Surround sound.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Lad
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Jim Lad

Jim Lad

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Anyone into mixing 5:1 surround?
I just got three Yorkvilles (YSM 1P II) and already own a pair of Behringer truths and an Echo Mona which has 6 outs.
Just wondering if it's worth remixing my last project and whether I would need a sub woofer or just any 8" woofer for bass.
 
No, went to a seminar on it though some things I remember:

1. Use identical speakers for all positions (other than the sub obviously), better to have 5 incredibly shitty speakers that are all the same than 2 really nice ones and 3 ok ones.
2. A spl meter is recommended for setting up the listening position (using pink noise through each monitor to get the levels even).
3. There is no standard for channel routing, so label what each one is.

And I fucking forget the rest. :(

IIRC the crossover freq for the woofer should be around 80hz.

If I can find my notes, I'll ad some more info. For some reason he doesn't do surround workshops anymore (probably no interest in it from the public or something) and switched over to house of worship sound setup and how to run said setups-seminars.
 
No doubt -- Without a very (VERY) precise, meticulously calibrated setup, along with a room that's worthy of the task, it's not even worth approaching.

Plus - No one is using surround anyway. Even the cost for the "big guys" is usually too much to get into.

Film? Absolutely. Music? Such a limited market, such expense for creating the production master (I don't even master in surround anymore - Way too expensive - and only a handful of SACD houses out there), so few who are prepared for playback (can't use it in the car, can't use ear-buds/headphones, etc.)... It makes me wonder why all these programs author DVD-A...

I know precisely two people with DVD-A players - Including myself.

Just wondering if it's worth remixing my last project and whether I would need a sub woofer or just any 8" woofer for bass.
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If there's a demand for your last project in surround and you have the $$$$.$$ to cover the cost of creating the replication master, there you go. As mentioned, you would need a sub - Precisely matched and calibrated to the rest of the precisely matched and calibrated system.

THAT ALL SAID:

If you have enough channels of DA and you want to just hook it all up to "screw around with surround" then by all means, go nuts. Just keep in mind that the listening experience will probably go beyond that room. Surround is kind of fun to mess with, depending on the source anyway...
 
Yeah if I could have scored another really cheap pair of BX8a monitors I would have given it a shot just for the shit of it, but massive is correct it's kind of a waste of time if you don't have the cash to set it up right.
 
The one thing I did find truly awesome about mixing in surround (sans live concert stuff) really has pretty much no rules at all.

I was shown mixes that only had the kick in the center ch, I was shown stuff that had only the vocals in the surround channels. It was pretty cool, but again not really any market for it.
 
Thanks guys.
All I'm missing, I guess, is a woofer then but the most helpful comment other than "And I --------- forget the rest." is "And you want to just hook it all up to "screw around with surround"".
Yeah.
There's lots of useful things I could be doing, I suppose.
I'm assuming from your comments that a good surround mix does not necessarily translate into a good stereo mix.
 
I've done a considerable amount of surround work.

Massive is right. Surround for music never really took off and I personally think it's because it requires a precise setup and listening position which just isn't feasible in the home market. Do you know how many homes have surround devices that aren't even setup correctly? Too many. Almost all. It's just too complicated for the average layman for the medium to become something ubiquitous like cassette tape or CD's.

Reel to reel tape emerged in the early forties yet didn't take off until decades later despite it's "superior" fidelity. Vinyl was king for almost a hundred years because it was as simple as placing a disk on a turntable and away you go.

Now iPods rule because computers do it all for us.

Next will be audio streaming (a la Apple TV) because all you have to do is click on what you want. What could be easier?

In 2075 we'll be telepathically linked to the audio matrix; a Being John Malkovich experience and you'll BE Miles Davis or Ozzy Ozbourne.

Music thereafter will be a sentimental memory.

Cheers :)
 
I'm assuming from your comments that a good surround mix does not necessarily translate into a good stereo mix.
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Even on a properly set up mixing (and subsequently, listening) rig, they are two completely independent things. Although theoretically if you start with a solid stereo mix and then just pull elements into the surround fields, it should collapse back to stereo without serious issue. But few surround mixes are done that way...

I shouldn't say that -- Most really good sounding surround mixes are probably done that way. But working the other way (a mix made on a surround system, then collapsed to 2.0) usually won't fare so well.
 
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