Abhinav's Soundscapes

Project 2: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

(You're actually hearing the sound file in stereo because computers can't directly output surround sound.)

Thank you for joining me here at Project 2. Inspired by another ACTLab student, I wanted to encode something into a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound format. After many mistakes, crushed hopes, and stressful nights, I finally stumbled upon the correct sequence of file format conversions and programs necessary to convert the file formats.

Since it's likely that your computer will not output audio in surround sound, here are the individual tracks that would come out of each speaker (Front Left, Center, Front Right, Back Left, Back Right) if you were playing this file from a DVD player.

FL Speaker

C Speaker

FR Speaker

BL Speaker

BR Speaker

For this particular project, instructions are as follows:

Use free Internet program Download YouTube Videos to procure selected audio
Use free downloadable program AoAAudioExtractor to extract .wav audio file from .flv video file
Use audio editing software to arrange all .wav files

Note: For this step, you will need to imagine which sounds you want coming out of each speaker (Front Left, Center, Front Right, Back Left, Back Right) and edit one track per speaker.

Edit separate tracks for FL, FR, BL, and BR; mixdown the files at a lower volume, and use that track for the C speaker.

This is slightly difficult, because you'll hear the results in stereo out of your computer, but you need to think in surround sound (i.e. whether you want all other speakers to be silent when a certain speaker is outputting sound, the dynamics of one track so it doesn't overshadow another track or isn't overshadowed by another track).
Export each track as one separate .wav file (you should have five tracks total)
If you weren't using Mac's Sountrack to edit the audio, you'll need to import the individual tracks into Soundtrack (available in ACTLab) to encode into .ac3 format properly (.ac3 is the Dolby Digital Surround Sound format)

Select each imported track >> click on "Multi-track" >> click on "Surround Panner"

You'll see that each track now has a large circle with a smaller, white circle inside. For each track, click and drag the small, white circle towards the speaker from which you'd like that track to come out. Since you only exported five .wav files from Sountrack, you'll have one track per speaker.
Export all tracks together to .ac3 format

Click on "File" >> click on "Export"

Select "Master Mix" under "Export Items"
Select "Dolby Digital (AC-3)" under "File Type"
Import .ac3 file into DVD Studio Pro (available in ACTLab)
Use DVD Studio Pro to burn directly onto DVD-R

Note: As far as I know, you cannot output surround sound directly from your computer, so you'll have to play it out of a DVD player that is hooked up to surround sound. You may need multiple DVD-R's for trial and error because it is hard to think in surround sound when you're editing on a stereo computer.

I am interested in objectivity in media and news reporting, so I tried to go for a whirlwind effect by using audio from various 'newscasts' (i.e. CNN, FOXNews, Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews). Very few, you'll see, are actual news. Most blur the line between editorial and news with the same person calling the President stupid and then turning around and "objectively" "reporting" on the primaries.

The content of my project was inspired by the 1976 classic film Network, which tells of a disgruntled news anchor who sees the lies of his network and moves to tell people. Conspiracy, romance, murder, incentivized crime, emotional disorders, television - Network has it all. Peter Finch gives a stellar performance as a messiah-news anchor, and Faye Dunaway beautifully shows us a different side of a new-generation workaholic. They don't make movies like this anymore. Why? Well, you'll have to watch the film to find out.