SH should NOT mix surround material because he has no internal passion for it. When he commented that about giving the 5.1 fans their jollies, it was to meet external perceived notions of discrete surround fans, NOT something his own heart and brain could process, accept, comprehend and find personal joy in.
My 7/15 post about "reality & mixing" on becausesoundmatters.com:
There are indeed two surround mixing philosophies; but my definitions are: a) "wow, this is amazing enveloping experience" or b) "are those damn things even on back there?"
I really don't care much for b) unless classical and I can get that effect 98% with 2.0 stereo recordings and DSP/matrix decoding so we've already got that with any recording we own.
There is this tendency to cling to the notion of what is "proper" in the sound field but even stereo 2.0 studio albums are an ILLUSION. Everyone needs to get over that 'proper' notion!
These finished recordings have little to do with an acoustic presence save for the one that is artifically created in the finished product. Given the overdubs world of the last 40 years (how many studios over weeks, months or years, recorded dry and then reverb'd) and ProTools (silly putty control) world of the last 15 years, this precious belief is largely absurd.
Often many of these same people put down live albums without even realizing the contradiction. But that's another post.
Mixers take note: If you don't have an aggresive purposeful vision for a surround mix in your heart, spare us and don't do it! We'll suggest someone who can paint the picture in a more breathtaking manner. "paging Elliot Scheiner - you have a call on line 3"....
