Create 5.1 from 5.0 [Archive]

Catman

6th January 2006, 11:40

Hi!

I have a movie, which has 5.0 sound (subwoofer channel is mixed into the other channels). On my 5.1 speaker system it sounds awful. My idea was, that I create the subwoofer channel by combining all the other channels. What do you say, will this work? What program should I use to do this?

ursamtl

6th January 2006, 14:03

Catman,

The way 5.1 systems are designed, audio that falls below the crossover frequency will be played through the subwoofer, regardless of whether it is contained in the .1 channel or the other 5 channels. Therefore, your system is already creating your "subwoofer" channel for you. For example, if your system's crossover frequency is set to 100Hz, then all frequencies in any of the channels that are below this level are directed to the subwoofer. If you put them in a separate .1 channel, they are still going to be directed to the subwoofer.

Since the result is still not to your liking, creating a separate .1 channel in the usual way (rerouting all bass frequencies below the crossover) will not improve the sound at all. You could try boosting the bass with EQ, but that can get very tricky. You could also use compression/limiting on the bass. This is what the Classic limiter in my Bidule layout for the V.I plugin does. It compresses the deep bass below 60Hz and runs it through the LFE channel to give more oomph to the bass.

I'd say the first step is to play the movie through your system and crank the bass control a bit. Does it improve the sound to your liking? If so, then doing some sort of processing to create a new version might be in order. On the other hand, it might just be a lot easier to turn up the bass whenever you watch the movie. You're not going to add sound that isn't there by creating a 0.1 channel. You're just going to reroute what's already there.

Remember, LFE does not equal subwoofer. They are two completely different things.

Regards,
Steve.