Get Down--In Surround Sound

But the most impressive new feature in Sonar 4 for many will be its surround sound capabilities: As Rip Rowan, an editor at ProRec.com wrote last month:

SONAR 4 also demonstrates advanced capabilities in the emerging world of surround mixing and audio for video. SONAR 4 offers a complete surround environment with the capability of managing both stereo and surround mixes within the same audio project. SONAR supports 5.1, 7.1, and a host of other surround formats, and the surround panner reflects the surround mode you are working with.

SONAR ships with two native surround plugins: the Lexicon Pantheon surround reverb, and the Sonitus surround compressor. SONAR also includes a tool called the SONAR Surround Bridge, which to my knowledge is the only tool of its kind. When you add a stereo plugin to a surround bus, Surround Bridge automatically creates multiple instances of the plugin and allows you to manage the controls of all instances from a single UI. This means that all of the plugins use the same settings, as though it was a single surround effect. Or, you can choose to unlink any channel or individual control, letting you make channel or control specific changes. If you have ever done surround work, you know what a pain it is to have to use three or four stereo plugins at the same time. It can be like taking a beating. Surround Bridge is brilliant!

With SONAR 4's extensive bussing capabilities, it's possible to create a single project with simultaneous stereo and surround bussing. This is great if you are creating a project that will have to be mixed in both surround and stereo. You can immediately hear your changes in both 2-track and surround mixes at the same time. SONAR 4 also allows you to downmix any surround mix to a stereo output.

Cakewalk has provided an excellent surround tutorial on its website. This tutorial is a great place to find out about the process of surround mixing, and also a great place to learn about the use of SONAR in a surround environment. Check it out at http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Surroundtutorial.asp.

And as sales of surround sound-capable A/V receivers continues to increase from both movie and home music video DVDs, as well as CD replacements such as SACD and DVD-A, surround mixes will only continue to grow in popularity--something I discussed in my Blogcritics interview with Led Zeppelin engineer Kevin Shirley.