Jordan Roseman did a great job documenting how to extract (”unmix”) individual channels from a DTS surround sound recording in his book Audio Mashup Construction Kit. Get yourself a copy if you don’t have it already — it’s definitely the bible for audio hackers.
What’s not covered in the book, however, is how to extract DTS audio if you are on a Mac. After much trial and error, I’ve come up with a reliable method to do this. Read on for my step-by-step instructions.
What you’ll need:
- Any DVD with DTS encoded audio
- MacTheRipper — free DVD ripper for Mac OS X
- Audacity 1.3 beta — free audio editor
- Application(s) to convert a DTS file into a multi-channel WAV. If you aren’t afraid of the command-line, then I suggest the following:
- MacPorts — collection of Unix-based applications ported to OS X
- libdts — DTS decoding library; contains dtsdec example application
If you have a command-line phobia, then I suggest:
- VLC — Media player; contains libdts decoding library
Install Audacity
Visit the Audacity web site to download the 1.3 beta. Grab the 1.3 beta — not the older 1.2 version.
Install MacTheRipper
The old version is still available for free and works fine for what we are doing. Grab it from the MacTheRipper web site.
Install MacPorts
I’m not going to cover this as the process is very well documented on the project’s web site.
Install libdts
Once MacPorts is installed, open a Terminal session and issue the following command:
sudo port install libdts
You will be prompted for the administrator password. Go ahead and enter it. The port application will then attempt to download the numerous source files required to compile libdts. When all is said and done, an example command line application called dtsdec will be installed. You can verify this by simply typing “dtsdec -h” at the command prompt. If it all worked properly, you should see a short screen of application help.
libdts-0.0.2 - by Gildas Bazinbased on the a52dec code from Michel Lespinasse and Aaron Holtzman usage: dtsdec [-h] [-o ] [-s [
Install VLC
If you don’t want to use the command-line, you can skip the MacPorts and libdts install and just use the VLC media player. Visit the VLC web site to grab the latest version.
Rip the DTS Stream
Insert a DVD containing 5.1 DTS audio and fire up MacTheRipper. You can do this from the command prompt by typing “open -a mactheripper”. Once the application has launched, follow these steps:
- Click the “Mode” button.
- Select “Title - Chapter Extraction”
- Click D (”demux”) and then click Streams. A new drawer will slide out of the application window revealing check box selectors for audio, video, and subtitle streams.
- Select the appropriate Title along with an Start Chapter and End Chapter. Figuring out which title and chapters to select may seem a little confusing at first. Typically, if I’m working with a DVD-Audio disc, I look for Titles with the longest length that have DTS streams available. Keep your eye on the right hand drawer to figure out which chapters have DTS streams.
- Once you have selected an appropriate Title and Start/End chapter range, deselect all video and subtitle streams in the right hand drawer. Finally, deselect all audio streams except the DTS stream.
- Click GO!

MacTheRipper will then rip the selected DTS audio streams and place them in an appropriately named directly inside your home directory. For example, “BJORK_HOMOGENIC Title 2 (Ch1 - Ch10)” contains the DTS stream for Title 2, Chapters 1 through 10 of Bjork’s Homogenic DVD.
Transcode DTS to WAV
Open a Terminal and navigate to aforementioned directory. For example, “cd /Users/mhite/BJORK_HOMOGENIC\ Title\ 2\ \(Ch1\ -\ Ch10\)/” navigates into the directory containing the ripped DTS stream.
Issue an “ls” command to find the name of the extracted DTS stream. It will end with a “.DTS” extension. For example, “BJORK_HOMOGENIC Title 2 (Ch1 - Ch10)-EN 6Ch -1.DTS.”
Transcode the DTS audio stream into a multichannel WAV file. To do this, use the dtsdec application that we previously installed using MacPorts. The command you will type should look something like this (replacing the DTS filename, of course):
dtsdec -o wav6 BJORK_HOMOGENIC\ Title\ 2\ \(Ch1\ -\ Ch10\)-EN\ 6Ch\ \ -1.DTS > BJORK_HOMOGENIC\ Title\ 2\ \(Ch1\ -\ Ch10\)-EN\ 6Ch\ \ -1.DTS.wav
Alternatively, you can use Streaming/Export Wizard in VLC to transcode the DTS file into a multi-channel WAV. Load the DTS file into the VLC playlist and launch the Streaming/Export wizard from the File Menu.
