Calling all bass management gurus

stephenv2 wrote on 9/22/2005, 1:43 PM
I'm trying to get my surround mixing setup to professional levels as I have a project I'm working on that requires my 5.1 mix to be ready for theatrical and commercial DVD release.

My current setup is Vegas 6 using a e-mu 1820 M card - Vegas audio preferences are set to "enable Low Pass Filter on LFE with a cut-off of 120hz" .

I'm running unbalanced out from e-mu to a Panasonic SA-XR25 Surround Sound Receiver that has usual setting for speakers (large, small) and a variable cutoff (100-150hz) but these DO NOT apply on the 5 channel analog input I am using. Nor can you adjust the speaker levels etc.

I have 4 Athena technologies bookshelf speakers, 1 Athena technologies center channel and the Athena Channel sub with crossover set to 80hz(recommended by Athena for this config in home theater environment).

The question is - can I make this work for critical surround mixing? I believe I'm losing bass info below 120 on the 5 main channel because their is no bass management in the speaker/receiver setup to account for my small bookshelf speaker size.

Help is much appreciated...
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Comments

Bob Greaves wrote on 9/25/2005, 5:05 AM
If you know what a well mixed example sounds like on your system and your system is less than ideal, it is possible to know what imbalance you are looking for as the indicator that your mix is well balanced.

Accurate monitors are preferable as are additional typical setups for comparison. I often mix things specifically for the environment of my church. Over the years I have learned the difference between my home system and the church response so that I am able to predict what it will sound like at church even though it sounds somewhat different in my studio.

So the answer is yes provided you develop a feel for the difference.
Spot|DSE wrote on 9/25/2005, 8:01 AM
Can you make it work for critical mixing? No.
Can you make it work for "in the ballpark?" Yes.

It's the same argument that happens for external broadcast video monitoring. The better the system, the more accurate your corrections will be simply because you can see/hear more accurately.
First though...understand just using the home stereo receiver vs a clean amp out only, is likely coloring your audio a fair amount. It may also be that the Athena system is coloring the mix. First thing I'd do, manual be damned, is to set the Xover at at least 100, and preferably 120Hz, to more closely be within home standards. Dolby's site has novel-length info on this.
Do your mixes. Go to a buddies house or better, find a theater that will let you put in a DVD to test. Listen to it, and find/note the deficiencies. If you can afford to jump back and forth like this, you can likely get it reasonably close. Jeffrey Fisher has some workarounds/suggestions for this in his "Instant Surround" book as well.

HTH
musicvid10 wrote on 9/25/2005, 8:45 AM
See also my response to your question in the Vegas Audio forum.
Cross-posting can be confusing..
Thanks.