Thankyou, however whilst it does say ''Mixing Down'' in the window bar (whilst the movie exports onto my laptop),
the audio still does have a surround-sound feel to it (and so picks up the background air-flow sound of the room).

Is there any way to remove this surround-sound even more?

@Apollo89x

When you import these projects is the project set up for 5.1 surround sound?

You could try setting the project up for stereo, and then pulling down the relevant faders for the rear L/R and center/LFE tracks and then exporting.

Unfortunately, I don't have any 5.1 videos to try this out to see if this will work.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

. . . . . You could try setting the project up for stereo, and then pulling down the relevant faders for the rear L/R and center/LFE tracks and then exporting. . . . .

There is no option for setting up the audio in the project settings - this is done in the mixer - see this .

The video shows the following:

Playback of a Surround sound video with :

1. Mixer swith Surround Sound turned off (default setting) - only the front L + R channels meters are moving
    
2. Mixer set to 5.1 surround sound on - all channels meters are moving

By default if 5.1 surround sound is not activated in the mixer - you only get standard stereo.

The rest of the video shows that AVCHD has the option to use surround sound on export, mp4 has no options available to export using surround sound.

The export presets for mp4 whether using the Intel (Default) codec or MainConcept do not allow for Surround Sound export, only exporting as AVCHD can you use surround sound.

HTH

John EB

@johnebaker

Hi John.

I tried to make sense of your video but I'm not getting any audio explanation. (assuming there is an audio track).

Just looking at the video though it would still be possible to reduce the output of the rear and if needed central faders and then selecting a stereo output yes?

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

I have added a description of what you see in the video in my previous post.

I have uploaded the original video clip, used in the example I gave, to here for you to test .

John EB

Hi John.

I have a problem. The file according to MediaInfo is 5.1 surround sound but it will only import into MEP as a stereo file. I have all my soundcards outputs active. MEP is set to use Direct sound and a 5.1 configuration. I have read pages 198 and 199 of the manual and can't understand why it's not importing as it shows in your video.

Still, looking at your video. if you don't activate the 5.1 mixer is it possible to set the rear speakers to off or reduce their output?

You say "By default, if 5.1 surround sound is not activated in the mixer - you only get standard stereo." but is that a routed mixdown of all the channels or just the front two speaker channels?

I'll admit this all seems much harder without the use of group sends and knowing for sure where each channel is being sent to.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

. . . . can't understand why it's not importing as it shows in your video . . . .

Normal display is one video/one sound track. To see all the channels select the video object and right click, select Audio functions, Display Channels - the audio will then appear as in the video.

You can then mute, adjust their level, add some audio effects or add volume curve to them.

The audio tracks are: top = Front L/R, middle = Centre/LFE and bottom = Rear L/R audio.

. . . . you only get standard stereo." but is that a routed mixdown of all the channels or just the front two speaker channels . . . .

Testing shows it is a mix down of all channels.

Additionally if you want to replace the audio you have to extract the audio channels, instead of display, the only thing to note is that the Centre and LFE have limited high frequency response and the rear L/R have limited bass response.

HTH

John EB

Hi John.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

Just as an aside, you can't get that command to split the file to come up if you create proxy files. (Well, at least I couldn't)

The other thing was, I couldn't get the LF channel to un-mute but I could get the center channel to come out of either the left or the right front speakers, but not both at once.

In some ways it's a brilliant layout, but in others I can see it being difficult to work with if you were building a 5.1 surround track up. I can see the sense of limiting what the LF channel is doing, but not why the center channel behaves in the way it does.

It does seem possible to reduce the rear channel input on the mixdown by dragging the rear speaker positions down and the audio itself down to the bottom of the graphics. It's difficult to tell as all the channels seem to have little difference in the sounds captured. You can see in the picture below the relevant gain in the track 4 Graphics box.

Thank you for the loan of the file. It has been an education.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

The LFE (Low Frequency Effects) channel is an optional channel in 5.1 surround sound and is the .1 designation in the naming system.

It handles, as its name implies the sub 120Hz or 80Hz frequencies (depends on the setting in the sound system) and can go down to 20Hz with no more than a 3dB drop in sound level.

It may be that your system does support the .1 channel so it cannot be used and is sending the centre to both left and right front speakers.