On the first screen of the export wizard, choose the “Transcode/Save to file” radio button. Click Next.
Highlight the file to convert in the “Existing playlist item” list or select the file using the “Select a stream” option. Click Next.
On the next screen, you will want to select the “Transcode audio” checkbox. For the Codec, choose either “Uncompressed, integer” or “Uncompressed, floating-point.” Choosing floating-point results in much larger filesizes. In my own tests, I’ve used “Uncompressed, integer” with a bitrate of 192 and it sounds fine. Click Next.
You will then be prompted to choose an encapsulation format. Notice there really is no other choice than WAV as all other options are grayed out. Select Next.
On the “Additional transcode options” screen, select the output filename for the multichannel WAV.
Finally, you will be presented with a summary page. Click Finish.
The result of all this effort is a multichannel WAV file that we can now open in an audio editor.
Open in Audacity
Once dtsdec (or alternatively, VLC) is done converting the file, open the resulting WAV in Audacity. You can do this through the command prompt by typing the following (replacing the filename, of course):
open -a audacity BJORK_HOMOGENIC\ Title\ 2\ \(Ch1\ -\ Ch10\)-EN\ 6Ch\ \ -1.DTS.wav
Audacity should launch and a multichannel WAV file containing each discrete channel of the DTS recording should appear. If you want to save each of the channels into an individial WAV file, you can use the “File -> Export Multiple” command in Audacity.
You can solo each one individually by clicking on a track’s “Solo” button. I always solo the center channel (the third track) and look for isolated vocals. Note that if you attempt to play the multichannel recording without having selected Solo on a single track, it will clip and sound bad.
Summary
Yes, it’s a lot of work to extract channels from DTS streams. You might even go so far as to say it is a total pain in the ass. However, for the obsessed remix and mashup artist there are some real treasures to be found. Let us know what you find!
Related Tools
There’s more than one way to skin a cat. You mind the following tools helpful in your exploration of surround sound audio on the Mac.
- Vortex Surround Encoder - Surround encoder; can also split tracks
- De-interleaver - Split (or combine) multichannel WAV files
- MPEG Streamclip - Doesn’t do DTS (that I’m aware of) but can handle AC3, another common surround format
Revisions
4/2/08 - Added a “Related Tools” section.
3/31/08 - Added information on using VLC to convert DTS to multi-channel WAV.
25 Comments
I must try this.I often use audacity for podcasting.Sounds very workable,this process.
It works great. I have been able to create a number of interesting acapellas using this technique.
Very nice tutorial. But I found an easier way: use VLC’s Streaming Exporting Wizard to create a 6channel .wav.
Tried this with an 44.khz dts audiofile; I think should work with a DVD as well.
Marc, thanks for the tip. I’ve updated the article with information on how to do the conversion using VLC. I realize there are a lot of folks who have a command-line phobia so using VLC will certainly save them a lot of grief.
BTW, Marc, I also tested the export wizard straight from DTS-CD. That actually didn’t work — I get this error:
ffmpeg: av_open_input_stream failed
ps: cannot peek
main: no suitable demux module for `file/:///Volumes/Audio CD/11 Audio Track.aiff’
It appears you need to have ripped the audio first before using the Export wizard in VLC. (At least as best as I can tell!)
I didn’t try it with a DTS-DVD, so I can’t speak for that yet.
In the meantime, my suggestion is to use MacTheRipper to pull the DTS stream off DVDs. And of course if it is a DTS CD you can rip it to WAV using iTunes or whatever (and then follow the “Transcode DTS to WAV” instructions above).
I’ve followed your instructions over and over again… And I can’t get it to work… I have a over 400MB DTS file but when I transcode it come out as a zero k wmv file….
What am I doing wrong????
Steve — which method are you using: the dtsdec method or the VLC transcode method? I’m not sure how you could be ending up with a .WMV file rather than a .WAV file unless you were accidently selecting to transcode a video stream instead of an audio stream in the VLC wizard.
Also, you might want to try a known good DTS file in your tests. Use this one:
http://www.sr.se/laddahem/MultiKanal/Dts/SURROUNDTEST_011212.zip
You can find other test DTS files on this page:
http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/mall/index.asp?ProgramID=2446
Hello Matt
Thank you… I was using VLC and the tiny files were “wav” not “wmv” files…
Both the links that you gave me download as a “wav” file, not a DTS stream so I can’t try the test… Mac the ripper gives me a .DTS stream file… That’s what I need right?
