hi everyone, i need help with my flac files, i just downloaded an album which says .flac nd its in the 2 channel settings, now i am very new to this type of an audio file and was wondering if u can somehow convert the 2 channel flac files to a 6 channel flac file so i cud play them on my surround sound. also i was wanted to noe where i cud find flac files that had 6 channel settings without buying them or ripping them from friends.
Thanks

It's always good form to read the forum rules, especially if you're going to ask for help with copying stuff for yourself that you didn't buy. About the stereo->6 channel, the most you could do is either to duplicate channels, or apply some matrixing like Dolby Pro Logic II or DTS Neo:6.

I don't know. Most music isn't released in surround format. When you do find commercial releases in surround sound, it's usually on DVD (and copy protected). FLAC releases are rare. I've never heard of a 6-channel FLAC release, but there might be a few. If you have a FLAC file, somebody probably ripped it. And, of course, sharing ripped files over the internet or cracking copy protection is illegal in most countries and you won't get help with that on this forum. Most people here that are using FLACs ripped from their own CDs (or perhaps borrowed CDs).

Note - FLAC is a good option for surround sound on a computer, but the following comments are not limited to FLAC.

There are some things you can do, and you can make a 5.1 channel file from your stereo file. But, you can't create a "true 5.1 channel mix" from a 2-channel source. You can't "un-mix" a track. So for example, you can't put the guitar in the left rear and the vocals in the right front.

Usually, the best solution is to let your hardware do the work for you... If you have a Dolby Pro Logic II Receiver, it has "soundfield" settings that will send the sound to all of the speakers (i.e. You can send reverb or "matrix decoded" surround to the rear speakers.) If you're using a surround sound soundcard, it may have Pro Logic or someting similar to "decode" stereo into surround.

There are several advantages to this approach - It requires almost no work. You can eaisly change the effect, and different users can choose different surround effects. Your file doesn't have to be altered or grow (a 6-channel FLAC is 3x the size of a 2-channel FLAC).

If you really want to mess up.... errrr enhance the recording, here are some things you can do with an audio editor. (If you don't have an audio editor, Audacity is FREE, and it should have enough features to get you started.) WARNING - This kind of audio editing can be very time consuming!

You can create a new 5.1 channel file and copy your left & right channels into the left & right channels of the new file. (Or, you can start with six mono files and combine them later.) Then, you can do something simple, like mixing the left & right into a center-mono channel, and you can simply copy left & right to the left-surround and right-surround.

Or, you can get more creative... You can subtract the left & right channels to extract the "ambience" and copy that to the rear channels. You can send a delayed copy to the rear, and/or use some reverb in the rear channels.

You can also "pan" the sound from one channel to another or you can use different equalizer settings to make each channel sound slightly different (or a lot different).

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An example:

I'm working on a project now where I'm making a 5.1 channel surround from a mono track for a DVD. This is just something I'm playing around with, and some people would say I'm messing-up the sound (which wasn't that good to begin with).

I started by copying making 3 temporary copies of the file. One is a music file, one is a talking file, and one is an applause file. On each of these files, I faded-out everything except what I wanted to keep. i.e. The applause file is mostly silent, with all of the music & talking muted.

I copied the music file to left, right & center. I used some slight equalizer adjustments to make each channel sound slightly different and give something of a "stereo feel".

I mixed the talking file into the center channel file.

I copied the left & right (music) channels to left-surround & right-surround. I added some echo & reverb, and I reduced the level by a few dB.

I made a left & right copy of the applause file and I did some cutting, pasting & mixing. For example, there are places where the applause is overlapped with talking or music, and I wanted to make a "clean" applause track for the rear channels. The edited applause was mixed into the rear channel music.

Oh... I also made a LFE track, and some sound effects like a "swoosh" that goes from front to back when the viewer selects Dolby surround, but I'll skip the details.

This project took many hours. The audio is done, and now I'm working on the DVD menus.

thank you guys that helped a lot!!!
nd sorry wont b postin these kinda messages from now on, im kinda young nd dont really noe much i wanted to gain information, so sorry again!