setting up PT surround

[seibu1]

What are the basics for starting surround work with Pro Tools? I have Pro Tools 24 running V. 5.1. What plug-ins are necessary and any hardware (outside of more speakers obviously)?

Sorry for the newbie question.

[tandem]

yes yes please more info. . . . [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Alex Rodriguez]

I heard there is an Antares plug-in. I haven't checked their web page lately, but I'm planning to set a PT 24MIX, using 6 outputs of the audio card for 5.1 mixing. The main problem is I won't be able to "pan" from front to back without the Antares or any other similar plug in, but for fixed positioning, I hope this will work. [email protected]

[JimWest]

While you can creatively apply any Pro Tools plug-in to surround work, here are some plug-ins that are particularly surround savvy:

Digidesign SurroundScope: http://www.digidesign.com/products/p...roduct_id=1234

Dolby Surround Tools: http://www.digidesign.com/products/p...roduct_id=1042

Kind of Loud SmartCode Pro: http://www.digidesign.com/products/p...roduct_id=1103

Kind of Loud RealVerb 5.1: http://www.kindofloud.com/products/realverb51.html

Kind of Loud Tweetie: http://www.kindofloud.com/products/tweetie.html

Kind of Loud Woofie: http://www.kindofloud.com/products/woofie.html

Lake TheaterPhone: http://www.digidesign.com/products/p...roduct_id=1560

(The DigiRack Dynamics II plug-in included with PT 5.1 includes a multichannel compressor, limiter, and expander/gate.)

While you're at it, check this out:
http://www.surroundpro.com/

Have fun! I'm looking forward to doing some surround mixes myself.

Jim West
Digi Engineering

[DigiTechSupt]

Alex,

If you have a Pro Tools Mix system and version 5.1 of Pro Tools or higher you can do 5.1 mixing including panning without the help of any plugins, this is a feature of Pro Tools TDM software/hardware.

The list of plugins that Jim provided adds addtional functionality but the basic panning and routing is handled by Pro Tools software/hardware itself.

Jon Connolly
Digidesign Product Specialist

[tonygoodall]

You can do surround with no plugins, as mentioned

Then you need monitors:
actives for pro stuff,
But upmarket domestic 5.1 setup for playing around will give youn setup tools (built in speaker calibration, timing adjustments etc - you can't get the right timing adjustments with plain active speakers and no plugins!)