mastering levels for 'straight to dvd' short film

[lefty]

howdy,

i'm more of a spot and tv program mixer, but have finished sound designing and mixing a 5.1 film mix. it's going straight to dvd for the festivals.

should my mastering levels have a peak of -10db like my tv program specs, or should i push the level limits and ride them to around -3 db?

thanks for any comments, suggestions in advance.

[dr sound]

lefty
Member # 14822 posted July 11, 2003 08:50 AM
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howdy,

i'm more of a spot and tv program mixer, but have finished sound designing and mixing a 5.1 film mix. it's going straight to dvd for the festivals.

should my mastering levels have a peak of -10db like my tv program specs, or should i push the level limits and ride them to around -3 db?

thanks for any comments, suggestions in advance.
dr.sound replies:
If your Movie is going to festivals and it's going to be projected in a theater, then I would suggest you mix it well below -3. Make the average dialog 3 below your "0" such as 0 = -20, then you should have your dialog average at -23. (Before we go any further, what are you using for meters?) That way you have some room for dynamics. If the client wants it to be loud, and it was well recorded then do what you think. I personally hate being slammed over the head with extremely loud poorly recorded dialog. It makes the movie suffer. Remember most festivals play back in theaters and they may have some very mid range hyped speaker

[lefty]

the dialog is average, but the movie (thankfully) is more sfx driven than dialog driven. but thank you for pointing me in the right direction. i'll hover on the lower side. i don't think i'll lose the dynamics of the mix. i was monitoring on dorrough loudness monitoring with dynamic peaks hitting around -13

[dr sound]

Lefty,
I also use the Dorroughs. If you're hitting peaks of -13 on them then your fine.