HTH

John EB

@johnebaker

I have a 450w RMS Tannoy Reveal sound system John, in an acoustically damped room measuring 9' x 7' and 7 and half feet high. The ceiling has two foot of Rockwool above it with an additional air gap of one foot above that. The room is below my garage and the sidewalls are studded with two layers of Rockwool behind them. The room is made of engineering brick and has concrete floor and ceiling. (It has to, I have a car above my head 😀) No windows. The door is 5 inches thick. The walls, door and ceiling are covered with acoustic tiling. Think of it as being similar to a studio control room rather than a studio itself. The Tannoy speakers are all bi-wired with the satellite speakers having a 65Hz-20kHz 100w rating and the Sub is 15" with a class AB 5.1 amplifier delivering 70w to the side satellite speakers and 100w to both the center and bass units. The bass unit covers 20Hz to 150Hz but can be switched to go as high as 500Hz. All channels have phase switches with the amp built into the sub unit. All the satellite units are the same as the center unit, not the usual Reveal units one would use. My whole system is black though not brown as in the image below. I got it very cheap some years back in a closing down sale when TurnKey of London closed.

Janis Ian and Barbara Thompson never sounded so good 😉

The system is working as it should with my DAW and plays BluRay discs just fine.

I will try and see if I can export your video sound as a multi channel wav. file and see if I can split it further in Cubase.

@CubeAce

That is a superb audio system, and the room sounds very similar to a friends recording studio.

Which the audio card/chipset are you using in the PC?

John EB

Hi John.

That is a bit of a sore point.

Every time I've upgraded a Windows operating system I've had to buy a new soundcard as the drivers for my older cards never got updated. I started out with a Creative Audigy card but soon moved to a Yamaha DX1 I think, (something like that) it was expensive but had a full Yamaha DX synth chip built in as well as digital phase and reverb chips. The MIDI clock was amazingly accurate but support stopped with Win 98. Then I had a Terratec DMX 6 Fire which was good but support stopped when I went 64 bit. Now I have a Tascam US-16x08 – USB as an audio/MIDI Interface which doesn't fit in my PC case and is just more wiring laying around with more inputs than I need. But I also have lying around, Amplifiers from Cambridge Audio, NAD and Arcam Alpha, some Spendor Sp1 and Rogers LS4a's I've rarely used. Plus a few odd machines like minidisc players, Turntables etc. My pride and joy though is my Revox A77 half track 7.5/15ips open real deck which is still in mint condition that I bought when I was eighteen, and I still have a few unopened 10" reels of tape in reserve. It doesn't get used much since I had new heads put on (There is a firm that still services old Revox machines) and a lot of my old tapes have been digitised due to even the BASF Pro 50 tape I used to use in now showing signs of oxide shedding despite resealing them in poly bags with beeswax in them. That and the signal to noise ratio doesn't really stack up anymore on a modern system. Over the years I've had more audio equipment than I can remember from just about every major manufacturer except JBL for reasons I can't fathom, but I hope I don't have to ever have to buy much more in the future. The reason for all that is I have a huge record and tape collection (well a few thousand singles, about 800 albums, I'm not sure how many CDs and mini discs and about 300 open reel tapes) left over from my time working in recording studios and doing discos in the 70s and subsequent collections. Really my musical tastes stopped with artists around the mid-eighties but go back as far as recorded music goes once cylinders stopped being used 😆 I also don't mind classical music but I would prefer to go a concert than listen to a recording.

@CubeAce

Hi

The other thing was, I couldn't get the LF channel to un-mute but I could get the center channel to come out of either the left or the right front speakers, but not both at once.

In some ways it's a brilliant layout, but in others I can see it being difficult to work with if you were building a 5.1 surround track up. I can see the sense of limiting what the LF channel is doing, but not why the center channel behaves in the way it does.

The LF channel is silent or at -90db by default in the graphic display for the 3 tracks, except for track 3 the LFE / Center track where it is 0db. To distribute some base from the front 2 channels to the LFE you would need to increase the diameter of the L & R sound fields in track 2 by dragging the mouse over the Width box.

As I think you have found you can drag the red sound fields around together with the mouse or individually with Ctrl or Alt. and influence the output of the various speakers.

The adjustments to the individual tracks are limited in the Display Additional tracks mode but if you Rt click> Extract Additional tracks then it creates 3 individual .WAV files that can be adjusted individually after ungrouping, and will display the correct graphic representation of the waveform level for each track.

I do not use the Direct sound program setting because it increases processor loading markedly. Wave driver seems to do everything that you need.

@johnebaker

extract the audio channels, instead of display, the only thing to note is that the Centre and LFE have limited high frequency response and the rear L/R have limited bass response.

How have you ascertained this John? Surely this is as a result of the mic or camera set up?

@Apollo89x

the audio still does have a surround-sound feel to it (and so picks up the background air-flow sound of the room).

Is there any way to remove this surround-sound even more?

If you Display the additional channels as described earlier and just mute the 3rd and 4th track at the left of the timeline, then export as Stereo (or Surround) then it will get rid of the sound picked up by the additional mics in the camera.

Peter