How to mix Leq(m) for cinema

[Mv128046389]

I have gotten the chance to mix for a cinema comercial, but the requirment are in another unit that i'm familiar with.

Leq(m) 82 Db

How do i find a meter for this? i have the RX8 standard plugin in addition with Animate, but have found nothing in both statistics, loudness control or native in Animate...

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

The reason that you won't find it is that Dolby SR - 82dB Leq(m) isn't a mix level at all - it's a requirement that you are likely to have some difficulty in meeting, because it specifies that the mix must be done on a Dolby-calibrated monitoring systen with the room volume set to 82dB. The idea is that if it's confortable for you when you mix at that level, then it will be fine in the cinema. In a way, that's rather better than many of the so-called 'standards' that people require you to mix to, IMHO.

There is apparently a cheat's way of getting your monitoring set to a good approximation to this, but it's going to require you to borrow a calibrated SPL meter. You put some pink noise at -20dB (ref 0dB) into your session. You mute all the speakers individually and whilst playing back the tone, set the level of each speaker so that the SPL meter reads 82dB (C weighted) at your monitoring position when running just that one. Repeat for all the other monitors.

So to do this, you set the level on your monitor controller to a fixed repeatable point, and then you need individual level controls for each speaker that you can individually tweak. And, as I mentioned, a calibrated SPL meter. And because it's a monitoring requirement, there's no getting around it...

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Why is it not accurate? Well, your monitoring environment isn't like a cinema, and what 82dB sounds like at home isn't the same as what it sounds like in one. The standard requires a degree of room treatment to meet the Dolby requirements, and that's inevitably expensive. And it alters your perception of the space considerably.

It has also been suggested that for a commercial, mixing to -23 LUFS will get you reasonably close - perhaps...

[Richard M Knight]

There are also some rules, that I can't remember, on how to calibrate the LFE.

I have yet to go to a cinema that runs at 'Dolby level' it is always quieter, even the cinema at the Bradford Film and TV museum did not run at calibrated volume the last time I went.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Potentially it's a better system - but only if you calibrate the cinemas as well, otherwise it's meaningless. For some reason, they want trailers louder than commercials too - commercials at 82dB but trailers at 85dB.

[Mv128046389]

Hi Steve
Thank you for the clearing up! 

I have now run into another problem af the sorround sound does not allow for Rx8Standard moniter.

So how do i measure and adjust in Audition? Im guessing the LoudnessMeter, but there is a "Cinema" option here 🙂 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I suggest you read and study carefully the help page for the loudness meter. Please note that the meter doesn't alter the audio at all - it only measures it, in the same way that the loudness radar does, except that the radar shows you a history. You can alter the routing of it by clicking on the icon at the top RH corner.

[paulfigg]

Nugen's VisLM meter:

 

-paul.

@produceNewMedia