Hey, community!
It's great to say hello to you all.
I was working on a 5.1 mix for a short film this week—an easy job for me, but still one I love doing.
However, I wonder if it's still worth working in this format considering that spatial sound and Dolby Atmos capabilities have expanded the spectrum to limits unimaginable just a few years ago.
What do you think? Is it worth continuing to offer this mix format, or is it time to take it a step further and make 7.1.4 the standard for cinema sound mixing?
On the one hand, we all know that a 5.1 mix will play flawlessly in 99% of movie theaters worldwide, while 7.1.4 is still reserved for large multinational chains.
But the freedom that 7.1.4 offers when working with objects is mind-blowing, and I think a good production deserves to be mixed in this format (unless the genre doesn't require such sophisticated audio mixing).
But other factors come into play here, such as investment in equipment and infrastructure, certifications, training, etc.
What do audio post-production professionals think?
I'd love to hear your comments.
4 people like this
Depends who you are mixing it for. If you want to impress sound engineers, then continue. If you want to impress distributors and other pipeline people who think a trademark is important, then continue. If you are mixing for the teensy percentage of audience who care, then continue.
But honestly, I have never found 5.1 and later miex worth it, not least because the 5.1 mix is (IMO) lousy on plain stereo (dialog is 9 out of 10 times too low for comfort) and that's what the vast majority of people use. Most of those are - and greater and greater people are watching on mobile devices and laptops and in my experience don't care and their only connection to the specific mix is noting that they like the sound on something because they can hear it, or don't like it because the noise is too loud to understand dialog.
3 people like this
Hi Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg What you said about downmixing from 5.1 to stereo is spot on.
Maybe I wasn’t super clear in my original post—I was mainly talking about mixes for movie theaters. And yeah, it’s true that fewer people are hitting the theaters these days, but at the same time, a lot of streaming viewers are investing in spatial sound setups like 7.1 soundbars.
That’s actually why spatial audio is gaining more ground—not the other way around.
About the imbalances you mentioned: in my workflow, I always start with a solid stereo mix, and then build the 5.1 from there, making sure the downmix still sounds as close as possible to the original stereo version.
One detail a lot of people seem to forget is this: if you’re mixing at -27 LKFS to meet dialogue standards and pass QC, your music shouldn’t be hitting -18 or louder. That kind of level disparity is exactly what’s starting to annoy more and more users—whether they’re in a theater or watching on a platform.
Also, a cool thing about the Dolby Atmos Renderer is that it now lets you adjust individual channel levels for downmixing, which helps (or should help) avoid the kind of issues you’re talking about.
1 person likes this
I second Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg - it all depends on who you are mixing for and the demand for it. I believe it's lucrative and would open the door for more opportunities. I personally would continue to refine the skillset and upgrade equipment as the demand calls for it.