| Hello All,
I've recently join this forum and have been reading a lot of threads, looking for something around this topic. I work primarily mixing independent features that get some theatrical play and mostly DVD/Blu Ray, so I've been doing these number crunches for a long time. There are many questions I have for other mixers here regarding this, but I'll just start with a couple.
1. Has anyone else noticed that on Blu Ray releases, a PCM track is OVERALL 4-5db hotter than Dolby True HD & DTS-HD? I'm not sure as to why this is...but I did some calibration and testing in my room, which is also running a reference Blu Ray player w/ analog outs going into a -10 to +4 line shifter. When authoring a pink noise reference DVD using Dolby and PCM, the PCM imatches the SPL levels that my DAW is cal'd to, but the Dolby playback is 5db quieter in outputing SPL levels.
This seems odd, since many Blu Ray releases with PCM Multitracks will also have a DD track, thus having two mixes at different output levels, and obviously differering for consumers who play a Blu Rays of different audio formats, without changing their volume level.
2. To anyone that is mixing for DVD/BD release, are you only mixing using Bass Management or rather LFE mixing as well? If you do mix with Bass Management, how do you calibrate your subwoofer to compensate for the added low end from the mains?
From my experience, it seems that most commercial DVD/BD releases that get a "remix" before home release, have a very large use of the LFE channel, pretty much the same as was in the theatre (does not seem to be attenuated down at all). Also, the main channels are not rolled off at all, as still have all the low end information that was in the theatrical mix (alhough it is obivious that most home consumers' center or surrounds reproduce anything below 80hz). So, when playing back the mix in Bass Management, there is a HUGE amount of level driving the subwoofer, since there is all this added low end from the mains along with the high level LFE channel (which i understand also gets boosted +10db). Leaving the mains full bandwidth would make sense with bass management, if the LFE wasn't so hot, but it is.
To make it worse, wouldn't this Bass Management sound terrible if you listened on a subwoofer that was only cal'd as an LFE channel, without considering for 5 channels of low end build up being sent to it as well?
My concern is, that this is causing consumers to turn their OVERALL level down, because the subwoofer is so loud, thus throwing off the overall dynamic listening experience of the movie, dialog may be too quiet and "good" loud parts will lose punch.
Thoughts or Solutions? |