Dolby 5.1....how is it done?

[silverback66]

I have a film that I'm working on that I'd really like to work with in 5.1, but I can't figure out how to do it. Any help would be appreciated.

[Lacero]

Your best bet would be to do a google search since such a response to your open question would fill 20 pages.

What audio program are you using? You may need logic pro or digital performer to do basic 5.1 mixing.

If you're trying to figure out the artistic aspect of mixing, try loading up a few Hollywood DVDs and extracting the 5.1 ac3 files. Use an audio utility to decode them into aiff files and play back each channel in your video editing program to see how its mixed. That'll give you a basic understanding of a professional 5.1 mix.

[WinterMute]

5.1 can be achieved directly out of Logic Pro 7, but you'll need an interface capable of dealing with 6 channel audio and the 5.1 speaker rig itself.

If you haven't done much audio mixing before, attempting 5.1 will be very difficult, and Logic from basic precepts is a steep climb too.

Once you have the 5.1 channels as discrete (separate) audio files, you can use something like A-pack (which comes with DVD Studio Pro) to create the AC3 file that is actually played by the DVD player.

If you have FCP Studio, then you'll have Soundtrack, give that a try to start with. You can practice with Garageband, but not with a video component and only in stereo.

Have a look at http://www.osxaudio.com for a bigger community view.

[OutThere]

Mixing it all in Logic is hard if you don't know what you're doing.

Packing it with DVDSP is easy enough...it's a pretty straighforward interface.

Actually getting the 6 channels of audio could be even harder...mic placement is key and not easy to do.

I think you might be better served by focusing really hard on getting standard two-channel audio to sound amazingly perfect...unless you think you're up to a really difficult task that might turn out 5.1 audio, but without the quality that you might have had if you had invested your time into making the 2 channel audio the best it could be.