Creating multi channel audio files

[kevinmcdonough]

hey all

While I primarily work as a live sound engineer for gigs and concerts, occasionally some of the bands I work with have pre-recorded backing tracks they play along to that add small extra strings/synth/brass parts to their set. The way these usually work is a stereo track with click panned to one side that I can feed into their in-ears and the music panned to the other side that essentially becomes a mono music track in the PA. I've been using SCS as my go to program for a good few years now to do this and its worked flawlessly.

However the demands of these are becoming more complex and it would be handy to be able to have the backing tracks multi-channeled so I can mix the instruments individually live along with the band.

Upon checking, SCS supports "multi-channel formats" according to the paperwork (though it doesn't specifically say what formats). So my plan would be to have a 6 channel sound device and encode my backing tracks into 5.1 surround files, giving me 5 channels for the instruments and the sixth as the click track.

So I'm trying to create a reliable workflow for this, but the problem however is that for the quick searches I've done, the internet seems fairly vague on how to do this. My DAW of choice is usually ProTools (was a studio engineer before moving to live) but unless you have the full HD version with expensive hardware and some plugins this doesn't mix natively into surround sound, so short of moving to cubase or something I would need to export the individual mono tracks and then use some piece of software to combine them together into the multi-channel file.

Does anyone know of a free or repetitively cheap piece of software I would be able to do this with?

Or does anyone have any other suggestions for how they've achieved a similar thing and would be happy to share their process?


Thanks for all your help,
Kev

[Mike Daniell]

If you want to control the levels of the individual channels of a 5.1 (6-channel) audio file then you will need the SoundMan-Server (SM-S) 'optional extra'. The 'Tracks' property in Audio File Cues allows you to select an individual track for each output device, which would typically be fed via your audio interface to an input channel on your sound desk. The 'Tracks' property is only enabled when using SM-S as your audio driver.

Alternatively you could use multiple mono and/or stereo files and follow the procedure outlined by Martin Norris in the Forum posting SCS - Used for Everly Brothers Tribute Show. Martin posted this in 2009 so screenshots relate to an older version of SCS, but the concept and details are still valid with the current version of SCS. I know Martin personally (he lives about an hour's drive from me) and have seen this setup in use, so I can recommend it!

Edit: Something I should point out is that when playing multiple files linked you may find it necessary to set the 'Link Sync Point' option (see Options - Audio Driver - DirectSound) to a small value, eg 20 milliseconds. Linked audio files in DirectSound can sometimes not start simultaneously, so this option helps correct that.

Alternatively, if you use SoundMan-Server you will always get sample-accurate syncing of the files. You can still use the overall approach described by Martin even with SM-S. Special prices are available for SM-S to SCS users - see the SCS Price List for details.