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How to capture audio for 5.1 surround sound
Hey guys
I have a client who wants to me to author a short film which will be supplied on Digital Betacam. He asked if i can encode his DVD with 5.1 Surround sound which they have mastered their project in.
Being one not to knock a job back even if i have no idea, i said yes. A quick search on these forums provides me with some answers of apps that can encode in 5.1, but i have no idea how audio is supplied in the first place to encode it.
It will come on the Digi Beta…. as far as i know the digi only has 4 audio tracks…….
Im using Composer to capture my footage.
What questions do i need to get back to my client with, to look like i have done this before.
Thanks guys
Chris
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3 Replies
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In order to provide a correct 5.1 surround track, you have to mix it that way. You can take the existing stereo mix and Dolby encode it, but it won’t be surround. If it was mixed correctly, you would be provided with 6 discrete audio tracks that correspond to the 5.1 speaker placement. In the encoding process, you would assign which track goes to the correct part of the matrix. If you don’t have that, but still need to generate a pseudo-surround mix, there are a number of processors sold and/or companies which provide the service to turn a stereo mix into a 5.1 surround mix.
Sincerely,
OliverOliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Assuming they made a surround mix, It would probably be on the DigiBeta in Dolby-E format on channels 3/4, you need to rent a Dolby-E decoder (DP572, i think… might be 571) and connect it to the AES out of channel 3+4. That will give you 6 discreet channels, or 3 AES pairs. You’ll need to then capture all of those tracks. I don’t know if meridian hardware supports that many channels, I believe Adrenaline does. You’ll then need to use a software encoder to process that into an AC3 stream, and put that into your DVD. If you’ve never done this before you’ve got a steap learning curve ahead of you, and may want to subcontract this job out.
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I agree about the subcontract thing.
This is way deep for a surround beginner.
I dont know many pictures people who would get involved with sound in general, let alone discreet 5.1 mixes.Id suggest, do the cut in the avid
Give an edl to a sound post house of the assembly
Let them re conform the audio and re encode the dolby e datastream.If you attempt this yourself im undecided if I admire your courage, or think youre crazy.
Peter
Dubbing Mixer
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