Surround sound has been around in the world of theatrical films since the 1950s, and common since Dolby Stereo came on the scene in 1976. But the late 1990s have seen a surge of interest in surround for home listening. Sparked by the rise of the home-theater, 5.1 channel support on DVD-Video, and DTS music releases on CD, surround has become a significant issue in the recording industry for the first time since the Quad movement collapsed in the late 1970s. With DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD slated to reach American consumers in 2001, and DTV rolling out across the country over the next several years, there's little doubt that the impact of surround sound on the pro-audio community will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
While the technical foundation for today's surround boom is common to both sound-for-picture and record industry applications, the ways in which surround is used are distinct to each application. To explore how the fields overlap and how they differ, we spoke with Brant Biles, an audio engineer/producer who is co-proprietor of Mi Casa Studio in Los Angeles, California. The focus at Mi Casa is almost entirely on mixing and mastering surround.
Along with his partner, producer Robert Margouleff, Biles has been busy building a reputation for surround in both music and sound-for-picture applications. Biles' DTS mixing and mastering credits include Boys II Men 2, Bonnie Raitt's Road Tested, Marvin Gaye's Forever Yours, and Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles. In DVD-Video, meanwhile, he has worked on surround soundtracks for movies such as Pleasantville, The Corrupter, House Party (I, II and III), Dangerous Ground, Total Eclipse, The Bachelor, and Seven. "90 percent of the work I do is in surround," he says. "So I wouldn't say there is any question now as to how much surround is being used."
Contents:
— Soundfield Setup
— Surround Mixing Challenges
