Re: Audio Specs for Television Broadcast
I'm a Live TV Sound Mixer for Fox 11, UPN 13, and others here in LA. I've worked for 6 stations and various national shows, and I have never been -told- any hard and fast rules for Broadcast Levels. There has got to be a set of standards somewhere, right? Here is what I do:
Never exceed -4
Ave. dialogue -12
Music and Nat Sounds -20
These are News and Sports show mind you and these are only guidelines. The main thing I am watching for is keeping my average peaks at -12. I guess I'm doing things right since I've never been approached by any Master Control/QC people. To answer "MixShop's" question about promos.. I -know- that there are promos that are getting pushed way above what I mix at, but usually they are only the more amateur local promos. Generally when you hear quality national spots that sound hot it's more likely that they are 1. More heavily compressed or 2. The "percieved" level is higher (through EQ or whatever). Great mixes with a full harmonic range sound much louder than what the meters will show. Meters are only meters. In the line of work that I do, I have to mix a lot of different voices. Sometimes I have to ignore the meters because someone's voice just carries better. If I mixed them @ -12 they sound way to hot.
Now as far as Stereo is concerned, I don't make a big fuss out of it... and I won't until everyone's watching HDTVs. The reason is because 95% of televisions out there are crap and if you put something too far in the right or too far in the left your mix will sound aweful. Just remember what your mixing for. It'll sound fantastic in the studio, but aweful over tiny little TV speakers. We don't have the luxury of our audience hearing our work in a big quiet room with 15 high quality speakers and an audience that is actually paying attention like the movie guys... (Just teasing... out of the hundreds of theatres I've been in, I've only been in 2 or 3 that actually sound good.)
I'd be interested to hear other people chime in on this subject. It would be awesome if this was a "pinned" thread. This stuff comes up every other day. Where's Dr. Sound?
Dallas
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