encode mono files to dolby 6.1

Getting Stuff Done Hints and Tricks
#1

I need to convert 6 or 7 monofiles into a .ac3 (?) for playing it back via dvd for a sound installation. no other mixing required, just conversion. Someone has an idea how i could do that? maybe with audacity , cinelerra, or also ardour3? or is there just a commandline on linux ? I m quite lost with that topic, i searched the net but couldnt find helpful information. thanks…

#2

sox and FFmpeg are both terrific problem solvers for jobs like this. sox is audio only, ffmpeg handles audio and video. Both have scary amounts of command line options, only because they are so powerful, but are worth getting to know.

Audacity is fine if what you want to do is available on its menus. It almost certainly uses the same libraries as the other programs.

#3

There seems to be some freeware GNU GPL, but its for Windows, that handles that but only to AC3 format, i found this:

i didn´t find a version of this for Linux but being GNU GPL it wouln´t be that crazy to think there´s one already that we haven´t found yet or may be possible for this developer to port it to Linux.

For encoding to Dolby, there are several programs that can do it, Sony Vegas, i think Nuendo too but my guess is that its license dependent and certainly not GPL.

Some more info:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/207740-Converting-WAV-file-to-Dolby-Digital-5-1-Surround

hope that helps.

#4

http://sox.sourceforge.net/sox.html (see “Input File Combining” in “Description” and “Remix” in “Effects”)

http://libav.org/avconv.html (encoding Dolby Digital AC-3)

http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ (making DVD-A)

http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/ (making DVD-V, see the links they have there to other projects, I think it’s a little outdated but you can pick the thread from there)

I can’t help you because I don’t know anything about these things, but it seems that they have everything you need.

#5

thanks xperienced and fernesto, yes that s a whole new topic for me too, i ll read through that stuff… if i find a solution, commandline or program, i ll let you know…

#6

got it: simple solution: audacity 2.0 has an option to route different mono files to different speakers and mixdown to .ac3 to fin the option, you need to go to preferences, Import/export , and then click on “use custom mix”. this gives you the chance to route your signals when you re in the export menu … :slight_smile: