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Reid Rejsa
 
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Default Broadcast vs. DVD peak levels

Hi All,

For the live broadcast mixing I do, the engineers at the station have
limited the control room audio to around +6VU (based on 0VU=-20 dbfs) so
peaks are allowed up to -14 dbfs. One engineer I know who does a lot of
broadcast TV spot mixing limits his audio to -9 dbfs to avoid triggering
broadcast limiters. My question to those of you who do a lot of DVD
video mixing is: how high do you all let your peak levels go when mixing
an audio for video project that's going to DVD? Do you use the full
dynamic range up to 0 dbfs, or limit it to some lower value?

Thanks,

Reid
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Bobby Owsinski
 
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Default Broadcast vs. DVD peak levels

In article rr-F3FF2D.20295617032006@localhost,
Reid Rejsa wrote:

Hi All,

For the live broadcast mixing I do, the engineers at the station have
limited the control room audio to around +6VU (based on 0VU=-20 dbfs) so
peaks are allowed up to -14 dbfs. One engineer I know who does a lot of
broadcast TV spot mixing limits his audio to -9 dbfs to avoid triggering
broadcast limiters. My question to those of you who do a lot of DVD
video mixing is: how high do you all let your peak levels go when mixing
an audio for video project that's going to DVD? Do you use the full
dynamic range up to 0 dbfs, or limit it to some lower value?

Thanks,

Reid


It depends upon the client and how much of the DVD audio we can actually
do. If we do everything on the disc, then we'll push it up to -1dBFS
(which is still less than the -.1dB used on CDs).

If we only do the main program, then we ask the client for the preferred
level (usually -20). We do this because way back when we first started
mixing these things we had a few kicked back for being too loud.

--
Bobby Owsinski
Surround Associates
http://www.surroundassociates.com
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Marc Wielage
 
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Default Broadcast vs. DVD peak levels

On Mar 17, 2006, Reid Rejsa commented:

how high do you all let your peak levels go when mixing
an audio for video project that's going to DVD? Do you use the full
dynamic range up to 0 dbfs, or limit it to some lower value?
------------------------------snip------------------------------


Every studio and DVD distributor seems to have different standards on what is
acceptable as far as average dialog level and absolute peak program level.
The Discovery Channel is particularly picky, as is PBS. Foreign video & TV
distributors can be very tough as well, like Network 10 in Australia or
Canal+Plus in France.

The best advice is to get a copy of the delivery requirements and technical
specs from the company who is distributing the DVD. Find out what they want
and get some specifics. In general, I think they're expecting a -20dbfs
operating level, with dialog peaks a little hotter than this, and loud peaks
(explosions, gun shots, car crashes) no louder than -10dbfs. This will
generally be acceptable for the major American TV networks, but DVD's can be
a little different. Sometimes the concerns are greater for low-level dialog
than they are for peaks.

They may also have different requirements in terms of channel assignments and
delivery formats. Many will take DA88 tapes, but some now insist on a
removeable hard drive with BWF's. My advice is to ask all these questions
now, so there's no surprises later.

BTW, this topic is discussed at length on the Digidesign User Conference in
the Post & Surround section, usually at least twice a month.

--MFW



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Scott Dorsey
 
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Default Broadcast vs. DVD peak levels

Reid Rejsa wrote:

For the live broadcast mixing I do, the engineers at the station have
limited the control room audio to around +6VU (based on 0VU=-20 dbfs) so
peaks are allowed up to -14 dbfs. One engineer I know who does a lot of
broadcast TV spot mixing limits his audio to -9 dbfs to avoid triggering
broadcast limiters. My question to those of you who do a lot of DVD
video mixing is: how high do you all let your peak levels go when mixing
an audio for video project that's going to DVD? Do you use the full
dynamic range up to 0 dbfs, or limit it to some lower value?


Use whatever the house standard is. Normally in a broadcast environment
where there is a mix of analogue and digital stuff, it's normal to set
levels so the average-reading VU meters read zero when the peak-reading
digital meters read -20dBFS. So if you're mixing on the peak meters
you want to keep levels down below -14 or so. If you're mixing on the
VU meters, you want to keep them below +3.

If the house is calibrated differently, use whatever the systems are
set up for. If you record too hot on the digital side, the analogue
gear won't be happy with the hot output because it's not calibrated to
deal with it properly.

As far as what actually goes onto a released DVD, it's got peaks at 0 dB.
That's one of the things you deal with in authoring. But that's for
something that will be reaching the general public, not something for
internal use. For internal use, use whatever the house standard is.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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