QC Curious.

[paranerd]

Originally Posted by alan filk

Hello! I have a naive question. Here's the scenario:

-SD STEREO MIX
-DIALOG = "should be" between -7 and 0 VU on a VU meter.
-NO SPEC REGARDING FULL MIX OTHER THAN -10 dbfs maximum peak.

The question is: How do the folks at QC measure the dialog to make their assessment with a full stereo mix? I'm just curious. In an SD delivery, is dialog more of an approximate thing with peaks being the only precise measurement?

Thanks!

Is this the Radio-Canada spec? I have to deal with this annoying VU spec all the time.

When it comes to Radio-Canada, the QC department watches the VU for the whole show. I don't know if they keep an eye on both or do one viewing on the left meter and then another on the right. I usually do left meter, then right, while boosting and reducing the dialogue as I go. If dialogue hovers around the -10 and -7 range for some bits, they will usually let it go by. They will also let things go to +1 even if the specs say 0. Ambiences, production sound, SFX, foley, music can all be below -20. They don't care about unders in those cases, but they care if it goes over +1.

Of course, this is all under the assumption we're talking about the same broadcaster.

[alan filk]

Thanks! I'll have another look at my meters. Unfortunately, It's not Radio-Canada but I'm sure your reference is helpful. My situation involves wall to wall music (Like a theme) which makes the spec a little tricky.