Specifications

5.1-Channel Production Guidelines Equipment
4-11
4.2 Recorder/Storage
The evolution of non-linear multitrack digital audio recording and editing have made
multichannel production for 5.1 commercial releases attainable by a large community
of audio production engineers. While conceptualizing a multichannel project of
whatever media type (digital audio workstations or modular digital audio recorders),
in both recording and mixing a multichannel audio project it is important to budget
the appropriate amount of audio tracks. An audio track may not be limited to fixed
audio tape tracks, but rather may be in reference to hard disk space or RAM. For a
5.1-channel audio mixdown, a good starting point is allocating six to eight tracks of
audio (or corresponding disk space and/or RAM) for the final delivery tracks at the
appropriate bit resolution and sampling rate. For work pertaining to DVD video, it is
important to remember the 48-kHz sampling rate for the relationship to video. When
audio is used with a visual application such as laser disc, time code is also required.
Please review Section 6.4, Time Code for more information on time code as it applies
to production.
Common audio formats currently being used include those of digital audio
workstations such as Digidesign’s ProTools, Studio Audio’s SaDie, Digital Audio
Labs V8 with Minnetonka’s MX51, as well as modular digital audio recorders such as
Tascam’s DA88/DA98, Alesis’ ADAT, and Fairlight’s Digital Audio Dubber. While
new media formats continue to be introduced into the market, the most common
current delivery is on eight-track modular digital multitrack tape such as the Tascam
DA88 format. Frequently, times-two mixes will exist on the same delivery medium to