Music to 5.1

[JuanPC]

Originally Posted by Exponential Audio

Bass management means that there will be energy going to the sub. 5.0 becomes 5.1 in the home.

I never seen a 5.0
all home theathers i´ve seen are 5.1 or 2.0 with Matrix encoder for emulating 5.1 with a 2.0.

Logitech X-510 speakers for example.,

[nst7]

Just to expand on my initial post, I didn't want to start a war about LFE.

Judging by the OP's intent, it looks as though he is just starting to learn about this stuff.

For that reason, and since it was mainly music he was focused on, I thought that trying to deal with the LFE might bring more confusion than it's worth. As pointed out by Michael from Exponential Audio, not understanding how LFE works and using it wrongly can lead to more harm than good. And since this is only for playback in the home on a bass managed system, there shouldn't be an issue.

And Drew, you are right about quality control software (or people) possibly rejecting stuff that doesn't have LFE. But in this case, it sounds like the product will be a one off thing for a few customers that may have an interest, so I don't think he'll be dealing with professional post houses, etc.

Joachim, that's an interesting product from Minnetonka. The only thing is that it's very specific and might be limited to just that application, whereas using Apples's compressor, it would also allow him to use it for other things should the need arise. However, the argument could be made about the sound quality of DTS vs. Dolby, but that's a whole nother issue.

[jmkeane]

Originally Posted by Exponential Audio

Bass management means that there will be energy going to the sub. 5.0 becomes 5.1 in the home.

There is some confusion about how the LFE channel is handled or interpreted once it's being played back on a consumer system using bass management.

From what I gather the premise with consumer based systems is that there's anywhere between +6db and +10db of gain built into the LFE channel to allow for the proper represetation of the LFE channel on these consumer systems.

That does create the possiblity that the information I've sent to the LFE channel is being filtered twice. Which is not such a big deal considering it's down at 120hz or 80hz. That is why I would check the mix on a consumer based system to see how it's translating...
I would still advocate controlling the levels and information you send to the LFE channel so that your intention in the mix is being represented on the smaller consumer based system.

Since mixing music in 5.1 is not popular, it's a bit of a no man's land.
Personally I love mixing and producing music in 5.1 and would highly recommend it!

[Michael Carnes]

Originally Posted by JuanPC

I never seen a 5.0
all home theathers i´ve seen are 5.1 or 2.0 with Matrix encoder for emulating 5.1 with a 2.0,

Let me clarify. I was speaking about the mix being 5.0. The home theater may be 5.0 or 5.1 or 7.1. Bass management, among its many duties, provides an extra crossover. It's typically somewhere around 80 Hz, but that can vary depending on what you tell the receiver during setup. The bass management system removes those low frequencies from the main channels and sends them to the sub instead. If there is actual LFE information in your source material, that will also be added into the signal headed to the sub.

Actual LFE information is created at the authoring stage. The bass-management stuff is done on the fly by the receiver and allows a best fit of the mix into your home environment. That's what I meant by saying that 5.0 becomes 5.1.

[Michael Carnes]

There's one other reason I recommend staying clear of the LFE channel for music (in addition to the cautions I gave yesterday). And it's pretty obvious that it's coming from a reverb guy.

It's not quite true that all those low frequencies are happy coming from a single sub. For systems with small main speakers, it's a necessity if you want to hear anything at all. But a real sense of spaciousness comes from left/right differences in low frequencies. This is much more true for recordings made in a large space where long wavelengths can actually exist. It's less true for panpotted stuff.

If the home system has reasonably large main speakers (let's say they go down to 50 Hz or so) then the sense of space is greatly enhanced because of those interaural differences. Of course this depends on a room that is reasonably well treated acoustically. It works even better with mains and surrounds that go lower. When that energy gets shunted to LFE instead, you lose all that.

Again, not every home can have honking big speakers. So bass management can at least put those low frequencies onto some kind of cone.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Exponential Audio

There's one other reason I recommend staying clear of the LFE channel for music (in addition to the cautions I gave yesterday). And it's pretty obvious that it's coming from a reverb guy.

It's not quite true that all those low frequencies are happy coming from a single sub. For systems with small main speakers, it's a necessity if you want to hear anything at all. But a real sense of spaciousness comes from left/right differences in low frequencies. This is much more true for recordings made in a large space where long wavelengths can actually exist. It's less true for panpotted stuff.

If the home system has reasonably large main speakers (let's say they go down to 50 Hz or so) then the sense of space is greatly enhanced because of those interaural differences. Of course this depends on a room that is reasonably well treated acoustically. It works even better with mains and surrounds that go lower. When that energy gets shunted to LFE instead, you lose all that.

Again, not every home can have honking big speakers. So bass management can at least put those low frequencies onto some kind of cone.

Would my Klipsch Chorus speakers fit your description of 'honking big' speakers? 15 inch woofer 3 way system.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by thegmanofcourse

I'm interested in trying to mix a band ive recorded in 5.1. ya kno, for that extra sensory experience. I do plan on mixing down to Stereo for basic release purposes, but i have this idea to mix the album in 5.1 and release it as a special version (for an upcharge of course). im just curious about how i should go about this.

Plugins for encoding to 5.1?

ive been experimenting already, using my MacMini via HDMI to my home receiver, i was able to create a mix and it sounds great! but i have no way of printing it!

help a creative mind out!

Thanks

Pink Floyd did this.