Soundforge is to be complemented as one of the few programs that can decode the 5.1 audio channels from my Sony Handycam HDR-CX580 into six separate tracks. The question is: what is the correlation between Tracks 1-6 and the LR, LF, C etc tracks?
what is the correlation between Tracks 1-6 and the LR, LF, C etc tracks?
If you go to Options/Preferences and select the Audio tab, change the Audio Device Type to 'Direct Sound Surround Mapper'. The channel routing (e.g. Channel 1 = Left Front) will appear in the Playback Device Routing window below. The twisties is the routing window allow you to change the routing to each channel should you so desire.
If you are using an internal or external sound card/interface that caters for 5.1, the routing info may possibly already display without the need to change the device type to the Surround Mapper.
Also, it may be surprising to know that your camera probably does not record 'true' 5.1 surround sound. Probably, the FL, FR and C channels are true individual channel recordings, but the rears and LFE are somehow created/synthesized by the camera's audio circuitry. In a comment on a Vegas Pro forum post back in 2014, Rob Franks wrote:
I *THINK* the rear speakers are calculated on these surround sound cams and not actually recorded.
My old Sony SR11 (5.1 surround) cam up and died so just out of curiosity I pulled it apart to have a look at the mics. What I found were 3 of them... not enough to truly RECORD 5.1 surround... but enough to CALCULATE.
Now the calculating (if that is indeed what is happening) although pretty good in pristine situations... is not that great compared to an actual 5.1 recording.
His is the 2nd last comment in https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/surround-sound-panning--96222/#ca580974
Many thanks for your response (and Happy 2021). I am using the Handycam strictly as an audio recording device to objectively determine the impact of adding sound reduction material in a vehicle, and as long as the camera/mic is in the same location before and after, then the "simulation" of two or more channels is not a big deal.
And without taking my camcorder apart, I agree that there could only be no more than 3 mics in there due to limited space. Never stopped to think that 1/2 of the 6 channels are "generated" and not recorded.