How Loud Should My Mix Be? Loudness In Pro Tools
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- A common question that pops up is "How Loud?" Music, web videos, TV, feature films, all have different loudness levels (or none, in the case of thatrical feature films). In this Pro Tools tutorial I show you how to hit that spec with minimum headaches.
you don't know how much you helped me in this industry.
Thank you Thomas, and congratulations on the new studio :D
Glad to help, it makes my day every time I hear from someone who has benefited from a video I made.
Every new video is like exploring rare professional knowledge. Even if topic was discussed babilion times, your explanation is the most skill giving I’ve ever experienced! Thank you for being here!
Thanks, that's very nice of you to say.
Best channel EVER for film production mixing and so. Hats off !
Good to have you back!!!!
One of the best mixer in Sweden told me once: "I have never chek my levels when i'm mixing" curtain😀
seeing you is always putting a smile on my face
Great Tom! Thank you! I did this not that long ago and it's a game changer. Delivering all those things out of a feature film mix became a satisfying process and I would also recommend it to everyone.
Great stuff
Great video! Thanks 🙌🏻
Thank you for all of your information and tips! These videos are very useful and I look forward to more!
Super appreciate your insights man. Have learned a ton from you over the years and you’ve helped me create way more efficient, consistent mixes on everything I work on.
It's good to hear your voice! Missed you man!
I missed you guys too. It’s been a different experience hearing from people all over the world the past few years here on CZcams. Really glad I made these videos and I’ll try to keep doing it as time allows.
Welcome back Tom beautiful new studio.
Thank you, building it kept me from digging too many potatoes and turnips for my wife!
Well you done now and that is your new weekend gig now lol @@ThomasBoykin
Awesome
Love your videos! Congrats on your new space. Would love a video blurb on how you built your room and treated/calibrated it if you get the time. Hope the strikes end soon so we all can get back to work. Thanks again!
Thanks man, yeah the strike is bumming me out. I’m luckier than most with the little bit of work I have but it definitely sucks not having steady union shows to work on right now.
Thomas hi! Glad to hear hear you! Can you make video about your work with kraken dialogue?
I use Nugen LM correct2 which I use as an Audio suite plugin.
How do you punch in changes to your mix if you audiosuite it?
Would love to see a little series of you designing and building the new space!
Man it is so hard to film while also framing a building, or just operating tools in general. I can do a retrospective but honestly it wouldn’t give much to viewers!
Guess I'm gonna need a studio / gear tour with this new space
I could do that
Can u please explain how loud sound effects, ambience, music and dialogues should be in a mix
appreciate your work...
love from INDIA 💐
Thank you
@@ThomasBoykin learning a lot of things from you... keep posting ♥️
Hey mate, 4 quick questions.
1. When you're mixing, do you work to a specific loudness spec and then change it for your various deliverables? Or do you mix for the "most important" deliverable you've been asked for and then adjust the others based off that one? Or something else?
2. Did I understand right that you're using compressors and limiters to do the work? Doesn't that chop off the loud bits or bring the loud and quiet parts closer together? (Does that not make the mix sound... "muddy"?).
3. If that's right, Is there a reason you don;'t just turn the mix down a bit? Do you ever have to re-mix it so it sounds right, or does it just kinda naturally work?
4. Do your louder deliverables tend to have more noise since (presumably) the noise floor is higher? (So Netflix maybe sounds a bit "cleaner" than Amazon? Or does raising the volume on a device actually introduce more noise)?
1. I try to gear the mix for the platform that most people will consume the content. If it will play in one festival and then go on Amazon Prime, I'm mixing it like I'd want to see on Amazon Prime.
2. Yes, and if the client is not paying me to do two (or more) completely distinct mixes, this is what they get.
3. I am usually boosting the broadcast or streaming mix to get a web version. The web version will mostly be played on smaller devices, so a slight degradation in sound quality is ok to me. But using good plugins correctly, the sound quality is still good!
4. Yes, but the Netflix and Amazon mix will likely be the same. The web mix will be overall louder, the peaks chopped off a bit, but will be watched on phones and tablets more likely, and noisier locations. Have you heard an airline mix of a movie? The bg noise is boosted quite a bit but since you are on an airplane, it doesn't matter too much.
I've been mixing my own short film using your entire channel as my guide and I can't believe I've managed to produce something that actually sounds good enough to present and for that I thank you
I have a question - when you do the the LUFs metering for loudness, is that for the entire project (DX,FX,MX) or do you try and achieve a target LUF for each individual track?
I know the end game is to have the whole project average a target LUF, like -24, and I've tried doing Loudness control in RX (as an experiment) to level everything at -24 with a true peak of -2 and the entire project was louder than -24 by several dB.
And should normal speech be, at average, -24 LUF?
I'm also in Reaper, I don't know if that makes a difference
Whole mix
Thomas, thanks for this. If you have dropped using insight for metering, what are you using for actual meters(not loudness measurement)?
My ears
@ThomasBoykin Hey man, firstly just wanna say thank you for your videos, I started doing this professionally recently because of them. I grew up poor and school was never really an option. So sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Secondly, wanna ask how deep you go on a predub mix for a theatrical release?
I had an experience recently on my first theatrical release where the re-recording mixer wanted me to split out my premix into 3 different sessions (DX, MX, SFX ) but didn't want any of my bussing/VCA's/ Panning Automation (Used your 5.1 Mixing template btw :) ). Anyway it resulted in all my mixing work getting completely erased. (save for on the printed stems ).
Any advice on how to prevent something like this from happening in the future?
Ps The company I work for brought in a post-house last minute so I didn't realize anyone else would be touching my mix
Yeah, you can't control any of that stuff, so don't sweat it! Many mixers are protective of their work and will want to start from scratch if they take over for someone else. There is nothing you can do except for make sure you get paid, smile, and take the next gig.
@@ThomasBoykin Lol, This was my instinctual reaction thanks for validating that!
Hey Tom, was hoping to ask you a quick dialogue loudness question, and this video seems like an ok place to ask. Been unsure about this for a while.
Suppose you had a scene where the characters were having a normal conversation, and then suddenly one of them whispers, and the other ones response is to shout back angrily.
How would you mix that in film so it still sounds like a whisper, regular talking, and shouting? What sort of DB would you be trying to place each piece of dialogue in so it sounded correct on film?
And to piggy back off my own question, what if someone was shouting but from far away? Like a distant scream.
Thanks for all you do man. :)
There are so many kinds of whispers! Stage whisper, true whisper, growl whisper. But I would probably try to keep it no lower than between -42 and -35 lufs. A really loud scream no louder than -12 lufs, but it'll also depend on what's around, the tonal quality,etc. Also is there music playing? What are the BG's doing? You don't want to A. lose track of the story and B. have the audience scrambling to turn the volume down.
One thing that can help is playing back the mix on DIM with your monitor controller. Keep in mind that when people watch at home they are fighting a noisy fridge, traffic, HVAC sound, mom cooking dinner in the kitchen, kids playing in the room. Too dynamic and they will lose story points. I will also check the mix on a TV in my mix room, a trick my mentor taught me back in the day.