Audio Level

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Do you have Premiere Pro CC? If so then add the loudness radar to your master track’s audio effects.

You should be getting an average reading of -12 for dialog which means the “meat” of your volume is around there with spikes up to -6db. This may mean putting some semi aggressive compression (4:1 or so) on your dialog tracks. BG music you can mix to taste, try around -24db.

Broadcast material is mixed with a lower volume, but if this is internal or web then it’s worth mixing to the above levels as a guideline.

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Angelo Lorenzo

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[Dominic Lamb]

Yeah, I have premiere pro. I’ve watched some tutorials with the dynamics plug-in but I don’t seem to be getting anything out of it. Could you explain for me how it works and what adjustments I need to make, as all I can seem to do is to raise the volume.

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Learn one effect: compression. This is one unit of the dynamics effect and the only one you should concentrate on for now.

A human hears volume as average audio power over time. Quick peaks don’t sound exceptionally loud but they limit how high you can raise volume before the signal starts clipping.

Compression tames these audio peaks (spikes). Compression has three controls, the first being threshold. Threshold simply means that below a certain volume, the compressor doesn’t affect the sound. Next, you have ratio. For every bit of sound that’s louder than the threshold, the compressor compresses the sound based on the ratio. A 3:1 ratio means that for every 3db rise in volume, the compressor limits that to a 1db rise; this “smooths” the volume peaks. Lastly there is makeup gain which increases the volume of the overall signal; since the peaks have been tamed, you can raise the overall signal without clipping.

Compression won’t sound like an “effect” but it’s there for volume dynamics control. It’s the difference between why a radio DJ sounds smooth and even vs a stage speaker that has a uncomfortably wide range of dynamics.

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter