exporting audio in 5.1 what to do to realize a dvd

[David Aliperti]

hi, what is the right path to use, i have just edited a video in final cut pro, i sent my sequence (containing a aimple audio track mono ) to soundtrack, there i added effects, music etc. now i want to understand, assuming that destinatin of my work is a dvd pro with audio in 5.1 ac3 what is better to do?
i though at two path

- exporting audio from soundtrack in ac3 , 5.1 panning any single channel at surround panner and exporting with ac3 alghorithm, reopening in final cut pro and exporting there dvd

- exporting from soundtrack 6 bounced mono tracks (mixed corrrrectly with right positioning of any audio elements) and importing them in COMPRESSOR and there with video exported with none audio from FCP combining my dvd



what do you do usually?
thanks

[Gary Nattrass]

Even though I have 5.1 with my pro tools set-up I tend to keep things simple and stick to stereo for 99% of my projects.

As an ex pro dubbing mixer I would not attempt 5.1 unless the production absolutely needed it or had the budget to do it.

So whilst 5.1 has its uses you need to ask yourself is all the extra work involved worth it when most of the people that view your completed project will be listening in stereo?

[David Aliperti]

just to experience it, at the moment

[Gary Nattrass]

Ahh I see, have a look at this site it has some good tools for working with and encoding 5.1:Neyrinck Audio

[Richard Crowley]

Originally Posted by David Aliperti

just to experience it, at the moment

Can you do the experiment and try it both ways? It sounds like an interesting exercise. Please report back here and let us know what you discovered.