Convert Stereo mp3 to Surround Sound (Dolby AC3?)

Mark-LoChiano wrote on 7/7/2024, 11:37 AM

I am new to Sound Forge Pro 18. I used to use it about 6 years ago, but it has changed considerably. I purchased it to upgrade my sound collection of over 2500 songs.

I want to convert these to 5.1 (or 7.1) Surround Sound files. Are there any general processes/tutorials that I should use to achieve this?

I understand that I should first apply the suggested process to a single song to make sure that the results are viable, and then use the batch process to repeat it for all songs in the collection

I use Windows 11.

Comments

rraud wrote on 7/8/2024, 10:40 AM

What format are the files and are they multi-channel surround or to begin with?

Welcome to the Magix Sound Forge users community @Mark-LoChiano.

Mark-LoChiano wrote on 7/8/2024, 2:09 PM

The songs are currently in mp3 format, and they are standard 2 channel (stero) format.

rraud wrote on 7/9/2024, 5:57 PM

Unless you can remix the song(s) from the original multi-track recording tapes or files in a 5:1, 7:1 or immersive format, it is best to leave be IMO.
You could assign the stereo left channel to the 5:1 front/left and the stereo right to 5:1 front/right, but it would not sound any better and would probably sound worse when it is 'down mixed' for playback over a regular stereo system.
There is third-party software available that will generate a 5:1 simulated multi-channel mix, but it did not sound very good in my experments a few years ago.