BBC delivery spec

[Reckless Erik]

Hi everyone,

Done a search but found nothing specific. I am delivering a doc that will be aired on BBC4 or BBC2 in May. Apart from an M+E mix along with the stereo mix there was no info as to audio levels on the sheet the producer showed me. Does anyone here have some idea as to what the beeb expect to see on their meters?
Thank in advance, Nick

[MusoPro]

Hi Nick,
I have done 2 mixes for the BBC. Both mixes were delivered with a Peak at
-12db. (Dialog)

I would definitely monitor it on good meters like some Dorroughs or check it with a Dolby LM100.

How are you planning to deliver the mix?

Best,
Mitch

[tom_lowe]

Originally Posted by MusoPro

Hi Nick,
I have done 2 mixes for the BBC. Both mixes were delivered with a Peak at
-12db. (Dialog)

I would definitely monitor it on good meters like some Dorroughs or check it with a Dolby LM100.

How are you planning to deliver the mix?

Best,
Mitch

Mitch, the problem is metering on an LM100 or Dorroughs is pointless for the Beeb, as they use PPM and no loudness metering (apart from for the HD channel).

SD stuff is line-up at PPM4, no peaks above PPM6. The bit about stereo in here applies to all BBC channels, even though this is a document for HD delivery. http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/dq/p..._v1.0-2011.pdf

My understanding is Dorroughs are only useful in the US and have been made pointless by loudness metering. For PPMs, get something like PPMulator and do not reply on the "BBC" setting in Digi Phasescope - utterly useless.

Google is a wonderful thing.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Tom is spot on - I was weaned there (many moons ago)

ref level -18dbFS = PPM 4 = 0.775v
Peaks 8dB above ref level (i.e -10dBFs), PPM 6 on a BBC PPM (integration time of 40ms I believe) which is a quasi peak meter as defined by PLoud, the EBU Loudness experts

Stereo Full Mix on A1A2, Stereo M&E (Mix minus narration) on A3A4

Comfy territory. I love my chromatec in vision PPMs with my MoJo

cheers

[tom_lowe]

Originally Posted by MIKEROPHONICS

Tom is spot on - I was weaned there (many moons ago)

ref level -18dbFS = PPM 4 = 0.775v
Peaks 8dB above ref level (i.e -10dBFs), PPM 6 on a BBC PPM (integration time of 40ms I believe) which is a quasi peak meter as defined by PLoud, the EBU Loudness experts

Stereo Full Mix on A1A2, Stereo M&E (Mix minus narration) on A3A4

Comfy territory. I love my chromatec in vision PPMs with my MoJo

cheers

It's worth adding, that although you could do it just reading dBFS, it's worth getting PPMs for the integration time, as peaks could actually be momentarily above -10dBFS, so you can go a little louder, rather than if you were just doing it with digital meters.

[thermisonic]

I'm a big fan of in vision chromatecs too, I'm pretty sure the integration time is 10ms on these or any other BBC ppm.

Rob Walker

[Reckless Erik]

Tom, Mitch, Mike and Rob,

Thanks for the help. Mike,I'm glad you mentioned mix minus on A3+A4. As the spec stated M+E only I was going to ask. Do they usually accept dipped or non-dipped?

Regards, Nick

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Undipped for Vo!!!!!!!!!!

If I had a dollar for every time I had to fight American mixes with dipped M&Es whilst re-versioning American mixes with English grammar ("write me" is just not acceptable to our Oxford English Dictionary ears!). Wake up America for goodness sake, it's not hard. There are other territories out there! I feel like the Roman Centurian in Life Of Brian, "Romanus Eunt Domus?"

Rantypoos over...

[MIKEROPHONICS]

I may well be wrong on the integration time, check the IBS.org

Sorry, it was late last night whilst I was downloading un-dipped stems!

[Reckless Erik]

If I had a dollar for every time I had to fight American mixes with dipped M&Es

Ok. Apart from the rant. Can I safely assume from the above that the Mix minus must be un-dipped (so that a new VO can have its own space)?
Your later post made things a tad un-clear.
By the way, I may be on the North American plate but this little piece of Reykjavik stoically remains European, PAL!

Regards Nick