[SLS]

I have read through some other posts and gotten some ideas, but I have a few issues I need to clear up a little. So, I recorded a live show for a DVD release, and they want to do it in 5.1 Dolby Digital. This is the first time I've produced something in 5.1.. First of all, let me say I've got everything set up...Nuendo 3, 5 Mackie HR824s, etc. etc.. (not using LFE for this so no sub). The performance is a singer/songwriter (solo guitar and vocal). I figured I'd just throw a bit of verb and a couple of room/audience mics in surround to open things up a bit. I also plan on sending a separate stereo mix.

I have a nice test mix going and everything sounds big and full: Vocals in the center channel, guitar mixed in stereo with a little in center, and verbs and room mics set up differently in the surround field. To preview, I export as individual wav files and import them into Vegas 6. Then I prep everything and encode the AC3 file. When I listen back on surround systems, I seem to have lost a good bit of the center channel. It also sounds like this if I preview the mix matrixed onto 2 channels. Am I setting something up wrong in the encoding process?

My last question is about surround normalization. How loud should it be? Is there a standard. It seems from some of the reading I've done here that there isn't.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I am mainly concerned as I am providing the AC3 files to the video guys, so it needs to be right on my end and I want to ensure that it works. I love mixing in surround so far, it seems easier to get a full sound, but I just want that to translate...geez, as soon as I get stereo mixing down!

-Adam