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Originally Posted by f1sound  When doing location sound for a feature it seems that the trend can vary to setting a level of -20 to -12. I've been told that for HD media a level of -20 should be set because there is little head room before distortion occurs... In the past I've set my level to -20, and have been told my levels are "low" (clearly an audio signal though) so now sometimes I'll make the best judgement on the application (say sit down interviews) I would set level -12 (going to camera on a standard HD tape, MINI DV, P2, etc) because its pretty much a controlled enviorement; whereas for a film I prefer -20 for a maximum range for a scene that can have say whisper and shouting dialogue.
Is there a recommended standard or preference for the guys and girls in post; or does it go back to keeping it simple, "as long as it sounds good"? |
What do you mean by setting the level to -20 or -12? The line-up sine from the mixer to read those numbers on the recorder, or dialog peaks?
Anyway, recording level used to matter more because of S/N ratio, not because of the level the dialog is going to end up at (what this thread is all about). Now, with good 24-bit recorders, I see the trend is to ride the levels less in production, and record at safe low levels to prevent distortion. Production sound used to 'mix itself' much more, but now I have to apply 24+dB of gain on quiet parts of some scenes before I even start editing dialog.