A system for processing audio signals, comprising an authoring component configured to receive a plurality of audio signals of an audio program, an audio program being defined as a complete set of speaker channels and/or object channels and associated metadata that describes a desired spatial audio presentation, wherein each speaker channel and each object channel comprises an audio signal; generate an adaptive audio mix for the audio program comprising a plurality of monophonic audio streams and metadata associated with each of the plurality of monophonic audio streams and specifying a playback location of a respective monophonic audio stream; wherein at least one of the plurality of monophonic audio streams is identified as channel-based audio and wherein the others, including at least one, of the plurality of monophonic audio streams are identified as object-based audio, and wherein the playback location of the channel-based audio comprises speaker designations of speakers (801, 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 816) in a speaker array, and the playback location of the object-based audio comprises a location in three-dimensional space; and encapsulate the plurality of monophonic audio streams and the metadata in a bitstream for transmission to a rendering system configured to render the plurality of monophonic audio streams to a plurality of speaker feeds corresponding to speakers (801, 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 816) in a playback environment, and wherein metadata elements associated with each respective object-based monophonic audio stream indicate whether one or more sound components are rendered to a speaker feed for playback through a speaker nearest an intended playback location of the sound component, such that a respective object-based monophonic audio stream is effectively rendered by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location, wherein the metadata elements associated with each respective object-based monophonic audio stream further indicate a spatial distortion threshold, and wherein the metadata element indicating whether a respective sound component is rendered by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location is ignored if the spatial distortion resulting from rendering the respective sound component by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location exceeds the spatial distortion threshold. receive a plurality of audio signals of an audio program, an audio program being defined as a complete set of speaker channels and/or object channels and associated metadata that describes a desired spatial audio presentation, wherein each speaker channel and each object channel comprises an audio signal; generate an adaptive audio mix for the audio program comprising a plurality of monophonic audio streams and metadata associated with each of the plurality of monophonic audio streams and specifying a playback location of a respective monophonic audio stream; wherein at least one of the plurality of monophonic audio streams is identified as channel-based audio and wherein the others, including at least one, of the plurality of monophonic audio streams are identified as object-based audio, and wherein the playback location of the channel-based audio comprises speaker designations of speakers (801, 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 816) in a speaker array, and the playback location of the object-based audio comprises a location in three-dimensional space; and encapsulate the plurality of monophonic audio streams and the metadata in a bitstream for transmission to a rendering system configured to render the plurality of monophonic audio streams to a plurality of speaker feeds corresponding to speakers (801, 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 816) in a playback environment, and wherein metadata elements associated with each respective object-based monophonic audio stream indicate whether one or more sound components are rendered to a speaker feed for playback through a speaker nearest an intended playback location of the sound component, such that a respective object-based monophonic audio stream is effectively rendered by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location, wherein the metadata elements associated with each respective object-based monophonic audio stream further indicate a spatial distortion threshold, and wherein the metadata element indicating whether a respective sound component is rendered by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location is ignored if the spatial distortion resulting from rendering the respective sound component by the speaker nearest to the intended playback location exceeds the spatial distortion threshold.