Short film mixed in stereo: problematic in theaters?

[audioluche]

Hi,

I am an experienced music mixer who did a couple of jobs in TV in the last years, but never for movies.

I just did the mix for a short film. Everything was mixed in stereo.
My question is, how will the stereo mix translate in theatres?

Will it play only in the left and right channels or will it have some information on the centre channel?

Do I have to print a LCR version to ensure that it sound right in the theatre?

If yes, can I do this easily in Pro tools without re routing everything?
As I said, I mix music, so my monitoring is in stereo...

Sorry for the dumb questions and thanks in advance for your help!

Luc

[Ryan Young]

If you deliver stereo I believe they'll play stereo. Theaters don't do home theater receiver types of "up-mixing", as far as I know.

[Cheesehead]

I have taken stereo to a theatre and got the projectionist to decode it as Dolby Digital (LtRt) through the Dolby box.


At least that way it will send all the mono information, ie mostly dialogue, to the centre speaker.


Stereo playback in theaters is bad in general, it will only use the left and right speakers and because phantom centre doesn't work in a large space apart from in a few seats there will be a huge hole in the middle of the soundstage.



There are many plugins available you can up-mix through and get a decent result if you want to create a rough 5.1 or LCR mix from your stereo.

[philper]

With the advent of DCP theatres (etc) are even more reluctant to changes settings on a Dolby box to accommodate LtRt or LoRo. If you think your show will play in any sort of real movie theatre (that also shows regular studio type films) then you should consider up- or re-mixing to at least LCR and making a DCP of the film. Your life showing the film will be immensely less stressful.

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by philper

With the advent of DCP theatres (etc) are even more reluctant to changes settings on a Dolby box to accommodate LtRt or LoRo. If you think your show will play in any sort of real movie theatre (that also shows regular studio type films) then you should consider up- or re-mixing to at least LCR and making a DCP of the film. Your life showing the film will be immensely less stressful.

Yes. The short will be projected in all sort of movie theatres.
So it has to be in a format i can trust...

[bsteeve]

Originally Posted by audioluche

Hi,

I am an experienced music mixer who did a couple of jobs in TV in the last years, but never for movies.

I just did the mix for a short film. Everything was mixed in stereo.
My question is, how will the stereo mix translate in theatres?

Will it play only in the left and right channels or will it have some information on the centre channel?

Do I have to print a LCR version to ensure that it sound right in the theatre?

If yes, can I do this easily in Pro tools without re routing everything?
As I said, I mix music, so my monitoring is in stereo...

Sorry for the dumb questions and thanks in advance for your help!

Luc

Yes I would at the very minimum put all the dialog in the centre speaker. Stereo mixes don’t sound that great in theaters. I wouldn’t use any upmixing plug in on a the stereo mix either... this creates all sorts of phasing issues.

[audioluche]

Thanks to all for your reply.
Exactly the kind of info i was looking for.

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by bsteeve

Yes I would at the very minimum put all the dialog in the centre speaker. Stereo mixes don’t sound that great in theaters. I wouldn’t use any upmixing plug in on a the stereo mix either... this creates all sorts of phasing issues.

What would be the best way to do this, as i am monitoring in stereo?
I could add another speaker to monitor the center channel if i re route everything to LCR in Pro Tools but monitoring L/R in my Barefoots and the center in an auratone would be verry weird...


If i use an upmix plugin, can i trust the result without hearing it in a proper LCR monitoring environnement?


Thanks!

[bsteeve]

Originally Posted by audioluche

What would be the best way to do this, as i am monitoring in stereo?
I could add another speaker to monitor the center channel if i re route everything to LCR in Pro Tools but monitoring L/R in my Barefoots and the center in an auratone would be verry weird...


If i use an upmix plugin, can i trust the result without hearing it in a proper LCR monitoring environnement?


Thanks!

I mean you could send all the dialog to one channel, solo it, pan it full L or full R to listen to the dialog mix only coming from one speaker only, then pan it back to C.

However there is no way you could check the balance like this.. can you borrow a speaker from someone that would be somewhat the same power output as your barefoots?

Also beware that if you are mixing in a nearfield environment, the balance wont necessarily translate in a Theatrical environment. Generally speaking you might want to turn everything routed in the Centre channel up a little.

I use to work at post studio mixing in a nearfield environement but we had a gigantic real cinema at the back (the studio I worked at was owned by a cinema chain), I often use to jump in there to check my mixes.. and every-time I thought my balance was right in my mix room, the dialog (centre channel) was on the softer side in the theatre.

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by bsteeve

I mean you could send all the dialog to one channel, solo it, pan it full L or full R to listen to the dialog mix only coming from one speaker only, then pan it back to C.

However there is no way you could check the balance like this.. can you borrow a speaker from someone that would be somewhat the same power output as your barefoots?

Also beware that if you are mixing in a nearfield environment, the balance wont necessarily translate in a Theatrical environment. Generally speaking you might want to turn everything routed in the Centre channel up a little.

I use to work at post studio mixing in a nearfield environement but we had a gigantic real cinema at the back (the studio I worked at was owned by a cinema chain), I often use to jump in there to check my mixes.. and every-time I thought my balance was right in my mix room, the dialog (centre channel) was on the softer side in the theatre.

Thanks for your input. Great advice.