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Heathenlamb
Heathenlamb
Known Participant
November 18, 2017
Question

Mixing audio for TV broadcast

  • November 18, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 2228 views

I run my own business producing TV commercials. They are fine for the most part but I am never entirely happy with the audio mix once I see them on TV. I am completely aware of requirements and procedures for ensuring the audio is broadcast compliant. They all pass the Quality checks at every tv station. But to me the audio just doesn't have the punch of other commericals. I have a great set of monitors and do an audio check after final export.

I have searched high and low for tutes or information about MIXING for broadcast but it is virtually non-existent. Currently I'll use the mid-enhancer and tweak each track a little. I was applying the broacast audio filter, with db cut at -4 for music and -3.5 for voiceovers but I find it gives each track a hard edge that grates the ear.

Can anyone please point in my the direction of an appropraite tutorial or just give me some pointers.

Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Moderator note: Audition forum will have the better experts in sound mixing, so moved here.]

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    1 reply

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    November 18, 2017

    My first thought is that this is something of an art form that may be beyond the scope of a tutorial.  Degrees exist for this subject.

    Might be worth considering.

    SteveG_AudioMasters_
    Community Expert
    SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 18, 2017

    The only thing that makes audio have more 'punch' at any given level is less dynamic range - therefore compression and careful EQing of the material. Only it's nowhere near as simple as that - it never is, is it? You have to find ways to do this that don't end up screwing with these ridiculous 'LUFS' measurements too much. There are some articles worth reading - for instance this one with links to other research - http://productionadvice.co.uk/loudness-war-secret/ - and another one, possibly with more information, here: The In The Box Mastering Guide: Tackling The Loudness War. Don't worry that they keep saying 'Spotify' on them - the guidance works just the same, although having a broadcast limiter slapped across the output alters it all somewhat anyway.

    I haven't tested this, but I suspect that the 'simple' answer to the 'more punch - same LUFS' question may be to drop the peak level slightly so that you don't hit 0dB, and use something like the multiband compressor judiciously; certainly you can alter the LUFS figure just by altering the level (which rather demonstrates how utterly useless this measurement is, in the real world). The reason that this will probably work in a broadcast chain will be that Optimod is going to come to your rescue! You can probably work out how and why...

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