Using the MatrixEncoder with the 5.0 Surround Format

There are situations where you may want to mix for several surround formats. For example, you might need to mix the same material for 5.1 and LRCS.

5.1 is similar to LRCS. Omitting the LFE channel is easy, but more of a problem is that LRCS only has one surround channel whereas 5.1 has two.

For this reason, the MatrixEncoder sums up the surround channels to a mono signal.

Procedure

  1. Create your mix for 5.1.
  2. In the VST Connections window, create an output bus with a 5.0 channel configuration and route it to the physical outputs of your audio hardware.
  3. Run the mix through the MatrixEncoder.

Result

First, the two surround channels are merged to make the mix compatible with LRCS. Then, the four resulting signals are encoded as usual. This way, far fewer adjustments are necessary when working with 5.1 and LRCS at the same time.