You are right, sorry — those test files are WAVs that contain DTS encoded audio. They are not raw DTS rips from DVD.
I actually just performed a transcoding test with VLC to try and replicate your problem. I took a DTS stream I had ripped from DVD (a raw stream) and transcoded it into a multichannel WAV using the Streaming/Transcoding wizard. Worked fine. I was able to open the resulting WAV in Audacity, too, in all its multichannel glory.
Did you rip this .DTS file yourself? Or did you download it from somewhere? It would be interesting to know if you had luck with another .DTS file.
Hey Matt
I ripped the dts stream from the disc following the instructions on this page… Which gives me about a 400MB file which seems to be about the right size, but VLC keeps spitting out a zero k file … I don’t get it, the instructions for VLC are simple!!!
I’m running the latest VLC on an intel MBP with 10.5.2…
I even tried older versions of VLC with no success…
If you can think of ANYTHING else I might try I would be grateful!
Thx
S
Steve,
What’s the disc? Are you sure you ripped a DTS stream and not a AC3 stream?
-M
I’ve tried a few that have AC3 & dts… I’m selecting the dts stream in “mac the ripper” like the instructions say….
Try ripping a single chapter from a title. You could upload it somewhere and I will give it a whirl.
Or give me an example disc you are trying to rip. I may have it.
-M
Matt
I tried doing one chapter (about 50MB)… The two CD’s I was trying to work with were Steely Dans “Everything Must Go” and Toy Matinee’s CD… If you have either of these give it a try, if not I’ll load something for you….
Thanks Again
S
Hi, Steve. Unfortunately I have neither of those titles. If you are able to upload a chapter somewhere I could check it out — a sanity check so-to-speak.
-M
Hey Matt
Here’s a stream for you to try…
http://www.digitalhotshots.com/dtsfiles/
Hi, Steve. Wasn’t able to load the stream for transcoding in VLC. However, it worked fine using the command-line dtsdec method I mention in the tutorial.
Wonder why VLC doesn’t recognize it? Strange.
BTW, what’s the name of that song?
I believe it was track 3, Toy Matinee “Things She Said” I’m really not too crazy about the command-line thing….
If you can figure out how to get it working or find another app. I would appreciate it!
Thx
Steve,
So I played a bit more with this. My test before of the VLC method used a stream I had ripped using DVDDecrypter on the PC. Doesn’t seem to work with a stream I just ripped again using Mactheripper. However, like I said, the command-line tools still work.
Not sure what the difference is between how DVDDecrypter saves the DTS stream and how MacTheRipper does. Anyone know?
A black art is what this is…
-M
Hey Matt
I tried a couple of versions of VLC (older) because I thought maybe it was the newest version with 10.5 that might have a problem… No Luck!
Hey Matt
Little update…. “AudialHub” and it seems to work as far as converting the DTS file to wav, and I checked it in Audacity and the discreet tracks show… B U T when I try to burn it it crashes Toast even though the file is only one song about 50meg. And this new program is able to play the wav file not “just hiss” but it may be using VLC to play it… (?) AudialHub can burn a CD but when I use that function it give me a non dts disc with only the right channel playing…. Nice huh! I guess the point is you “may” want to check this new found program out…
I’m having the same problem as Steve. The resulting WAV file that comes out of VLC is zero k. I can’t figure it out! I’m following the instructions to the letter. And yes, I am command line phobic…
So, Lee, sorry it’s a bit confusing. If you read the thread, you’ll find out that indeed the VLC method DOES NOT work for MacTheRipper streams. It works for DVDDecrypter (PC) streams, though. In any case, I haven’t gotten around to updating the main post to reflect this.
Your best bet is to get over your command-line phobia — it’s really not that bad.
Used the instructions, ripped the DTS-stream with mac the ripper and then converted it with VLC. It works perfect! Thanks for the post!
Maybe one thing for those that received an Zero K file:
I also received this the first time. I then saw that the chapter I selected on mac the ripper didn’t have a DTS-stream. You have to make sure you have the right chapter whih contains a stream. I had a 400 MB-file, but it had no stream. You can check that your file is ok, by checking if VLC recognises the stream and plays it (before you convert).
Post a Comment