Music in stereo - possible to change to 3.0 or 5.1 surround?

Hello again -

I'm finalizing my short film and showing it in a theater very soon. On my timeline, everything is in mono except for the music, which is in 2.0 stereo (it was recorded in Garageband, standard stereo). I like the effect that the "Stereo Width" effect has, as it creates a pocket of space for dialogue, sfx, etc. to come through. But from what I've heard, standard stereo music does not sound good in a 5.1 equipped theater because it end up only being the L and R speaker with no Center (correct me if I'm wrong).

So I'm wondering what I could do to the file/track/project to give it the spread that I'm desiring, or if that's something that would have to be done in the previous stage in Garageband or another music software, and I should cut my losses and do the music in mono as well.

This feels like a long shot but I figured it's worth asking.

If it is no longer possible to revisit the mix and deliver a dedicated surround mix, one option is to upmix the music cues. Nugen Halo and Penteo are two options.

from what I've heard, standard stereo music does not sound good in a 5.1 equipped theater because it end up only being the L and R speaker with no Center (correct me if I'm wrong).

I should cut my losses and do the music in mono as well.

No and absolutely not. The majority of indie short films screened at festivals are in Stereo and they generally sound just fine (aside from the low budget sound design and mix that most of them have).

If you don't have a proper way of monitoring a 5.1 mix at your place, you shouldn't mess with what you were provided with by your sound designer.

Having said that, you could get yourself something like this plugin, but I honestly would advise against it for a short film, especially if you have no way to accurately monitor the results:

https://www.waves.com/plugins/um225-um2 ... kIQAvD_BwE