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Post-production Sound Mixing Levels – Looking for TIPS
I am mixing the sound for a film in the can but I’m new to the sound department. Is there a good rule of thumb to the levels each element should be around when mixing dialogue and music? I want to keep raising the voices of the talent till it almost peaks at 0 dB, but I want to make sure I’m doing it right before I keep the consistancy. Thanks
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3 Replies
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I’ll give you a very rough and vague answer to a question that would take a book to answer.
Since you are MIXING, the elements shouldn’t be “around” anything. They should be mixed to your taste.
As for levels, keep your eyes on the meters. Commercial and promo work rides at about -15 to -12 with peaks at -10.
Monitor your mixes through different speakers and mix according to what will be the final playback environment. Music tends to get eaten up in smaller tv speakers, but tends to overwhelm dialog in larger speakers…split the difference.
Dialog is king..always….if people are talking, better to play it safe and not have it even come close to fighting with the music.
So much more to add to this. Seriously, the question couldn’t be any broader.
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To add to Proper’s comments, the delivery mechanism can be part of how you decide to mix the levels. Theatre sound systems give you a lot more dynamic range to play in so you keep the normal conversational levels averaging around say -20 and save some room for yelling, explosions, etc. For TV you will want to compress the levels a bit more.
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[adventusfilms] ” Is there a good rule of thumb to the levels each element should be around when mixing dialogue and music?”
A good rule of thumb is to always get a delivery spec sheet from the distributor, network, or from who ever your film will be sold to, or hope to be sold to. They will have a list of requirements for your sound levels. Peaks, averages, not to exceed, etc.
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