"Faux"5.1 Surround

[douger5]

I am doing a project for an HD channel. The producer has asked that it is mixed in stereo but delivered in "faux"5.1. I am currently using a Pts le system with dv toolkit. Any advice on how this can be accomplished would be much appreciated.

[jacobfarron]

Ask him specifically. But he's probably talking about a LtRt stereo file with Dolby Pro Logic II encoding.

FYI - Pro Logic only provides mono surround, Pro Logic II has additional steering capabilities to handle stereo surround. Neither have a ".1" LFE you can mix to, but most consumers have bass management.

You need a Pro Logic II encoder or plugin. Minnetonka SurCode for Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby Surround Tools are a few names.

[danijel]

....or he could have meant a simple 5.1 mix with dialogue in center, ambiances (and maybe reverb) in the front LR & surrounds, music in front LR, nothing in the LFE. This kind of mix can easily be done by monitoring just the stereo downmix.

[surflounge]

UnWrap™ HD
Introduction

[Frank S.]

Originally Posted by douger5

I am doing a project for an HD channel. The producer has asked that it is mixed in stereo but delivered in "faux"5.1. I am currently using a Pts le system with dv toolkit. Any advice on how this can be accomplished would be much appreciated.

I have been asked for this before too. What I did was throw the narration/dialogue in the center and everything else L/R with some verb in the rear. Very simple to do.

[soundboy]

Get a copy of the network specs!!!!

[philper]

What network are we talking about here--they all have different specs.

Philip Perkins

[amiller]

Just as an aside, I wonder if this is stuff some of us will be doing in the near future:

Fudzilla - DTS wades into simulated surround sound

[neilwilkes]

"Faux" 5.1 normally means the dreaded "upmixing" - creating a faked 5.1 from a stereo stream. It rarely means an Lt/Rt matrix.
It will probably have to be delivered as a stereo matrix though.

This is a very difficult thing to do properly, and I have never yet seen any unwrap type algorithm that actually works properly. There is no substitute - if you must do this sort of thing (and surround fans HATE this, I can assure you) - for doing it manually. Why? Because no 2 tracks are alike, and the output is going to be heavily dependant on the stereo source. Some will unwrap, some will not.
Both the major "unwrap" algos (Lexi 960, TC 6000) use a pseudo DPL II type of approach, and you will get a very similar (and equally unsatisfactory) result by slapping a DPL II decoder across the 5.1 output buss, feeding the stereo source & messing with the panorama settings.

Personally, I would use a Trifield/Gerzon approach for LCR, but for the rears it is much more difficult. Unwrap algos generally slap reverb of some sorts, often combined with a comb-filter over a straight (L-R, R-L) dual mono file to give a bit of movement. It sounds dreadful IMHO. There is no substitute for doing a decent, discrete 5.1 mix, although I think with PTLE you are in trouble here.

Definitely get - in clear english - exactly what you are being asked for from the producer or the channel. The last thing you need is to spend time doing something that they did not want, but asked for because they used the wrong terminology. This happens more often than you might think too - all too often I see things called something they are not.
For example, I have lost count of the times I have seen a straight Music DVD-Video disc described as "DVD-Audio" just because it has music content.

[philper]

I understand the "UnWrap" and upmix sorts of apps and plugs for people who have to deliver a "5.1" from a show that was done in stereo (more, more likely, mono) many years ago. For a new show it isn't that hard to make a simple real 5.1 version of your show if you get your mix busing together.

Philip Perkins