Some advice re Surround 5.1 working and reverbs

Steinberg Lounge
1

Hi,
I have been away from Cubase for a while and now want to create projects for the theatre , in Surround.


OK so I am a fool :slight_smile: :laughing: :blush: :stuck_out_tongue:

Its going to be a lot of work so I want to set up right, learn a bit more as I go…


I am currently setting up a template to deal with this. The stuff I weant to use is EWQL Platinum Orchestra Halion Strings (latest H SE version), Halion Kontakt Absynth and the spectrasonics stuff) all up to date versions. I am working in 64 bit with 12 gig of Ram.
I have just managed to set up a template for the Full Halion Orchestra and have all the expression maps working. This can be a base template to enhance.

Note: I will share this project when I have it up and running.

I have very meticulously set up expression maps, put everything into folders in score layout and matched each folder with an instance of Halion Sonic SE so that everything is portable - theoretically… I um hope!

I now want to set up the mixer to get the placement of the instruments and the reverb going.

I have set up Reverence as an |FX channel, set the reverb to max and cotrolled it using pre fader sends on each channel


Now I don’t really understand how to think 'Surround 5.1 ’ in this way. Halion Sonic SE is a stereo instrument and the samples are recorded in stereo. The stereo image can obviously be moved around the Surround stage.

Now Reverence is… I think … capable of surround??? Well … maybe…?

When I look for presets I can filter by channels, but there are no entries under 5.1. I suppose they have not been sampled? I think then this reverb only haldes 4 channels?

I have also heard a bit about all the impulse reverb products being the same and ti is the quality of the loaded reverb that is the making, or breaking, of the sound.

I feel a bit out of my depth on this Surround thing, how much of this have I got right? How much is wrong?

And Oh… by the way, (slightly off topic) if anyone knows of a decent Surround autopanner I ma looking everywhere. I know I can automate but I would rather have an autopanner that can spin sounds

I could do with a bit of help!


PS: When I am done understanding the mixer set up I shall post a link to the CPR here. Obviously this CPR will be set up for stereo for the folks in the bad world. The surround questions are for my personalproeject

2

I have done some mixing in 5.1 - not as much as I’d like because there just isn’t much demand for it here, unfortunately. I use Nuendo for this, which is considerably superior in its surround capabilities, but I believe Cubase is OK for up to 5.1.

Regarding the surround reverb, although you can use a true surround rev such as Altiverb, (not sure if Reverence can do it but would think so) it’s very possible to use 2 stereo reverbs - one for front L/R and the other for Ls and Rs. i usually set the rears with a longer version of the front, but set it low, to give an impression of the hall behind the listener.

The main thing is, experiment - surround mixing is great fun and there is a huge amount of space in the mix to play with compared with stereo. There are few rules to surround mixing - one of them is to be very cautious about putting bass instruments into the sub channel - many surround music mixers don’t use the channel at all, leaving it for movie FX.

Have fun!