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For the Audio Savvy
After hundreds of TV programs under my belt there are still some audio scenarios that mystify me.
1. The meters in Vegas seem to differ enough from our betacam SP mastering decks that I still get surprised. For example I think I’ve matched two talents levels and have a reasonable match. while watching the analog meters on the betacam SP deck there is a greater disparity than I would have allowed in the Vegas project. QUESTION: Does anyone edit with analog meters like the dorrough ones and do they help?
2. We have three different editing rooms and a conference room, and the audio from all three are very different even though we use the exact same near field reference monitors with similar placement. One editing environment is actually a padded voice over booth.
My office has a wall and door about 8 feet opposite the speakers. (All hard surfaces)
The third suite is our TV control room and has a wall and door about 12 feet opposite the speakers.
The conference room is all hard surfaces.Sometimes, I can edit a show and review it inthe conference room and hear things I never heard in the edit.
I used to work at a recording studio so I am somewhat informed about refections etc., but I thought near field speakers would not have that much variation.
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3 Replies
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[Larry Watts] “The meters in Vegas seem to differ enough from our betacam SP mastering decks that I still get surprised.”
In general meters read either Peak Level or Average Level.
Peak level meters respond very quickly and are good to keep you from getting digital overs. Average Level Meters respond slower and give you a better sense of loudness. Some equipment will display average and peak levels at the same time. Having both is very helpful.Your Vegas meters are peak reading, while your Beta Sp deck is more of an average level meter. This is why when Vegas is reading some pretty high peak levels your Beta Machine does not since it is looking at average levels.
So what is a guy to do? First off Since Vegas is digital audio we want to shoot for an average level of around -12, peaks can go higher just set your levels so that your Vegas meters are lit most of the time around -12. Now play your project and adjust your record levels on your Beta SP Machine for an average level of close to 0vu (which is nominal levels for an analog machine. Going a little over 0vu on your Beta SP Machine is OK since analog has some headroom and will not clip as digital recoders do. Just don’t let it live above 0vu.
[Larry Watts] “but I thought near field speakers would not have that much variation.”
Nope. Even though you are using the same model of nearfield monitors your room has a great deal to do with your preceiptions of your monitors. As an example, I recently brought a new mix room online. Using some very accurate Adams Nearfield Monitors. For a few weeks I had to mix without any acoustic treatment to the room. It was very difficult to judge exactly what was really there in the bass. The Mix position was a little lean while a few feet back it was well balanced then a few feet further back is was bass heavy. In addition the stereo image was not to good. After installing the bass traps and wall panels the bass became consistant throughout the room and the stereo image is much improved.
So that is a real world example of how much your room acoustics can color the sound and your perceptions even when using very good monitors at a close distance.My advice would be to look into a company called Ready Acoustics (I have no stock in this company). I used thier broad band bass traps and they are much better than foam solutions. The reason is that they absorb low frequency (bass) quite well, unlike foam products. The result is a much more accurate room. Thir pricing is good to.
Hope this helps you.
Happy Mixing and editing.Regards, Rick.
Rick Mac
Director of Audio Production
TCT Network – Directv 377 -
1. Analog and digital meters have completely different response characteristics. It is pretty hard to go back and forth between and not worth the trouble in my opinion.
When using digital audio software, I (and most audio engineers) don’t edit to the meter, but to the waveform.
2. Your four rooms couldn’t be more different in their response (and thus in the way they each color the playback). Near fields do not eliminate the room, they only lessen it’s effect. But if the room is truly skewed in response (or wildly different than another) it’s not going to matter much.
If you want the audio in each room to match better, I would recommend:
a) room treatment (Auralex etc – not cheap foam). You probably need some bass trapping judging by the sizes of rooms.
b) consistent listening location – sweet spot should be in the same location relative to the nearfiled speakers.
c) level matching – every system should be calibrated so that you get the same sound level in the sweet spot for a given “master volume” setting. For instance if you have a master mixer level of 0 dB in one room giving (with a white noise signal) 75 dBa on a Radio Shack sound meter, then ALL of the other systems should give the same level at that same 0 setting on their mixer.
It really helps to have the same mixer and power amps in every room.
Having the same speakers in every room is only the first step. You need to level match (and try to always mix at the same levels) and finally try to match the room’s different responses by acoustical treatment.
-Gordon Currie
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Larry,
Here is a very good article that explains how to
tame those rooms.https://www.vasst.com/article.aspx?id=89f15af5-8004-44fd-97a3-71f2c8418a6c&type=1
You may have to register to view it. It is free and there is a wealth of great tutorials here.
Regards, Rick.
Rick Mac
Director of Audio Production
TCT Network – Directv 377
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