Dialogue Mixing in a Movie vs TV

[kd_special]

I have mixed a lot of TV over the past years. I don't slam Dial but I make sure it touches a limiter slightly to give it that BUMP in my mix and on Air.

Im curious now that I have to mix a full feature movie how my dial approach should be different. Or should it be?

I know I can have a more dynamic range for quiet parts. So does this make my initial approach different on the dail tracks them selfs. Or do I just change my plugs (limiter) on my dial Stem? and treat the compressors and EQs on dial tracks the same.

Thanks kindly in advance.

kd

[mgoorevich]

Well, you should mix your dialogues at the mix stage (bigger room).
It will sound very different from dialogs mixed in the smaller room.
Many things like dynamic range, eq, reverb, amount of noise reduction e.t.c have a different approach.
I often don't use any dynamics on my dialogs at all. May be some limiter on DL master to eliminate peaks.
You must mix on the mix stage.

[Henchman]

I have mine just tickling a compressor and a limiter at -2 for TV to catch peaks.
But this is on the master dialog chain not on individual channels.

Other than that, I approach both the same. Riding the faders, but listening at a different calibrated level.

[lode]

I find that when I compress the dialogue for feature it works better on different playback-levels in cinemas. Less complaints is always good. However it is never agressively compressed.

[mgoorevich]

Originally Posted by lode

I find that when I compress the dialogue for feature it works better on different playback-levels in cinemas. Less complaints is always good. However it is never agressively compressed.

Well, I think we are talking about less dynamics here, rather than compression.
I don't like either excessive dynamics in dialogs, but for me this is the matter of fader riding not compression.

[Nathan W.]

Room Calibration Cheat Sheet by Daniel Milosevic

[kd_special]

Thanks for the tips...

Do you mean, get a good decent semi compressed level of dial. Then throw it in with everything else (Music,SFX,Amb) and decide which parts to turn up and down? according to the meter (Movie meter? not sure which ones to use yet) and the Ear.

As opposed to (How I do TV)

Get a good decent Levels where VO is King and the Dial is Queen then take everything else and bring it up to and massage it around the King and Queen. Watching the LKFS meter.

Thanks in advance

[networker]

"Well, I think we are talking about less dynamics here, rather than compression.
I don't like either excessive dynamics in dialogs, but for me this is the matter of fader riding not compression. "

Agreed...Bill Varney used both some compression and a lot of fader riding, and he did ok...

[kd_special]

I understand both sides.. Some don't like compression and limiting because its almost as if they are scared of the words "Compressor" and "Limiter". And you can really bugger the audio up with too much.

I like compression and limiting because they simply sound great when used properly.

I guess i was looking for some magic answer on the difference between mixing dialog for TV and dialog for a feature Movie.

thanks again

kd

[dr sound]

I know lots of TV Mixers who would love to mix Features, but few Feature Mixers who would love to mix TV full time.
It's a different medium but it has many common areas and problems.
Too many Mixers for TV watch the meters for delivery instead of focusing on what
they are doing. While one must meet spec, don't let the specs take away from your artistic inclinations. Mixing is truly a subjective medium.