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anonymous 14 April 2003

Hey folks.

What advice can i get on a surround system?

I make ambient/abstract electronica (http://zed.cbc.ca/displayUser.do?user_id=9479)

I want to make an emmersive ambient experience in surround.

I know people have a surround setup in thier homes nowadays, its no longer a luxury that it once was. So I'm not worried about lack of audience - just need to know how to get into mixing in surround.

Tips? Suggestions of gear?

I use Tannoy Reveal passives - i wanted to use them in surround (buying another pair)

Comments

pan Mon, 04/14/2003 - 15:41

Better buy one and a half pairs and a subwoofer...and two more Power-amps for 5.1...and a mixing-desk with surround-option or an interface you can connect directly to those. For encoding to surround you will need another piece of software/hardware from Dolby(TM).

What software do you use, btw?

n

anonymous Tue, 04/15/2003 - 02:29

Oh, the Amp i use isnt anything special. Just an hi-fi amp.

Is there an amp that i could buy that is specifically for surround work??

I mean... i think i have it right...

you have two front speakers - left n right
two back - left n right

then a centre and a sub.

Is there an amp that will recognise which speaker is which?

edit: oh and my sound is all software based, i have no hardware synths or effects. I have an Audiophile 24/96 soundcard, but i think i'll upgrade that to a Delta1010

Opus2000 Tue, 04/15/2003 - 18:41

Well, first off Reason does not play in surround sound. There is no way to pan in surround. Using a program that doesn't encode or use surround panning won't do.

Plus remember that the rear speakers need to be delayed to compensate for the time it takes for sound to travel. Typically it range from 5-25ms depending on the room you are using to mix in.

Simply sending the sound to the speakers is not sufficient enough. That's why in most audio applications that use surround there are special plug ins or delays to be used.

Also remember that the center speaker is indeed a crucial part of the speaker counts. 5.1 means Front Left, Center, Front Right, Left Rear and Right Rear. The Sub, which is LFE(Low Frequency Effects) is the .1 in the 5.1 name. The LFE is more for the special effects and low end rumble for certain aspects of the sound. It should not have a main focus in the mix!

You will also need a sound card that will have obviously 6 channels of output or more.

Hope that helps some

Opus

anonymous Wed, 04/16/2003 - 03:50

Opus thanks for the advice, its cleared a bit up for me.

I'll be using Cubase SX to mix my music, Reason is just my synths and samplers (also have some vstis, but they arent really used much)

I think i'll get the Delta1010, that should do me for the audio inputs and outputs.

So if i do need the Centre then, i need to buy 3 Tannoy Reveal speakers yes??

Ok. Well my monitors are passive.

So what im wondering is, how does the audio get from Cubase, to the monitors properly??

Is it just a case of buying a specific surround-sound amp? (Speakers dont connect directly to the soundcard)

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