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Should I be using multiple mics to record dialogue and sound effects?
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Okay thanks, but for sending the film into theaters, I was told that for a DCP package that a theater either will take 5.1 surround, or mono, but not stereo, because stereo will cause issues on the 5.1 theater speaker systems that most festivals and theaters have.
Is that true? I read it here:
https://thedcpmaster.com/surround-sound-dcp/
So if it’s true, that would that stereo wouldn’t work in a DCP normally, and therefore I should avoid it then? I’ve used stereo on my projects over the years, but this is my first time going for a DCP, and wanted to do it right.
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Even if the final mix is 5.1 that does not preclude using 2.0 stereo music tracks. The stereo music would go to Front Left and Front Right, while dialog gets panned somewhere between Front Left and Front Right (depending on the scene, etc.) And you can filter any very low frequencies from the 2.0 music stem to send into the .1 Low Frequency Effects channel.
Then you can put ambient, SFX, whatever into the Rear Left and Rear Right channels. Without knowing the content of your production, it would be impossible to suggest exactly what would go into the surround channels. You might add some reverb from the 2.0 music channels into the rear surround, but it seems unlikely that you would need a full 5.1 music mix unless you were doing something rather unusual.
For that matter, you could just deliver a 5.1 mix with content in only Front Left and Front Right. An exhibitor that can’t handle 2.0 seems pretty lame to me.
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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder. -
Oh okay, thanks, it’s just what I read in those specifications on that page, so I was just going by that.
Do most movies with a 5.1 surround mix have stereo for the music then?
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[ryan elder] “Do most movies with a 5.1 surround mix have stereo for the music then?”
Do you mean Hollywood multi-million dollar blockbusters? Or do you mean “indie”? Or do you mean student projects?I would imagine that most big-budget films mix the music into 5.1 (or 7.1 or whatever). But since we have not the slightest clue what your project is, you will have to ask yourself, does it make sense to mix the music into the surround channels? I mean “make sense” from the POV of the audience seeing it for the first time. Not from the POV of the producer/director/editor enamored with the tracks.
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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder. -
Well mine is an indie feature film I am preparing for, so I would like a 5.1 mix if that is what film festivals say they are requiring.
However, as for if it makes sense for the music to have a 5.1 mix, I guess that depends. I mean why does most music have a stereo mix for example? So you can hear more of the instruments? Since right and left direction is not really necessary for music, why not just have all music still be in mono? Or is there a reason for music to be right and left, but not front and rear, and center?
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The common standard for music has been stereo for at least 60 years. Monaural music will sound unnatural and “vintage” to most of the audience. At least those who have two working ears.
One of the reasons for having the Front Center channel is to separate the dialog from the rest of the sound. Unless you have special things happening which make stereo dialog more appropriate.
Music coming from the rear channels will be perfectly appropriate if you have a scene where the POV of the character is seated in the middle of an orchestra; Else it will proably make the viewer wonder why music is coming from behind them. But unless your production features a musician, you may have to justify why you mixed music coming from behind the viewer.
Your question is becoming philosophical, about style, motivation, etc. vs. a technical question. When you watch movies of the same (undisclosed) genre as yours, do you hear music coming from the surround channels? Is the music an underscore to the plot, or is it “diegetic” ( part of the scene like a busker on the sidewalk, a radio playing in the next room, etc.) If your professor asks why there is music coming from the back, do you have a logical explanation? I would expect underscore music to come from the screen (Front Left and Front Right). But I would expect diegetic music to come from wherever you would hear it in the scene. In my philosophy it is rather like the 180 degree rule for shot direction.
Diegetic music
180-degree rule———————————————————————————
Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder. -
“Since right and left direction is not really necessary for music, why not just have all music still be in mono?”
Because you have two ears., stereo is necessary.
Because stereo allows a soundstage from left to right on which you can place a number of instruments so that they don’t compete with each other.
How do you listen to music now?
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum LeaderWant better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog -
I listen to stereo now. I thought that with surround sound it was the same idea, but instead of having two channels to not allow instruments to compete with each other, you have six, which allows for even more. But am I wrong, and that six channels for instruments to not allow for competition, is not the same as two?
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Ryan, how old are you?
Did you miss the short existence of quadrophonic sound that peaked in the early 1970s?
Quadrophonic vinyl was produced. No one cold figure out how to standardize it. A different instrument on each channel? I had the idea of auto-panning instruments around in a circle like a carousel that would either move smoothly and continuously around your head, or that would move in tempo with the music.
In the end, most people settled for a stereo front and delayed stereo rear as you might hear in a live venue. Sometimes the rears would be reversed and out of phase with the front to achieve a groovy “surround effect.”
Regards,
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum LeaderWant better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog -
“Groovy”! ????
Quadraphonic LP – the birth, short life, and death of quad vinyl
Bottom line: Stick with 2.0 stereo music mixed to Front-Left and Front-Right until you get more experience.
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