1. on the top right corner of your desktop should be a speaker icon. right-click on it.
2. click on "Open Volume Control" and a window should appear.
3. enable "Master Surround" by clicking on the speaker icon that is underneath it's scroll bar. Also, move the scroll bar to about half-way up the bar. Then, choose "Edit" --> "Preferences".
4. another window should popup. in this window, scroll down to the bottom.
5. choose "Spread Front to Surround and Center/LFE" by selecting the box that's next to it.
6. close all the windows. you should now have sound.
7. open your music file with VLC and you music should come forth (it may not be blasting out though)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=248461