Work Flow, Session Setup, Rules of Thumb I'm just starting to mix a short film, and am hoping for some tips and guidelines (or pointers to good guides).
What's a good way to lay out my Pro Tools session? Should I make a different session for each scene? Or should I set up, for instance, a dialog submix for each scene in the master session? Any thoughts on this or related topic would be appreciated.
The way the session was delivered to me, each actor has his/her own track. Also one foley/ambience track, and a music track.
Also, what are some rules offor levels . . . for instance dialog peak at x db, never get below y db?
Sorry if this has been covered, I couldn't find anything in search . . . feel free to point me to a good source of information.
Thanks very much!
what is the final delivery of this product ?
straight to DVD ... ?
or will you go back to video tape and send to a TV station ?
The nature of the production is also a factor
TV drama
Full production feature movie
yes
there should be a single answer but the fact is, at the moment things are a bit fractured ...
and now internet delivery makes it even more confusing
Kev
DIY Factory
Each delivery medium has it's own limitations because of the medium itself. For example, the optical track on film will only take so much gain untill it runs out of physical room on the film itself. Video, you can actually cause interfierence on the video track. DVD, I believe you can hit as hard as you can. Broadcast I've seen everything from -10db peak, -12db peak, -16 peak with dial peaking at -20db.
If you are going to film, and creating a Dolby print master, the Dolby engineer will tell you if your levels are too hot, and you can take your master down accordingly. Pick a good hot level and mix your dial lower than that, say 6 to 9 db lower, so you have somewhere to go with your efx. You dont want your dial as loud as your explosions. If the film is not an efx film, then go ahead and make your dial the top.
You should do the whole film in one Pro Tools session. It will be easier to remain consistent in your levels and EQ. Create sub mixes of all your stems; DX, ADR, EFX, B Roll, Foley, MX. This will help you to make broad adjustments w/o grabbing multiple faders.
Something to look into; X-Curve or Academy Curve in theaters.
Have fun.
Charles Dayton C.A.S.
Is there anywhere I can find further information on such topics? Any books to suggest?
Try Jay Rose's web site. Just google his name. He's based out of boston. Good info on the site, and he has some books for sale on audio post. Very helpful guy. Also, try Thomlinson Holemans book on sound for TV and Film.
To add to my earlier recomendations, there is a basic listening level, that mixers listen at. For film its 85 db SPL, for TV its 83 db spl. One of the reasons for these relative levels, is you can listen to them for 8 hours W/o damaging your ears. The other, is that by always listening at a particular level, you get a sense of where dialogue sits as opposed to background and efx and music. I believe this level also smoothes out the Fletcher-Munson curve.
Good luck.
Charles Dayton, C.A.S.
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