Short film mixed in stereo: problematic in theaters?

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by bsteeve

I mean you could send all the dialog to one channel, solo it, pan it full L or full R to listen to the dialog mix only coming from one speaker only, then pan it back to C.

However there is no way you could check the balance like this.. can you borrow a speaker from someone that would be somewhat the same power output as your barefoots?

Also beware that if you are mixing in a nearfield environment, the balance wont necessarily translate in a Theatrical environment. Generally speaking you might want to turn everything routed in the Centre channel up a little.

I use to work at post studio mixing in a nearfield environement but we had a gigantic real cinema at the back (the studio I worked at was owned by a cinema chain), I often use to jump in there to check my mixes.. and every-time I thought my balance was right in my mix room, the dialog (centre channel) was on the softer side in the theatre.

Thanks for your input. Great advice.

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by KingTor

I would recommend booking a print matter on a mix stage that does this frequently. It shouldn't take long, but it's the only way to be confident that it'll play back as intended in a variety of treaters. IMHO.

Sent from my LM-X210CMR using Tapatalk

Indeed, this seems to be the best option. I'll discuss that with the director. Thanks for your advice!

Luc

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by audioluche

If i use an upmix plugin, can i trust the result without hearing it in a proper LCR monitoring environnement?


Thanks!

Yeah, as long as you don't use the waves one.
It's absolutely dreadful.

[TheMuffinMan01]

Yes stereo always sounds bad in a theatre unless you are sitting exactly in the center, and even then LCR will sound better. If a DCP is being made then do use LCR. With DCP what goes on is what comes out in terms of audio channels, so a venue couldn’t upmix DCP stereo audio even if they wanted to. That being said a lot of festivals only accept stereo quicktime files as deliverables, so ask the director or whomever for the specs the festival is asking for.