Here is a procedure for a basic 5 channel project consiting of one stereo pair for the front speakers, a mono track for the center, and a stereo pair for the rear speakers.

1. First make a copy of your FCP surround project and name it as such.
i.e. My Project saved as My Project_surround

This will leave your original project untouched as a two channel mix should you wish to provide the user of your DVD with a seperate mix optimized for stereo only playback.

2. Change audio track assignments.

"My Project_surround" will now not play all tracks in your stereo audio monitoring environment unless you have a soundcard with at least 5 outputs feeding a surround speaker set-up. (or you use the Audio Mixer from the Tools drop down to monitor a downmix to two channels)

3. Open My Project_surround.

Let's assume that your timeline has a stereo pair "A1/A2" for the front L/R speakers, a mono file "A5" for the Center, and a stereo pair "A3/A4" for the rear speakers, Ls, Rs.

4. Use command "0" (zero) to open the project properties.

5. Go to the Audio Outputs tab.

6. Choose 6 from the Outputs Tab.

in the 1/2 grouping choose stereo (leave downmix at "0").
in the 3/4 grouping choose stereo (leave downmix at "0")
in the 5/6 grouping choose "dual mono" (turn off 6 using the downmix drop-down)

7. Click OK. (ignore the warning that pops up)

In your timeline we will assign your tracks to the appropriate output channels.

8. In the empty gray area next to the lock icon on track A1 right click, or control click, and you will get a dropdown menu:

In the audio outputs sub menu choose 1 & 2.
Do the same for A2. (choose 1 & 2)
For A3 and A4 use the same procedure now choosing outputs 3 & 4.
For A5 choose 5.

9. Save the project.

10. In FCP export menu choose Export/Audio to AIFF(s)
(create a new folder on your media drive to hold your exported files)

You will get four files named after the project appended by: 1-2, 3-4, 5 and 6.

Delete "6" as it is a dummy/empty file.

11. Close your project.

12. Close FCP.

13. Open Compressor. In the batch window click on the speaker icon to open the "import surround sound group".

14. In the graphical interface either drag the file with the 1-2 suffix to the left speaker icon, or click the icon and choose the file.

Compressor will intelligently assign the left channel of the file.

15. Repeat by dragging or choosing the same file for the right speaker.
Compressor will intelligently assign the right channel of the file.

16. For the mono center file either drag the file with the "5" suffix to the center speaker icon, or click the icon and choose the file.

Use the same procedure for the Ls and Rs assignments.

17. Once done click OK.

18. Click to select your new group in the Batch window and from the dropdown menu choose "audio formats/Dolby 5.1"

Setting up your Dolby settings as a preset for this project is now up to you.

Last update: 02:50 PM Sunday, December 10, 2006