Gonna attempt mixing my first 5.1

[sixandnine]

It's lockdown - I have time on my hands. I spent the 2 weeks or so making a short film. About half that time was composing a music soundtrack using GarageBand (my audio software doesn't extend beyond this at present). Now its done and I'm happy with the basic mix I've decided to experiment with 5.1 mixes, as Final Cut Pro allows this.

Since Garageband can only handle stereo or mono, I figure I'm going to lay down several tracks for import (probably in mono), that I can assign to specific speakers/speaker sets in FCP. It's gonna be crude, but I'm nevertheless excited. My first 5.1 creativity!

I've looked at some youtube tutorials but to be honest they have been quite poor, so I think I'd rather feel my way by trial and error. That said - I'd trust anyone's tips and tricks from this forum

 

[marpow]

Good for you, no help from me as I don't know how, but I will be watching this thread.

 

[beerking]

As will I
Sorry, don't have a scooby do!!

 

[jimfisheye]

Do yourself a favor and download an actual DAW app so you're not just beating your head against the wall with awkward tools not meant for the job. I recommend Reaper. Evaluate it as long as necessary with full features before buying.

 

[popshop]

Agreed. Reaper is very cheap - and there are current 90-day deals from logic and cubase with the stay at home angle.
I mix in 5.1 and am happy to answer any questions that come up.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211113https://new.steinberg.net/stayhome/(I use Nuendo (also a 60 day trial) and am not 100% sure on the cubase details)

 

[sixandnine]

Thanks for your suggestions jimfisheye and popshop. You both gave me a day off the project by throwing myself into auditioning reaper and logic. Perhaps I'll give cubase a pop today...

Finishing the soundtrack in Logic makes most sense, since the interface is so similar to GB I can get my head around it faster. But longer term - if I elect to keep up audio noodling instead of giving it to others who can do it properly(!) - Reaper is closer to what I can afford at the moment.

Outside my living room, the film itself is unlikely to play anywhere with surround set ups. I help organise film shows, but our own PA is stereo only and most of the PA installed-venues we use are too. However, if self indulgent, it is going to be fun experimenting. Just dropping some atmospherics in the surround speakers - which I've done in FCP already - have really opened up the feel of the film in really interesting ways , but have made me mindful of how the stereo balance gets thrown by this.

 

[pti]

I record my band's shows in 18-channel multitrack on an A&H mixer. I decided it would be fun to try a post-show surround mix a few years ago. Logic really made it very easy. While doing some bussing makes it easier, you can manage just by setting the outputs of individual tracks to Surround instead of Stereo. I was able to bring a bounce of that mix over to FCPX and render a Blu-ray with 5.1.