[Matt Ion]

A. Richard Meitin wrote:
I need to mix an audio-only program in surround sound. Though it is an
audio-ONLY program, it will be played back for audiences in movie
theaters - special one-or-two-night programs in a variety of places
(TBD) across the country. The creator of the program will host the audio
show, from the front of the theater. Most of these bookings will be in
art-house style theaters, of 200-400 seats.

I need to figure out what the best common-denominator surround-sound mix
configuration should be - should I mix in 5.1? In 7.1? What should the
track order be? What encoding, if any? What hardware, cabling and
connectors might the show have to carry with it, in order to be able to
plug into the variety of systems out there in the world?

Suggestions? Where do I start? What might I be overlooking?

Thank you!

Rich Meitin

Having read some of the other replies, my first question would be, "how
surround" does this material need to be, and why does it NEED to be in
surround? Is there something special about it that requires a separate
signal be sent to rear or even side speakers? What kind of information
needs to be in the surround channels? If all you're sending them is
ambience, you don't need 5.1 and higher; if all you're trying to do is
get the same signal to all speakers in a big venue, you don't need
surround encoding at all.

I agree, the most likely "lowest common denominator" you're likely to
find is straight stereo (not even 2.1)... as in, there will probably be
at least one venue that will have only stereo.

The other question you'd need to answer with surround mixing is, what
format are you going to encode it in? Dolby Digital? DTS? AC3? Two
different venues may have 7.1 speaker systems but use different encoding
methods.

For best overall compatibility, you may want to drop back to something
like Dolby Pro Logic, which will still sound acceptable on a stereo rig,
but will give you some (non-complex) surround info as well - any
surround system I've ever run across, whether DD or DTS, still has a Pro
Logic processing mode.