FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? at DVinfo.net

Josh Hayes · January 10th, 2019, 01:51 AM

Hi friends. If I missed this thread already existing, let me know and I'll delete this. Didn't come up in a search. I have a finished feature length documentary and I've done all the sound work I can. It's to the point where when people screen it on their tvs they don't hear bad sound. But It still deserves a good sound mix, but I just don't have the budget for it. Ugh. Anyway, in the meantime, I'd like to take a stab at least getting it into 3.1 or 5.1 for when it's film festivals (I know about the need for DCP as well but that's for a different time).

However when I lookup info on attempting a Surround Sound Mix out of FCPX, most of the articles are from a really long time ago like 2012 and 2013. Has anybody successfully done this at all, or more recently (or both)? I have version 10.4.4. I can't tell if the lack of info is because it doesn't work, or just people don't attempt it much or who knows what.

Jonathan Levin · January 14th, 2019, 02:05 PM

Here is something from April 2018:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12575...ewlocale=en_US

Ronan Fournier · March 26th, 2019, 11:52 AM

Hi Josh,

It is very easy to do so with FCP-X.
First, I edit my project in stereo and attribute roles for : direct camera sounds (aka ITW), ambiant sounds, music, and narration.
Then I export each role in a single wave file.
I create a new 5.1 project in FCP-X and copy / paste the video clips of my stereo edit. I import all the wave audio files from each role. For each soundtrack, I choose "create a surround space" (or something like that). I adjust the cursor in order to have less or more surround effect front position for narration, but more surround for music and ambiant sounds for instance). Then I export the mix in a 5.1 wave file.
I can compress this file in 5.1 AC3 or DTS with Surcode Encoder DTS HD for Compressor 3 (unfortunately that works only on old 10.8 Mac OS so I keep an old Mac Pro only for that!).
And then I can do Blu-ray with DTS-HD Master Audio Sound.

I'm sorry for my awful english but I hope this can help!

Josh Hayes · March 27th, 2019, 05:48 AM

Hi Ronan! You're English isn't awful at all and this was very helpful. Thank you so much for the info!

I'm curious, what authoring software do you use for your Blu-Ray creation?

Rick Reineke · March 27th, 2019, 08:31 AM

FWIW, Many folks avoid multichannel mixes unless they can audition their films ahead of time in the festival theater. In my experience, many are not calibrated correctly (or not calibrated at all) An acquaintance's film played back without the center channel and he did not have a stereo or mono back-up. At another festival the surround speakers were about 6dB (SPL) louder than they should have been, burying much of the primary music... and dialog.

Ronan Fournier · March 27th, 2019, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Hayes

I'm curious, what authoring software do you use for your Blu-Ray creation?

Hi Josh,
I work with Adobe Encore which I bough with CS6. It used to work great until High Sierra, after that I have some issues. Anyway, because of the DTS compression software, I have to work on an old Mac Pro running on OS 10.8 for the authoring…

Ronan Fournier · March 27th, 2019, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

FWIW, Many folks avoid multichannel mixes unless they can audition their films ahead of time in the festival theater. In my experience, many are not calibrated correctly (or not calibrated at all) An acquaintance's film played back without the center channel and he did not have a stereo or mono back-up. At another festival the surround speakers were about 6dB (SPL) louder than they should have been, burying much of the primary music... and dialog.

Hi Rick,
You are right. The DTS 5.1 soundtrack on my blu-ray works very well in home cinemas.
But I had a strange experience in a theater in a festival so now I send to festival a stereo PCM soundtrack.

Josh Hayes · March 28th, 2019, 11:33 AM

Yeh I had Toast Titanium and it worked fine until High Sierra also. I reached out to Corel/Toast about it and had shockingly bad customer service surrounding it. I'm not super picky about customer service like some folks are but even for me it was incredibly bad. Interesting to know that there are similar problems on audition. I need to be able to author my blue rays here in about 6 weeks and still don't know what I'm going to do. I wanted to purchase a Blu-Ray duplicator and go full speed ahead but not sure I'll be able to now.

