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Audio for HDcam Layback
Not sure if this question has been addressed previously. Sorry if it has. I recently played a festival with my short film that had been transferred to HDcam. Unfortunately, the audio levels upon theatrical playback where completely blown out.
I was wondering if there was a standard for theatrical playback levels from HDcam. We had set our reference tone at -20db and the peaks of the film audio leveling off at 0db. Previewing the HDcam tape prior to the screening sounded perfect, but the translation was a mess. I was sure the speakers in the theater were going to explode. This is for a standard Lt/Rt mix. Any help would greatly be appreciated as I would prefer to avoid such a disaster at future festival exhibitions. Thanks so much.
-Jason
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1 Reply
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Well first, when you say you were peaking at 0, are you talking about 0VU or 0dBFS (digital scale)? If the latter- which is what I’m guessing – this means you had absolutely no headroom left, so of course it was crashing loud in those sections. And usually when shows peak at 0dBFS, they average around -6. Again, way too loud. I like average program level between -14 & -12, peaks at -8, lower sections of non-dialog audio between -14 & -16.
As for the LtRt mix, was this a surround (5.1) show that you then collapsed in LtRt Stereo? And if so, how was that accomplished? I read a post on some forum the other day that suggested that someone’s 5.0/5.1 mix had simply been combined down into 2 channels, which is not the way to go since often you’re combining multiple full level channels into just 2. Reducing multiple channels down into stereo is part common sense, part mathematical coefficient, part art. When I mix for stereo, a lot of dynamic range restriction is usually required to fit a film’s sound into 2 channels. When I mix in 5.1, I’m able to reduce the use of those tools because I have extra dynamic space to play with. And if it’s Dolby Stereo you’re after, well that’s a whole new set of criteria & restrictions right there.
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