I am see spec sheets now that say specifically define stems and DME as "undipped for narration and VO". In the past spec sheets usually said "undipped" which left room for interpretation.
When making undipped-for-narration/VO mixes, a problem comes at those points in the mix when loud music (and perhaps effects also) must be lowered for narration which is followed immediately by dialog. In the full mix you usually lower music for the narration. For an updipped verstion, though, do you lower music before the narration point (which is against the rules and will upset Mike
), or before the dialog point (which will probably also upset Mike
), or perhaps make a smooth change across the entire narration area, or perhaps never raise music up loud to begin with and hope it happens during a dubbing mix?
And, I agree with JKD99 that music and effects often are not handled the same way. Often the music should go up and down while effects are handled entirely differently. We can make "updipped" music and effects stems that work well for international dubbing, but there is no question the DME will be compromised.