2.0 Mono

kronos78 · 6th February 2010

I'm taking an old 2.0 mono dialogue track and collapsing it to a single channel to mix into a 5.1 center stem. Should I lower the 2.0 track by 6 db to preserve unity on the dialogue? Or should I just take one of the 2.0 mono channels to use in the 5.1 mix and throw away the other? Is this making sense? My main concern is to preserve unity gain here.

Thanks!

eoats · 7th February 2010

I would take just one side, just to avoid any phase issues. Might need to nudge it up 3 or 4 db depending on the rest of the 'new' mix.

hummer · 7th February 2010

Ditch one channel (do a null test to make sure they're really identical?), then use dual-mono routing to maintain loudness. In Pro Tools, you do this by: select A1 as the output. hold control, select A2. Now your output is A1+A2 (as opposed to A1-A2 stereo)

If you use a stereo output, you'll need to compensate for the pan law and add 2.5 to 3 dB of gain.

pneyrinck · 8th February 2010

If I understand, I think you are saying that the Left and Right channels are duplicates and you want to mix them to a Center channel for playback with equal loudness. In which case you should use just one of the source tracks and route it to the center channel and raise the gain by 3 dB. The 3 dB boost is need for equal loudness. Two speakers playing back a sound are 3 dB louder than a single speaker playing back a sound.

6th February 2010	#1
kronos78 Gear interested Joined: Feb 2008 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 27 Thread Starter	2.0 Mono I'm taking an old 2.0 mono dialogue track and collapsing it to a single channel to mix into a 5.1 center stem. Should I lower the 2.0 track by 6 db to preserve unity on the dialogue? Or should I just take one of the 2.0 mono channels to use in the 5.1 mix and throw away the other? Is this making sense? My main concern is to preserve unity gain here. Thanks!

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7th February 2010	#2
eoats Gear addict Joined: Sep 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 462	I would take just one side, just to avoid any phase issues. Might need to nudge it up 3 or 4 db depending on the rest of the 'new' mix.

7th February 2010	#3
hummer Gear maniac Joined: Oct 2006 Location: NYC Posts: 150	Ditch one channel (do a null test to make sure they're really identical?), then use dual-mono routing to maintain loudness. In Pro Tools, you do this by: select A1 as the output. hold control, select A2. Now your output is A1+A2 (as opposed to A1-A2 stereo) If you use a stereo output, you'll need to compensate for the pan law and add 2.5 to 3 dB of gain.

8th February 2010	#4
pneyrinck Gear nut Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 75	If I understand, I think you are saying that the Left and Right channels are duplicates and you want to mix them to a Center channel for playback with equal loudness. In which case you should use just one of the source tracks and route it to the center channel and raise the gain by 3 dB. The 3 dB boost is need for equal loudness. Two speakers playing back a sound are 3 dB louder than a single speaker playing back a sound.