Reference Guide

947
Configuring SONAR for surround mixing
Surround Mixing (Producer and Studio only)
The following table lists the downmixing settings in Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround and
gives a brief description of what the setting does. You can also manually enter other values besides
these preset ones.
To downmix a project
1. If you do not have a stereo bus in your project, create one by right-clicking in the Bus pane in the
Track view or Console view and selecting Insert Stereo Bus from the menu that appears.
2. Go to Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround, select a center downmix level and a surround
downmix level, and click OK.
3. In each of the surround buses, assign the output to a stereo bus.
4. Listen to your project through the stereo bus, and make any final adjustments to the stereo mix
by changing the values in Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround.
5. If you want to export your stereo mix, use the File > Export > Audio command. This command
obeys your downmix settings.
See:
“Panning in surround” on page 948
Downmixing Setting Options
Center Downmix Level (dB) These options determine how much of the center is mixed to the left and
right.
• -3 dB
. Maintains the same level of center channel sound when you
listen in a typically reverberant room
• -4.5 dB
. A compromise level between -3dB and -6 dB
• -6 dB
. Maintains the same level of center channel sound when you
listen to direct sound without typical room reverberations
• -INF
. Eliminates all of the Center channel signal
Surround Downmix Level (dB) The amount of Left Surround and Right Surround mixed into the Left and
Right channels respectively.
• -3 dB
. Maintains the same level of surround
• -6 dB
. Reduces the level of surround so that it doesn’t compete with
center channel sound such as dialog
• -INF
. Eliminates all of the Surround channel signal
LFE Level (dB) The amount of the LFE channel mixed into the Left and Right channels
respectively.
• -12 (or type in a value)
. Lets you choose the level of LFE in the stereo
mix
• -INF
. Eliminates all LFE
Table 173.