The relevance of 5.1 ambiences

Question

I am curious how much need there is for 5.1 ambience libraries of different locations. Are sound designers / editors looking for 5.1 recordings, or is it more practical to build 5.1 atmospheres from different stereo recordings, and "faking it".

In which scenarios are those actual 5.1 recordings really needed? Game audio? Documentaries? TV?

Just curious since i see some libraries offering 5.1 stuff and was wondering who actually needs this...

Answer 1

It dépends of the recording : if it´s a nice mountain air , a subtle forest environment, large crowds or an interesting roomtone, i say yes : LCR, 5.0 are really convincing formats (for features, videogames...). But if mono or stereo recordings sounds better or more appropriate i will use and layer them to recreate a spatial environment, according to the storytelling first !