Calling 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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stephen
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"The best education in film is to make one."
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Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 9/24/2005, 10:44 PM
You see, when your subwoofer cutoff is set to 80hz, it's not like falling off a cliff.
There is considerable response above that frequency, it rolls off at a certain number of db/octave and overlaps your smaller speakers up to about 160 hz.
If 80hz is the recommended crossover frequency, stick with it because that's what the manufacturer has determined will give the smoothest response.
If the bass sounds OK to you, it probably is. The two litmus tests are to:
1) compare your own mixed project to a reference recording that you like over your speakers; and,
2) play your mixed project on other people's systems and configurations, and see how it sounds.
stephenv2 wrote on 9/30/2005, 6:54 PM
I've just installed an Outlaw Audio Bass management box - very nice. It addresses all these issues in a very nice package.

Just now trying to figure out if I need to leave LFE cutoff filter activated or not....