Surround sound: for some apps—DVD, cinema spots and films—this format is taking off, but what about TV?

Post, Oct, 2003 by Christine Bunish

"Some DVD titles prefer to stay stereo, usually for budgetary reasons, but we're doing a lot more 5.1 with everything," Kovats reports. "It's seen as a bonus to say you have surround audio, but we always include a 2.0 mix with 5.1 because a lot of homes still don't have surround."

Kovats is currently working on mixing bonus content for seasons of Hercules, Xena and Highlander going to DVD from Davis/Panzer Productions. "The DVDs are authored through BI, and I'm recording and mixing the bonus material in 5.1," he explains. Kovats supervises the recording sessions at area facilities like Keep Me Posted, where he used to work.

Another project, from BI's own production division, involves remastering show content and all bonus material and menus for a best of Blue Torch DVD series. The extreme sports program aired on Fox Sports Net.

"I handle everything within ProTools|HD," says Kovats. "A lot of third parties are creating interesting and excellent sounding plug-ins for Pro Tools, but still the best thing you can have is a good ear." He notes that "clients and budgets will dictate" the future capabilities of BI's surround room, which he built to deliver 5.1 and more. "I can give clients whatever they need. I can do 7.1 with the TASCAM and just need to add a couple more speakers. BI has all the creative and technical assets needed for the tasks ahead."

SURROUND FOR CINEMA SPOTS

AudioEngine partner/mixer Rex Recker is known as the go-to guy for surround cinema spots, which he's been mixing since his days at the now-shuttered Photomag. Although NYC-based AudioEngine (www.audioengine.net) is committed to 5.1, Recker hasn't experienced a demand yet for 5.1 broadcast commercials and reports that not even all cinema spots are 5.1.

"Only a quarter of cinema spots are mixed for surround," Michael Porte, another AudioEngine partner, reminds us. "You can tell which cinema spots didn't make the extra effort to create a 5.1 soundtrack," Recker observes, "They pale by comparison in a pod of 5.1 spots."

Recker has been mixing cinema commercials in AudioEngine's Studios A and B, which currently have Avid AudioVision systems (soon to be replaced by ProTools|HD) and Soundtracs DPC-II consoles, Studio D, created especially for Recker, just came online in September It also boasts a Pro Tools|HD system and a mixer-in-the-round configuration, which puts Pecker in the center of the room and his clients around him so everyone is "more enveloped in the 5.1 soundscape" instead of the mixer being the only one in the sweet spot.

Recker did the 5.1 international theatrical mix of a broadcast spot from Publicis/NY for Heineken Beer with a movie tie-in to Matrix Reloaded, which features the signature Matrix moment in which the camera stops while a 360-degree sweep continues. To capture this effect in sound, Recker mixed 360-degree whooshing sound effects by Mackenzie Cutler sound designer Marc Healy. "It was a really powerful use of the 5.1 mixing environment," says Pecker. "I started left of center and went clockwise around the room. The subwoofer was the point-one that gave it strength, weight, power and awe."