Fifty Cent Tour: Broadcast Safe Audio

[Norm Kaiser]

Thanks so much for the response!

I think I should have been more clear about what I’m doing in my original post. I am not generating content for PBS or a major cable network — I’m preparing content for independent local TV stations.

I’ve shown my show to about half a dozen stations already and, honestly, none has put it under any microscope or returned me any sheet of numbers. At best I’ve been told, “You’re audio is too hot. Turn it down and we can use it.”

So…that’s where I’m coming from. I’m looking for some general rules of thumb to apply to Vegas so that my audio isn’t “too hot.”

Hiring an audio engineer at this point isn’t an option. Translation: This is a shoestring operation, a do-it-yourself one man band.

[John Rofrano]

[Norm Kaiser] “I’ve shown my show to about half a dozen stations already and, honestly, none has put it under any microscope or returned me any sheet of numbers. At best I’ve been told, “You’re audio is too hot. Turn it down and we can use it.””

That’s good but you need to ask them, “how hot is too hot?” Because we can tell you -24dB and then can say it’s too low… or we can tell you -20dB and they can say, “still too hot”. What you need to do is ask them what is the max peak level they will accept, then use a brick wall limiter to make sure your overall program material never exceeds that. Then ask them what average loudness they accept and set your track compressors to kick in at that point to start limiting. You’ll still need to monitor the overall loudness to make sure it meets acceptable levels with a loudness meter and adjust by changing the volume or adding more or less compression. The point is, they need to tell you what that level is. If they can’t then I would use what the major networks use which is -10dB max peak and -24 LKFS +/- 2dB loudness.

The point is, broadcast audio is measured in average loudness and Vegas Pro doesn’t have a loudness meter. If you just want to guess, then turn your volume down by -3dB and send it back and ask them is it OK now. If they say too hot, turn your volume down by -3dB and send it back and ask them is it OK now. Repeat until they say it’s OK.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Roger Bansemer]

I was thinking back about a year ago when a friend of mine was producing a television program for a local station in Tampa. He actually paid the station for the time slot on Sunday mornings and sold his own air time.
Anyway, I did some closed captioning for him and he sent me his program so I could do the job. His audio was all over the place and his levels were all over the place as well.
Yet… the station put some audio and broadcast color clamps on it and basically let it go. Something PBS would never do.
So, if doing something for a local television station, I think they may have a lot less restrictions, rules, and regulations. He didn’t even have bars and tones on his program when he gave it to the station.

Roger Bansemer – PaintingAndTravel.com

[Norm Kaiser]

>>So, if doing something for a local television station, I think they may have a lot less restrictions, rules, and regulations. He didn’t even have bars and tones on his program when he gave it to the station.

Yes. This does seem to be my experience. So my goal is to get it “in the ballpark” so I can produce demo DVDs to distribute for marketing purposes. When I have the station interested, I then intend to ask for their station’s specs and render accordingly.

Let me see if I understand the concepts correctly. Please, please correct me where I’m wrong:

1. Put a compressor on the main audio bus and set it to, say, -24dB. The compressor will the compress any audio that goes above that level.

2. HOWEVER! This will not prevent some peaks from creeping out above that level, so this is where the Wave Hammer thing comes into effect. Put that on the main bus, too, to catch any sneaky peaks that might violate the peak limits.

Am I on the right track?

There are presets for both the compressor and the Wave Hammer. If I want to set to -24dB, is it roughly acceptable to use the preset for -24dB?

[Roger Bansemer]

1. Put a compressor on the main audio bus and set it to, say, -24dB. The compressor will the compress any audio that goes above that level.

Put the compressor on each audio track.

2. HOWEVER! This will not prevent some peaks from creeping out above that level, so this is where the Wave Hammer thing comes into effect. Put that on the main bus, too, to catch any sneaky peaks that might violate the peak limits.

Put the Wave Hammer on the Master Bus. Here’s the settings I use.

Am I on the right track?

There are presets for both the compressor and the Wave Hammer. If I want to set to -24dB, is it roughly acceptable to use the preset for -24dB?

Roger Bansemer – PaintingAndTravel.com

[Norm Kaiser]

This is so awesome!

Would you PLEASE include a screenshot of the compressor as you set it on each track??!??!

[Roger Bansemer]

I did already on a post early on in this conversation.

Roger Bansemer – PaintingAndTravel.com

[Norm Kaiser]

Roger — and everyone else who’s replied to this thread — I want to extend my sincerest thank you for posting to this thread.

Roger, I applied the compressor and the Wave Hammer exactly as you said and my audio sounds great! Thank you for the screenshots. That made it crystal clear what I needed to do.

Now…let’s see what the station says.