Select the source material you want to record. For our example, you might use a musical performance in an auditorium featuring a music soloist, the audience and a master of ceremonies.
Understand how Dolby 5.1 surround sound utilizes five speakers and a sub-woofer for the lowest frequencies. For our example, the soloist will be heard through the front left and right speakers. The master of ceremonies will be located on the center channel. The audience and room ambiance will be heard through the rear speakers.
Locate the microphones to record each source. You will need to position two microphones near the soloist, two microphones in the rear of the auditorium and the remaining microphone in front of the master of ceremonies.
Connect the microphone sources to the audio mixer so each source is recorded on its own track. Connect the audio mixer to the digital audio workstation so each track remains separate and is recorded to separate digital files.
Record the performance and create the individual track files for each source described in Step 2 using the digital audio workstation.
Using Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator-enabled software (Nero, Pro Tools, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro), import the audio source files created in the previous step.
Locate the Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator controls that allow you to allocate the source files according to your desired room placement described in Step 2. Adjust the allocation of files to distribute them to the five speakers in a way that recreates the physical space of the original recording environment.
Preview your results using the Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator-enabled software, adjusting the audio sources until the desired effect is achieved.
Output the results to your preferred recording medium, usually a recordable DVD or CD. Make sure you have properly configured audio encoding to implement Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Depending on your software, you may also create an AC3 digital file for playback on a computer equipped with surround sound.