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Home: Video University Forums: Audio For Video:
So you want to do Surround Sound?

 

 


Mark Foley
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May 30, 2007, 8:50 AM

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So you want to do Surround Sound? Can't Post

For those who want to offer surround sound in their projects, I offer this suggestion to get started. This is a very easy and cheap (free) way to start offering surround sound.

For the most part, surround sound information is basically ambient noise...i.e. crowd talk/laughter and other related sounds. The beauty of this- it doesn't need to be of real high fidelity...so no major investment is initially needed. For this example, all you need is a NLE that supports virtual studio technology (VST) plug-ins...as many do.


Voxengo offers a variety of free VST plug-ins...but the one we need is called "Voxengo Stereo Touch" http://www.voxengo.com/...ighlight=stereotouch

Once installed, here is the real simple process:
Simply take a audio track, for example from a back camera at the ceremony, (or back-up camera at reception) add that track to your project and use the Voxengo Stereo Touch plug-in and select the "surround sound" preset....thats it! Be subtle with the levels as you only want to establish a presence with the surround sound information. Experiment to your taste. The plug-in simply puts some of the audio slightly out of phase and DVD player will sense this as surround sound information and there you go...

The plug-in actually works real good with a mono source...have an extra iRiver laying around?...you don't even need to have a mic as you can easily just use the internal mic (doesn't really need to be of high quality) and place the iriver at a back location at the ceremony or at the reception...experiment to find the best sweet spot.

Obviously this is not a true surround sound captured process....but it is a start to add some spatial dimension to your audio....

Have fun....

edit: I forgot to mention...this is primarily for those who either don't have a 5.1/7/1 surround card, or if they do, don't want to bother with the extra process of mapping the surround information....

_________________________
Mark



(This post was edited by Mark Foley on Sep 6, 2007, 4:10 AM)


Daniel
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May 30, 2007, 1:34 PM

Post #2 of 2 (639 views)
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Re: [Mark Foley] So you want to do Surround Sound? [In reply to] Can't Post

(Unfortunately, this example is for PC only)


Its pretty easy on the Mac now with FCS 2.






"Happiness is beating your good friend by one stroke with a birdie on the 18th hole" Me