5.1 Surround Sound Workflow

Question 1

What is the proper speaker arrangement for 5.1 surround sound?

Answer 1

A 30-degree angle between the Centre and Left/ Right Speakers.

A 110-degree angle between Ls/ Rs speaker and Centre speaker.

Question 2

Explain Level Calibration

Answer 2

You will need an SPL meter set to C weighting with a slow response setting at the mix position, you will then play back pink noise at -20dBFS out of each speaker and measure it while tweaking the speaker output level.

Calibrate each of the surround speakers to the same level. The LFE channel, is calibrated 10 dB SPL higher than the surround speakers.