How do I get the 6 wave-files to use with Soft Encode? -AC-3 Encoder

Subject:How do I get the 6 wave-files to use with Soft Encode? Posted by: kalle Date:2/15/2000 1:49:00 AM I want to do a 5.1 Surround mix. I plan to do the encoding in Soft Encode but which program should I use to do the mixing. I want to import a movieclip and pan the soundeffects around the speakers according to the movie. Does any of Sonic Foundry's products do this? I want the output to be 6 mono- wavefiles that can be imported to Softencode. Or is there a better way to do it? Karl
Subject:Re: How do I get the 6 wave-files to use with Soft Encode? Reply by: PSPattison Date:2/17/2000 10:18:00 AM Karl Sjöberg wrote: >>I want to do a 5.1 Surround mix. I plan to do the encoding >>in Soft Encode but which program should I use to do the >>mixing. I want to import a movieclip and pan the >>soundeffects around the speakers according to the movie. >>Does any of Sonic Foundry's products do this? I want the >>output to be 6 mono- wavefiles that can be imported to >>Softencode. Or is there a better way to do it? >> >>Karl Within the SF line, Vegas Pro(R) is the best fit for what you are describing. In Vegas, you would set up a mix bus (or stereo pairs as appropriate) for each speaker (L,C,R,LS,RS,LFE)and monitor those busses directly through a multichannel soundcard. Placing events on a given track/bus would dictate the placement in the 5.1 soundfield, and the normal level, envelope, and other Vegas features would determine the mix. (more on that in a minute.) When the mix (done completely within Vegas Pro) is satisfactory, render each output bus to a separate file on your HD. Those six files would become the source files for the 5.1 Soft Encode. The output file produced by soft encode would be directly playable through any Dolby(R) hardware or software 5.1 decoder. POTENTIAL GOTCHAS Within Vegas Pro I am not aware of any direct method of panning individual tracks among the 6 outputs--a surround panner-equipped console would normally take care of that. You could locate a sound at a particular speaker or stereo pair, but couldn't just grab a joystick, for example, and whip a sound from Screen Left to Surround right. The workaround would be to copy an event across two or more tracks (each assigned to different output busses) then use Vegas Pro's envelopes to fade out one track while another--feeding a different speaker--fades in, which is what a panpot does anyway. Not elegant, but you could do it. The second potential problem would deal with effects. It's not uncommon, depending on the design of a production, to position a sound event at one speaker, but return an effect--say a delay slap or reverb--to another speaker or combination of speakers. To a point, that could all be handled with clever use of Vegas Pro's aux sends and returns, but for certain, complex moves, you may want to render effects to files, then use those files as events in your mix. Again, not elegant, but definately do-able. (not to mention very repeatable and controllable if changes are required) These suggestions assume that you are working entirely with the Vegas Pro environment. If you have a surround-capable mixer, playback your source events, mix-pan-eq-verb-effect to your heart's content through the mixer, and print the mixer's 5.1 outputs to 6 new Vegas Pro tracks. Encode those 6 tracks via Soft Encode(R) and voila! Dolby Digital. The final advice is to carefully calibrate your monitor environment. Pink noise recorded at your reference level on the busses (typically - 20dBFS) should play back at a known level (typically 85dBc) through each speaker individually. Establishing these conditions will help assure that your mix will encode in a predictable way, and that you can take full advantage of the Dolby Digital DIALNORM features. PSP

Karl Sjöberg wrote:
>>I want to do a 5.1 Surround mix. I plan to do the encoding
>>in Soft Encode but which program should I use to do the
>>mixing. I want to import a movieclip and pan the
>>soundeffects around the speakers according to the movie.
>>Does any of Sonic Foundry's products do this? I want the
>>output to be 6 mono- wavefiles that can be imported to
>>Softencode. Or is there a better way to do it?
>>
>>Karl

Within the SF line, Vegas Pro(R) is the best fit for what you are
describing. In Vegas, you would set up a mix bus (or stereo pairs as
appropriate) for each speaker (L,C,R,LS,RS,LFE)and monitor those
busses directly through a multichannel soundcard. Placing events on
a given track/bus would dictate the placement in the 5.1 soundfield,
and the normal level, envelope, and other Vegas features would
determine the mix. (more on that in a minute.) When the mix (done
completely within Vegas Pro) is satisfactory, render each output bus
to a separate file on your HD. Those six files would become the
source files for the 5.1 Soft Encode. The output file produced by
soft encode would be directly playable through any Dolby(R) hardware
or software 5.1 decoder.

POTENTIAL GOTCHAS

Within Vegas Pro I am not aware of any direct method of panning
individual tracks among the 6 outputs--a surround panner-equipped
console would normally take care of that. You could locate a sound
at a particular speaker or stereo pair, but couldn't just grab a
joystick, for example, and whip a sound from Screen Left to Surround
right. The workaround would be to copy an event across two or more
tracks (each assigned to different output busses) then use Vegas
Pro's envelopes to fade out one track while another--feeding a
different speaker--fades in, which is what a panpot does anyway. Not
elegant, but you could do it.

The second potential problem would deal with effects. It's not
uncommon, depending on the design of a production, to position a
sound event at one speaker, but return an effect--say a delay slap or
reverb--to another speaker or combination of speakers. To a point,
that could all be handled with clever use of Vegas Pro's aux sends
and returns, but for certain, complex moves, you may want to render
effects to files, then use those files as events in your mix. Again,
not elegant, but definately do-able. (not to mention very repeatable
and controllable if changes are required)

These suggestions assume that you are working entirely with the Vegas
Pro environment. If you have a surround-capable mixer, playback your
source events, mix-pan-eq-verb-effect to your heart's content through
the mixer, and print the mixer's 5.1 outputs to 6 new Vegas Pro
tracks. Encode those 6 tracks via Soft Encode(R) and voila! Dolby
Digital.

The final advice is to carefully calibrate your monitor environment.
Pink noise recorded at your reference level on the busses (typically -
20dBFS) should play back at a known level (typically 85dBc) through
each speaker individually. Establishing these conditions will help
assure that your mix will encode in a predictable way, and that you
can take full advantage of the Dolby Digital DIALNORM features.

PSP