latest version. If you want to out put 7.1 then you need Logic Pro and a board like Moto or Pro Tools. Moto is much cheaper and is supose to work well. Pro Tools is way to expensive of a way to do suround sound (starting at around $25,000). A G5 with an optical connection with Sound Track Pro with any suround sound amp will do for 5.1. You can allso burn a test dvd and play it back through a dolby system. Good luck
 
Noiz2- I hear you. I've got a lot of programs that have the capability of editing for 5.1 so I'd like to learn how to properly set it up speaker-wise.

Money is not subjective here, so no matter what the cost is, if you or anyone knows what is necessarly to build an editing suite that successfully works with a setup for 5.1 audio mixing/editing/mastering - I would like to know how it is done and what would be needed.
 
well if money is no object. Get a surround kit from genelec or any of the hi end makers(adam is good too), then hire a professional to fix the acoustic of your room. Then you need a good sound card with good converters. I suggest the rme fireface they are simply the best. On mac logic pro would be the best choice to mix in surround.
 
Michael T said:
A G5 with an optical connection with Sound Track Pro with any suround sound amp will do for 5.1.
Click to expand...

Sorry Michael T, but you are very wrong. The optical connection will only output 5.1 from a Dolby encoded source such as DVD Player. It will NOT output 6 discreet channels from STP or anything else.
 
Noiz is absolutely right though. It has very little to do with how the speakers actually hook up to the computer, in fact it has less to do with the speakers themselves. The room you are editing it in needs to be treated for proper acoustics. Then you're going to need some good monitors, 5 of them, not just multimedia speakers. That's why time in a properly setup studio for surround mixing is so expensive.
 
The most critical factor is knowing how to mix audio. Start with getting your stereo mixes good and work your way up to 5.1 :)
 
Michael T, that is just a lot of BAD information.

EHartford, faster than the book (though the book wouldn't hurt) is to go over to the "post / surround" section of the DUC. The stickes at the top go into great detail on setting up a room.
http://duc.digidesign.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB6

It's a ProTools board but the room setup is pretty universal.

Before you buy hardware you need to decide on software. THe two main contenders are Pro Tools and Nuendo. Not all software supports all hardware so decide on software then pick hardware to work with it.

Mr. T's assessment is very uninformed so don't go by that. If your looking to mix surround (and if your "editing" surround and not doing it in a studio with a mix stage you should assume your going to be mixing also) it's good you have deep pockets because it's not cheap. Depending exactly what you need to do Nuendo and PT cost about the same when all is said and done. At the low end PT has the lead in features VS $, somewhere in the middle Nuendo leads but then when you get up to high end PT is again leading. THey are hardly ever too far apart except at the bottom. An entry level PT system can be had for around $300, a minimum Nuendo system is ~$3,000. Basically Nuendo doesn't have a low end system, your savings is in hardware. In the middle area where you would be aiming at ($5K-$15K for the core) they are both pretty equal. Personally I would go with PT for two big reasons. First it's what they do and most of their business is professional. Steinberg is basically a consumer company that makes a bunch of products. I wouldn't be confident that they wont decide that the $$ are greener somewhere else and just orphan the app. And second because 90+% of audio post is done on PT so it's just more compatible with what's out there.

In the low end there are lots of options. None of them have been adopted by pro's to any noticeable extent for a wide variety of reasons. Compatibility is one of the biggest. I won't go into specifics, they all have their ups and downs but none are widely used and that sort of says it all.
 
Michael T:
If you have a mac with an optical out then you can out put 5.1 to a stereo amp that handles 5.1 through the optical out put.

Not true

Sound track Pro will allow you to edit and master the 5.1 in the latest version.

True with limitations, or not true with exceptions.

If you want to out put 7.1 then you need Logic Pro and a board like Moto or Pro Tools.


What? There are a lot of ways to do 7.1. PT is not a "board" it's software. I have no idea what "Moto" is. You might be referring to MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn), they make interfaces some of which output 8 channels. Or poss control surfaces by CM Labs such as the Motormix, but that is just a control surface not an interface. Logic will do surround but so will lots of other applications.

Moto is much cheaper and is supose to work well. Pro Tools is way to expensive of a way to do suround sound (starting at around $25,000).


As I said I have never heard of Moto, but your numbers are wrong for PT. PT varies from around $300 to $50,000 or more depending on a lot of factors. It's poss, though dificult, to mix surround in PT Le so the min surround setup for PT would be around $1,200. A more capable HD system would cost around $10,000 new.

A G5 with an optical connection with Sound Track Pro with any suround sound amp will do for 5.1.


Just as wrong as can be. For all the reasons above and because the cost of the software/ core hardware pales to the cost of setting up the room. A "any surround amp" is not at all appropriate to mix with. Consumer ones are often tailored to make music sound "good" not to be accurate. Also consumer electronics are designed for -10 line level signals, pro gear is generally at +4. You hit a -10 input with a +4 signal and your going to have to catch the speaker voice coils as they fly across the room.
Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but not a big one.


You can allso burn a test dvd and play it back through a dolby system.

THis is again a not really true, sort of but your missing things situation. STP doesn't do any of that. You could out put through Compressor and then go to DST and make a CD I guess. But then you would need a DVD player that can play DVDA, most new ones can. And what exactly is the point of listening to an encoded mix with out picture? Also your not playing it back through a "Dolby" system and you certainly cant play it back through any "Dolby" system. I'm guessing that you mean you can play it through your DVD player and have the Dolby DVD decoder output surround. This is true if you have gone through Compressor and encoded your mix as a 5.1 AC3 stream and then burned a DVD withe the appropriate sound flags turned on.
But again I fail to see the point.

Next time try speaking from experience. You open yourself up to a lot of criticism when you present what are essentially advertising claims as fact. I'm sure you were just trying to be helpful but misinformation is often worse than no information.
 
There a host of programs out there that will allow you to mix 5.1 surround sound for an affordable price. Just do the research. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do it, they would be wrong. The question is are you experienced enough to execute a 5.1 surround sound mix. That is the major question. There are also room treatment kits that can defuse your envirnment allowing you to mimic near studio conditions. For less than $1500.00 I'm sure you can come up with something that will satisfy.
 
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