[colinato]

@ mikerophonics

As you can see from the number of posts i've made, I really do not post often other than to answer/ask a question, but I just could not help myself this time. Please don't take me too seriously, as I'm mostly just letting off some steam.

The angel on my should responds:

Thank you, mikerophonics, for your thoughtful insight into re-versioning mixes for foreign language. I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and tips on session setup and mixing, and for making things as easy as possible for everyone involved.

I was looking at some specs recently for the latest show I will be working on and it reminded me of a disturbing trend in the ever increasing number of audio deliverables required by networks these days (mostly reality networks).

Stereo full mix
M&E undipped for narration AND dialoguee
DME dipped for narration AND dialogue
DME undipped for narration
Stereo music undipped for narration AND dialogue
Stereo FX undipped for narration AND dialogue
Mono DX unbleeped
Mono Narration

And that's not even getting into 5.1 deliverables.

These on top of the "dipped" versions which are used to create the actual final english mix. And, since you mentioned budgets, why is it that it's always the reality networks, which have the smallest budgets, are requiring these things. It's hard enough for a small/medium sized post house to get these jobs within budget just to get a final english mix out the door.

The devil on my should responds:

I was looking at some specs today for a show I will be starting soon and was sickened by what they are asking for (the stems stated above). I've recorded, edited, re-versioned, and mixed thousands of episodes of major network American shows into other languages and have never, Ever, EVER received any undipped stems, nor would I ever, Ever, EVER ask a mixer to provide them to me. Could you imagine if you had to actually ask the mixer this as opposed to just complaining to a network about why it takes the amount of time it does to do your job? Would that conversation sound like this?:

"Um, excuse me, mister mixer, could you also send with that Printmaster, M&E, and million other stems you just created, an undipped version, and maybe some undipped music, and undipped FX. And while you're at it could you create another version that's just dipped for narration and one that's dipped for narration and dialogue. What's that? You have a deadline and budget? Oh, well, could you just basically recreate your template and change you mix setup into a F@$#ing mess to more accommodate my workflow? It's really not that hard and it would make my life a lot easier (ie. you could do most of my job for me). And, you know what, could you wrap that in a nice pretty bow and send it over on a silver platter? Hello? Hello, are you still there? My phone must be cutting out..." Dial tone sounds... a phone rings somewhere down the hall... the sound of footsteps slowly grows ever louder until your mix room door flies open! "You're fired!" screams your boss.

I'm sorry if you have to push a couple extra faders to smooth out some music or effects. I'm sorry if you have to cut in a piece of music here and there from that music stem I provided you to work around some extended VO lines. I'm sorry if you have to share in a small slice of the misery that we have to deal with in creating these ridiculous deliverables for you. And i'm sorry I didn't wrap it in a #$%^ing bow for you. So could you please take some pride in your work as a mixer, do your job and mix. You've got undipped music, you've got undipped FX, you've got an M$E. You don't need fifteen other versions of M&Es, DMEs, music, and fx to do your job in a timely manner.