5.1 vs Stereo?

[JT Thurlow]

I'm producing a documentary, of which I'm now planning for the audio mix, and am wondering if 5.1 is completely necessary, or advisable?

FYI the audio is very basic - just interviews and music.

From the quotes I've been getting, 5.1 seems to raise the costs hugely and would make things much, much more difficult as we are on a very limited budget.

In terms of deliverables, we need a DCP for our confirmed festival premiere; though we're considering asking if we can just use a digital file as the costs are so great for the surround mix and DCP itself.

In regard to potential distributors wanting or needing 5.1 - it's highly unlikely that the film will break out into a major theatrical release, though there may potentially be a limited theatrical/alternative theatrical release (we will be booking independent cinemas if not), and certainly home video and digital. Would distributors need 5.1 even if they are not planning a major theatrical release?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...

 

[Chris Henze]

For my last documentary, we did a Left, Right and Center for theatrical. Any studio that can do stereo can do it, so the costs don't go up. My mix sounded great in theaters. Since DCP's for theaters are either 20(Stereo) or 51(5.1) we just put files without any sound in the LFE and surround channels. This way you use the center channel for dialog and the Left and Right for music. It helps a lot for separation and clarity.

 

[Craig Parkes]

The advice from Chris is very sound, especially separating left, right and centre and using that as a 5.1 mix without surround elements - it's a huge difference having audio coming out from center in most cases, especially if it's narration or off camera IV style.

Generating a mix with those limitations should not be greatly more expensive, equally you should be able to get a DCP done very cost effectively for Festival Release - in fact these days you can likely do it yourself without too much bother if you have a decently spec'd edit suite.

 

[Marc Wielage]

There are good, affordable re-recording mixers out there who can take a basic stereo track and upmix it to a reasonable 5.1 track without a lot of time and expense. It's not ideal, but it's done all the time.

A better answer, though, is do a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign and raise more money for post. If you have a great idea for a film, don't skimp at the last minute and release it with marginal sound.

 

[Daniel Stilling]

BTW, just fyi, you can make a DCP yourself through Premiere CC. As easy as exporting to any other file format, you can make a DCP.
Done it myself and played in theaters without a hitch.

 

[Chris Henze]

Daniel I'm glad you had success with Wraptor DCP and PP. I at first depended upon it only to find out that it didn't work on the system where I was to premiere my movie because of a bug. With only hours to go I tried OpenDCP and that worked. That said, to make a DCP that will will work in every theater turned out to be fairly complicated.