daTextBox=<font size="12" face="arial" color="#000000"><b>5.1-channel Background Music and Ambiences</b><br>5.1-channel background music and ambiences stored as Dolby Digital files can be decoded during gameplay and mixed with real-time sound effects in PC games that support either the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 series or the Sound Blaster Audigy series of soundcards. Dolby Digital files are used only in cutscenes on the Playstation 2, and cannot be decoded and mixed with real-time sound effects.
In the Xbox, 5.1-channel music and audio can be mixed with real time sound effects if the content is not encoded into a Dolby Digital file. Please contact Xbox developer support for more details.
Creating 5.1-channel music or background ambience is the easiest way to make sure that all 5.1 speakers are making sound, regardless of where the real-time sound effects are positioned. Creating linear, 5.1-channel music and ambience is fun and easy! Check out the various recommended studio setups for Dolby Digital for the gear to create your linear content.
If you do not have the time, budget, or source files to create 5.1-channel music, it is extremely easy to make four-channel music out of stereo music. Just trigger your stereo content in the Left and Right channels, and trigger a corresponding stereo reverb track in the Left Surround and Right Surround channels. Be sure to make sure that the game's real-time sound effects use the Center and LFE channels so that a user's center and subwoofer speakers are not potentially left silent.
Another easy way to create 5.1-channel music is to use a Pro Logic II decoder to decode your stereo source files. Depending on how much out-of-phase audio is in your source material, the decoding results will vary. If at first your stereo material decodes without much surround material, try adding some reverb or other effects to your mix. Record the 5-channel output into your digital audio workstation. Then you may adjust the levels, eq, and effects for each channel. To create an easy LFE channel, select appropriate parts from the 5-channel mix for bass enhancement, low pass filter the audio, and adjust the level of the LFE track to the appropriate level. We've heard that this technique is also being to create 5.1 music in some film projects.</font>
