Print to Tape - Audio Level

[r]Evolution wrote on 5/27/2007, 9:51 AM

We just sent a Commercial out to the Cable Company.
Our timeline/project audio levels were carefully watched so they did not peak at more than -12db.

When we did a Print to Tape (per their standards), we set the Bars & Tone at :30 seconds & -12db.
- There are Bars but where's the Tone in Vegas? Other NLE's have them.

-Should our project/timeline be set at -12db with peaks that reach upwards of -3db? (not clipping) or should the peaks be at -12db?

-How do you guys do your final Audio Levels?

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/27/2007, 12:27 PM

Ask the cable company what they want. You'll probably get a different answer every time. Chances are, if you stay below clipping and maintain a decent S/N then they probably don't care about the level much at all. Their processing equipment will adjust it to their standards regardless of what you give them. But the best choice is to ask what they want.

farss wrote on 5/27/2007, 1:00 PM

Anything that your peak are below odBFS is wasted headroom so peaking to -12dBFS is kind of a waste. I assume you're reading this with the meters in Vegas?

However as I've recently discovered there's another more complex standard regarding loudness levels for things like commercials, you'd need VU metering or SF's RMS statistics for that.

Bob.

Former user wrote on 5/27/2007, 1:13 PM

The problem is the issue between digital audio levels and analog audio levels, which has been discussed here before.

Audio that peaks at 0 Digital will be too hot and risk distorting when transferred to analog video equipment, which most TV and cable stations still use. For broadcast, you need to adhere to 0 PEAK analog which, depending on where you read, can be between -12 and -20 digital.

As far as TONE in Vegas, It will generate tone if you use the PTT option. Or there are tones available on the web or created by your audio software. You normally want 1k tone at 0db analog.

Dave T2