[Ryan]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to know what your opinion is on the best signal chain
for mixing film in terms of where should the compressors,EQ,
expanders, and limiters should be. What are your experiences? and
what's your process of mixing for film.

I know that religiously using expanders/compressors, eq, and limiters
are key, but in what order should they be in? I was thinking that
individual dialogue tracks should look like compressor - expander -
EQ in the signal processing chain. Then those individual tracks will
get bussed over to a dialogue bus track, which would then have an
expander. What do you think?

-R

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:36:50 -0700 (PDT), Ryan
wrote:

I just wanted to know what your opinion is on the best signal chain
for mixing film in terms of where should the compressors,EQ,
expanders, and limiters should be. What are your experiences? and
what's your process of mixing for film.

I know that religiously using expanders/compressors, eq, and limiters
are key, but in what order should they be in? I was thinking that
individual dialogue tracks should look like compressor - expander -
EQ in the signal processing chain. Then those individual tracks will
get bussed over to a dialogue bus track, which would then have an
expander. What do you think?

I think that, especially as it's Easter Sunday, it would be
inappropriate to question your religious delusions.

[Scott Dorsey]

Ryan wrote:
I just wanted to know what your opinion is on the best signal chain
for mixing film in terms of where should the compressors,EQ,
expanders, and limiters should be. What are your experiences? and
what's your process of mixing for film.

What kind of film for what?

Some of the best films out there were made without any processing at all,
because of the way the original tracks were recorded. On the other hand,
a lot of films today have hundreds of stems with very deeply layered effects,
and it takes EQ and dynamics control in order to keep everything from
stepping on everything else.

I know that religiously using expanders/compressors, eq, and limiters
are key, but in what order should they be in? I was thinking that
individual dialogue tracks should look like compressor - expander -
EQ in the signal processing chain. Then those individual tracks will
get bussed over to a dialogue bus track, which would then have an
expander. What do you think?

I think you should do whatever it takes to make the dialogue sound good,
and that may involve no processing at all and just some manual gainriding,
or it may involve some compression. It might need a lot of EQ or no EQ
at all depending on the skill of the recordist.

Careful dynamic processing can allow you to keep the vocal level constant
without having the noise floor pumping too much. In some kinds of mix you
want to hide the noise floor of the dialogue track... in other kinds of
mix the noise floor of the dialogue track adds much of the sense of space
to the track.

Listen to the track. Use processing to fix problems. If there are no
problems, you need no processing. NOW, build everything else up around
your dialogue track.

Clearly this isn't possible for some scenes where there is no dialogue,
but it's a good way to think about the whole film mix.
--scott
(2 dubbers, 4 dummies, interlock and ready to roll here)
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

On Apr 12, 9:29*am, "Soundhaspriority" wrote:
"Ryan" wrote in message

... Hi everyone,

I just wanted to know what your opinion is on the best signal chain
for mixing film in terms of where should the compressors,EQ,
expanders, and limiters should be. What are your experiences? and
what's your process of mixing for film.

I know that religiously using expanders/compressors, eq, and limiters
are key, but in what order should they be in? I was thinking that
individual dialogue tracks should look like compressor - expander -
EQ in the signal processing chain. Then those individual tracks will
get bussed over to a dialogue bus track, which would then have an
expander. What do you think?

It's not the key tool. The key tool is automation. First, get the dialog
levels right by riding gain with your automation tool.

Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511

I certainly agree with Bobs recommendation for automation which is
pretty simple. I would begin though with eqexpander/
compressionambience/room/plate reverbDAW. Just my two cents that
will probably be tossed in the air and holed by some more experienced
ME!