Ryan, good point. We ended up having the last bit of the budget left to have a full blown sound mix from Benchmark Studios in LA, but anybody who knew sound mixes cautioned me the same. Center channel for dialogue and a bunch of other constants, as well as previewing in a theatre are must haves if you're screening it to audiences theatrically for festivals or any other reasons.... Very good point.

January 10th, 2019, 01:51 AM	#1
Josh Hayes Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: San Francisco, Ca Posts: 264	FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? Hi friends. If I missed this thread already existing, let me know and I'll delete this. Didn't come up in a search. I have a finished feature length documentary and I've done all the sound work I can. It's to the point where when people screen it on their tvs they don't hear bad sound. But It still deserves a good sound mix, but I just don't have the budget for it. Ugh. Anyway, in the meantime, I'd like to take a stab at least getting it into 3.1 or 5.1 for when it's film festivals (I know about the need for DCP as well but that's for a different time). However when I lookup info on attempting a Surround Sound Mix out of FCPX, most of the articles are from a really long time ago like 2012 and 2013. Has anybody successfully done this at all, or more recently (or both)? I have version 10.4.4. I can't tell if the lack of info is because it doesn't work, or just people don't attempt it much or who knows what.

January 14th, 2019, 02:05 PM	#2
Jonathan Levin Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Chicago, Illinois USA Posts: 692	Re: FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? Here is something from April 2018: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12575...ewlocale=en_US __________________ "Fearless Fernando Hernandez: A Fighter's Journey"" Jonathan Levin Photography & Video

March 26th, 2019, 11:52 AM	#3
Ronan Fournier Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Paris, France Posts: 201	Re: FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? Hi Josh, It is very easy to do so with FCP-X. First, I edit my project in stereo and attribute roles for : direct camera sounds (aka ITW), ambiant sounds, music, and narration. Then I export each role in a single wave file. I create a new 5.1 project in FCP-X and copy / paste the video clips of my stereo edit. I import all the wave audio files from each role. For each soundtrack, I choose "create a surround space" (or something like that). I adjust the cursor in order to have less or more surround effect front position for narration, but more surround for music and ambiant sounds for instance). Then I export the mix in a 5.1 wave file. I can compress this file in 5.1 AC3 or DTS with Surcode Encoder DTS HD for Compressor 3 (unfortunately that works only on old 10.8 Mac OS so I keep an old Mac Pro only for that!). And then I can do Blu-ray with DTS-HD Master Audio Sound. I'm sorry for my awful english but I hope this can help! __________________ http://www.songesdemoai.com/

March 27th, 2019, 05:48 AM	#4
Josh Hayes Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: San Francisco, Ca Posts: 264	Re: FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? Hi Ronan! You're English isn't awful at all and this was very helpful. Thank you so much for the info! I'm curious, what authoring software do you use for your Blu-Ray creation?

March 27th, 2019, 08:31 AM	#5
Rick Reineke Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New York Posts: 2,039	Re: FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? FWIW, Many folks avoid multichannel mixes unless they can audition their films ahead of time in the festival theater. In my experience, many are not calibrated correctly (or not calibrated at all) An acquaintance's film played back without the center channel and he did not have a stereo or mono back-up. At another festival the surround speakers were about 6dB (SPL) louder than they should have been, burying much of the primary music... and dialog.

March 28th, 2019, 11:33 AM	#8
Josh Hayes Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: San Francisco, Ca Posts: 264	Re: FCPX - Anybody make a surround sound mix at all or recently? Yeh I had Toast Titanium and it worked fine until High Sierra also. I reached out to Corel/Toast about it and had shockingly bad customer service surrounding it. I'm not super picky about customer service like some folks are but even for me it was incredibly bad. Interesting to know that there are similar problems on audition. I need to be able to author my blue rays here in about 6 weeks and still don't know what I'm going to do. I wanted to purchase a Blu-Ray duplicator and go full speed ahead but not sure I'll be able to now. Ryan, good point. We ended up having the last bit of the budget left to have a full blown sound mix from Benchmark Studios in LA, but anybody who knew sound mixes cautioned me the same. Center channel for dialogue and a bunch of other constants, as well as previewing in a theatre are must haves if you're screening it to audiences theatrically for festivals or any other reasons.... Very good point.