mattframe

Q: Question about Dolby Digital 5.1 in Soundtrack Pro 3

Hi folks,

 

I am pretty confused in regards to using Soundtrack Pro 3 to create and export a AC-3 dolby digital 5.1 file to be used in burning a Blu Ray DVD using Toast Titanium 11. I admit that overall I am somewhat Final Cut Studio savy but for the life of me I cannot find reliable and understandable tutorials re: the dolby digital thing. I am hoping that there are people out there who will be patient with my admitted ignorance

 

 

So, what I am working on?

 

107 minute feature documentary film edited using FCP 7 with 65 tracks of audio mixed down (using STP3) to six (1 & 2 dedicated to Voice, 3 & 4 dedicated to sfx and ambient sounds, 5 & 6 dedicated to music.)

 

 

What do I want to do?

 

My film is going be to be screened at a festival next month and so I want to burn a blu ray disc (using Toast Titanium 11) with AC-3 Dolby digital 5.1 audio as apposed to 2 channel stereo.

 

 

What I don't understand?

 

I'm not entirely sure how the Dolby 5.1 export using STP3 works. My questions are:

 

Will it take a 2 channel stereo final mix and convert and export it so that it will be a Dolby Digital? If so, what about the 6 channels of audio that I mentioned before. Is it better to mix those 6 down to 2 before doing the  Dolby 5.1 export?

 

If so, what if the theatre equipment (or any home dvd player) is not able to play Dolby 5.1? Will it then play the Blu Ray in 2 channel stereo or will there be issues?

 

Is there a 'standard' Dolby Digital setup when having to choose the 'Audio Coding Mode?'

 

And/or:

 

What settings would you suggest for very high quality Blu Ray export?

 

 

Anyways, I know there is a helluva lot of questions there but I obviously wanna get this right. Huge thanks in advance to any advice/suggestions you can give.

 

Cheers!

Soundtrack Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 26, 2013 2:58 PM

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Q: Question about Dolby Digital 5.1 in Soundtrack Pro 3

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  • by WolfgangRubsam,

    WolfgangRubsam WolfgangRubsam Sep 7, 2013 10:31 AM in response to mattframe
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    Sep 7, 2013 10:31 AM in response to mattframe

    HI,

    briefly from what comes to mind is;

    your tracks need to be assigned via the Surround Sound Panner options, either or both in the tracks and submixes.  Read about Surround Sound in Soundtrack Pro and also the effect options via the sound design reverberation. (The latter can create surround from a stereo submix as well )

     

    The next chapter is the export option.  FILE>EXPORT

    The master can be optionally exported in Dolby surround AC-3 with a number of options you need to set in this window.

    Then burning is the next chapter. I trust Toast can manage but have not tried yet.

     

    When burning to Blue Ray one actually should use full resolution PCM files  WAV format for highest quality

    Audio Surround Sound. The Export then would need to be uncompressed from your final STP mix in single mono files (which is an option in STP ) and then imported into a special burning program.....

     

    THese are my 2 cents in general.

    WOLFGANG