• VEGAS Pro

  WHat´s the right audio level for a DVD?

  Posted by Bruno Simon on September 17, 2009 at 4:03 pm

  Hi,
  I´m editing and producing a short film. I want to send it to a few film festivals so I want to do it right.
  Some questions:
  – What is the level that my audio should be. I´m using a Waves limiter in the master channel to avoid clipping. Audio reaches sometimes -0,5db but never clips due the limiter. I heard that audio for DVD should be -12db??? is that right??
  – Any plug in that I must/need to use on the final VIDEO master?
  – What are the best colour corrector tools to use in individual clips and in the final master video channel? Could you give me some tips to have a professional colour film? I have a proper monitor but I would like to have a really good and stylish colour…

  Hope you could help me with some of my questions…

  Thanks a lot!

  Bruno

  Joe Parker replied 16 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Tommy Winters

  September 19, 2009 at 7:29 pm

  Hi Bruno,

  NTSC digital standard is -12db for peaks. Sometimes it depends on who you’re delivering to. I’ve seen some places allow for -10db peaks, or more specifically, +10db over reference which is -20db; so -10db for peak audio. Exact specifications are usally available from those that you are delivering to.
• 

  Joe Parker

  September 22, 2009 at 8:54 am

  The old “NTSC standard”, if there ever was an official one, was designed for analog audio, not digital. It left a lot of headroom for peaks. With digital audio anything below 0db is fine, and if you’re using something like Wavehammer you can get it darned close.

  Obviously if they specify, do whatever they say. Otherwise, why would you want yours to play quieter than everyone else’s? Better to crank it up. Remember it’s not a linear scale, so -12db is a lot quieter than -1db.

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