Specifications

Pro Tools Reference Guide504
Unlike the typical living room, movie theaters
are large spaces with speakers placed widely
apart. Due to distance, sounds panned discretely
to the front right speaker, for example, might be
inaudible in the opposite corner. To avoid this
problem, variable divergence lets you control
the panning width, in order to widen the sound
source. This results in signals spreading into ad-
jacent speakers, even when panned 100% to an
individual speaker.
Where to Get More Information on
Surround Technology
The table below lists several sites that are good
starting points for your research into the con-
stantly evolving world of surround sound pro-
duction.
Surround Mixing Concepts
As in stereo mixing and mastering, the goal in
surround mixing is to provide the best sounding
mix to the greatest number of potential listen-
ers. Doing so for surround mixes requires many
of the same techniques used for professional ste-
reo production, plus several unique factors that
are introduced in the following sections.
Surround Format Compatibility
Pro Tools lets you mix in surround and create
multichannel masters, consisting of four, six, or
more tracks that comprise an LCR, 5.1, or other
format mix.
◆ Whenever necessary, multichannel mixes can
be transferred as discrete, unencoded, multi-
track masters. Track layout requirements vary by
format (see “Importing Multichannel
I/O Setups” on page 510 for more information).
◆ Consumer playback systems don’t necessarily
support every format. Downmixing occurs when
a specific format mix has to be created from an-
other. (A typical example of this is listening to a
DVD's 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack downmixed
to stereo.)
To anticipate the effects of surround encode and
decode, as well as potential downmixing, pro-
fessional surround mixes are monitored
through appropriate encoding and decoding
processors. Monitor controller systems let engi-
neers hear their mix through different speakers
and configurations for reference, as well as com-
pare factors such as different bass management
settings and their effect.
Divergence options in Pro Tools are ex-
plained in “Divergence” on page 534.
Resources for surround specifications and information
Surround Specifications Web Site
Dolby Surround/Pro Logic www.dolby.com
Dolby Digital www.dolby.com
Dolby Surround EX www.dolby.com
DTS www.dtsonline.com
SDDS www.sony.com
THX www.thx.com