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 How important is 5.1 for music DVD? 

How important is 5.1 surround sound for music DVD?
5.1 is essential 13%  13%  [ 3 ]
5.1 is nice but not essential 35%  35%  [ 8 ]
I never listen in surround 48%  48%  [ 11 ]
other response (please elaborate) 4%  4%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 23

 How important is 5.1 for music DVD? 
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Post How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
Hi everyone,

It's been suggested in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6957
that I release a DVD of videos from the AZUL sessions that I've been posting.

I was curious how important the 5.1 surround sound is to your listening experience, or if you don't think it's necessary.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide, it will really help me decie if this is something I want to do.

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Last edited by greg on Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:43 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music VD?
Wow

Good question. I have a theater room in my new house (it was already there I could never afford to build one), however most videos are watched in my studio through monitors. So I think it is smart to have 5.1 even though most of us will watch it in stereo. However the next time you come over Greg I will have a comfy seat and some popcorn ready for some Azul in the round?
:)

Brett


Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:24 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music VD?
As much as I hope to see 5.1 be the new thing to be popular, I wouldn't say it's even close to essential just yet

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Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:47 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
Since I ticked other response for my vote I feel obliged to post and elaborate. I have composed and mixed 5.1 for DVD and think it is a fantastic option for surround music. But for listening I rarely bother setting up those extra speakers in the room. Also, a lot of music that has been "re-mixed for surround" sounds horrible because it wasn't composed for surround in the first place and what fun is there to suddenly hear a kick drum slamming under a book shelf or hearing Jeff Beck bending a string behind your livingroom sofa? But then there is a lot of computer game music that is actually produced for surround and that brings an extra level of awesomeness if playing the game on just a simple PC with a simple computer 5.1 system set up. You hear scary monsters approaching from behind and if you turn into a cave the corresponding huge ambience is all around you.

What I do miss is music that was made for surround - but here 5.1 is not the format I like the most; eight full range speakers in a circle or the diamond shaped setting is more fun listening through (or using for your own music) since the composer can place any sound anywhere - while the 5.1 system is biased by the cinema venue tradition where people are supposed to look at a screen up front and follow dialog voices that never emanate from outside that screen.

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Last edited by Per Boysen on Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:21 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
5.2 is very nice. I like to buy 5.1 mixes of albums I consider to be outstanding, if available. But more often than not it can be disappointing, because as Per says the music was not meant to be in 5.1 so there are common mistakes made; I've noticed that in many of these mixes the center channel is too loud and also I get the impression that they just didn't know how to distribute all the channels from the original recording, and the end result is just distracting. There are however some very nice surround mixes; Dark Side of the Moon is probably my favorite, but that album was meant to be in surround from the start (quad, originally, but the transition to 5.1 was very straightforward). The new surround mix of King Crimson's Discipline made by Steven Wilson is really good, specially considering that it was originally just stereo. The Downward Spiral by nine inch nails is just awesome in 5.1, that's a good example of what to do with a recording that has so many little details, background and ambient sounds, etc. And Rush's Snakes & Arrows is also excellent, particularly the drums, which you can hear as if you were sitting in Neil's drumset.

I would say: If you want to do a 5.1 recording, you should first listen to some existing surround mixes to get an idea of what to do and what to avoid. Using surround sound doesn't mean you have to put instruments all over the available channels; sometimes more subtle effects work much better, like hearing a guitar/bass/trumpet/whatever in front of you but then the delay & reverb "travel" across the room and up sounding behind you. That sort of thing.


Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:45 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
I don't care, I even don't know what 5.1 and 5.2 are :oops: :)
Just want some sounds and images to be matched together, and some navigation buttons ;). Pretty simple, eh?

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Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:23 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
grozoeil wrote:
I don't care, I even don't know what 5.1 and 5.2 are :oops: :)
Just want some sounds and images to be matched together, and some navigation buttons ;). Pretty simple, eh?



X.Y refers to the number of speakers arranged in a surround set up. X being the number of standard frequency speakers, and Y being the number of sub woofers. In a 5.1 setup you would have 5 speakers, arranged with a front (L/R) stereo pan, a rear stereo pan, one center channel speaker in front, and a sub woofer placed somewhere (relation to the other speakers isn't as important due to the way the human ear perceives very low frequencies. Just so that it sounds good in the room).

Hope I have that right.

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Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:34 am
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
Quote:
and a sub woofer placed somewhere (relation to the other speakers isn't as important due to the way the human ear perceives very low frequencies. Just so that it sounds good in the room).

Hope I have that right.


Almost... for some reason, the subwoofer sounds ways better if you place it to the left. I didn't know about this until I had someone install my 5.1 speakers permanently in my living room; I had the subwoofer a bit to the right of the center speaker, this guy told me about having the subwoofer on the left and moved it temporarily there to hear the difference and it was very noticeable. I guess that even though you don't really notice the origin of those low-frequency sounds, you hear them better when they come from the left...


Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:47 pm
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
I've also generally found that the most interesting surround music stuff I've heard was conceived to be in surround; either works composed in surround or live events recorded in surround. I think having a clear concept of why you want to do surround should be the main starting point.

Sub placement is actually critical to the overall sound of a surround rig. Although low frequencies are less directional, they interact with the room quite a bit. So setting the sub up in the right place is essential to try to deal with bass loading, room modes, or cancellation. Some great info here: <http://www.genelec.com/faq/multichannel/90-where-is-the-best-place-to-position-the-subwoofer-in-a-room/>


Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:40 pm
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Post Re: How important is 5.1 for music DVD?
enrique wrote:
Almost... for some reason, the subwoofer sounds ways better if you place it to the left. I didn't know about this until I had someone install my 5.1 speakers permanently in my living room; I had the subwoofer a bit to the right of the center speaker, this guy told me about having the subwoofer on the left and moved it temporarily there to hear the difference and it was very noticeable. I guess that even though you don't really notice the origin of those low-frequency sounds, you hear them better when they come from the left...
That's interesting! It must be the opposite then in case the audience is left handed (meaning this really comes from the way our ears and brain deal with low frequency detection)? For Stick concerts I sometimes use a small PA rig with one sub and two satellites so I guess I should stuff away the sub somewhere on my right side then to make it "a bit left of center" from the audience perspective?

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Tue Nov 05, 2013 6:11 am
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