[Leverson]

I just wanted to reiterate from my post above, as I've delivered these to major studios. A +12 limited mix is the theatrical mix limited to +12 over reference (so -8dbfs). This allows the distributor to bring the mix up to TV deliverable levels on their side.

So instead of raising the average levels of your feature mix UP from theatrical (let's say for example -30db average) to average CALM act TV levels (-24 average in the US) INSTEAD you are bringing your limiter DOWN and clamping your peaks at -8db true peak.

It is NOT -24 average levels AND -8 peak.

I think the reason why some studios do this is it gives them the flexibility to deliver their films to various regions through their own internal pipelines. So they can bring the average up to -24db/-2 true peak for US TV, -23db/-1 true peak for European TV, Netflix or streaming to their own -27 dialnorm standards, and all the other many standards that are out there etc, without needing separate mixes for each, or a mix that tries to straddle the US/EU/streaming tolerances all at once.

Again, it's always good to clarify specs and have a discussion, as some distributors copy/paste without really understanding what they are asking for and why on their spec sheets, but a +12 limited mix is a real modern deliverable that I see from time to time for my theatrical deliveries.

EDITED TO ADD: honestly I hadn't seen it prior to about maybe a year or so ago, but I've had two feature projects since then list it on their spec sheet, and during our deliverables call were very clear they did not want an R.128 mix instead. A third one also had it listed on their deliverables, but during our deliverables call decided they'd rather have the traditional R.128. So when in doubt, always call and have the conversation!