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BLT · 1st July 2010

Thanks Georgia and everyone else here for sharing your wealth of knowledge! What a great read.

I noticed a little while back that my mixes (dialogue mixed to -27dB LKFS with Dolby Media Meter) are usually louder than most big budget movies that I listen to on the same system, at the same reference level. Curious as to why this was, I ran the Dolby Digital file from a few big budget DVD mixes through the Dolby Media Meter, and found that the vast majority of them had their dialogue levels between -29dB and even as low as -37dB (and just about everywhere in between), but the Dialnorm setting was indeed set at the standard -27dB. Does this mean that most of the time when theatrical mixes are put on DVD that no one really pays attention to the Dialogue and thus Dialnorm level? I would think that since the Dynamic Compression settings assume a correct Dialnorm setting, that would lead whoever is doing the DVD remix to try to get the dialogue closer to -27dB, if that's where they are leaving the Dialnorm setting. Since there is no QC department like there is for a TV/Network release, do DVD mixes just try to squeeze a few extra dB of headroom by fudging the dialogue levels? And if so, does that mean that most DVDs have the Dynamic Compression metadata setting set to "No Compression" to avoid incorrect compression/expansion thresholds if the user turns on "Midnight Mode"?

In short, should I really not care about correct dialnorm levels for DVD mixes, since apparently no one else does?

Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks in advance for any insight!

-Brett

1st July 2010	#49
BLT Gear Head Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 30	Thanks Georgia and everyone else here for sharing your wealth of knowledge! What a great read. I noticed a little while back that my mixes (dialogue mixed to -27dB LKFS with Dolby Media Meter) are usually louder than most big budget movies that I listen to on the same system, at the same reference level. Curious as to why this was, I ran the Dolby Digital file from a few big budget DVD mixes through the Dolby Media Meter, and found that the vast majority of them had their dialogue levels between -29dB and even as low as -37dB (and just about everywhere in between), but the Dialnorm setting was indeed set at the standard -27dB. Does this mean that most of the time when theatrical mixes are put on DVD that no one really pays attention to the Dialogue and thus Dialnorm level? I would think that since the Dynamic Compression settings assume a correct Dialnorm setting, that would lead whoever is doing the DVD remix to try to get the dialogue closer to -27dB, if that's where they are leaving the Dialnorm setting. Since there is no QC department like there is for a TV/Network release, do DVD mixes just try to squeeze a few extra dB of headroom by fudging the dialogue levels? And if so, does that mean that most DVDs have the Dynamic Compression metadata setting set to "No Compression" to avoid incorrect compression/expansion thresholds if the user turns on "Midnight Mode"? In short, should I really not care about correct dialnorm levels for DVD mixes, since apparently no one else does? Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks in advance for any insight! -Brett