Mastering for films

[vignesh.vijay]

How loud should my audio level be for:
1. Film music
2. Film dialogues/SFX
3. Combined music/ dialogue/ sfx

Also, are there any tutorials for mastering music for films?

[Effectsworks]

That is a complicated question. As there are different broadcast standards for different countries and online platforms like Netflix have their own as well. If it's an indie film - it may not be that important because it will only be played at festivals, etc.
Also, you may want to mix in 5.1 (unless it's an indie film).

[mcbpete]

Aye it's more dependant on the destination platform (streaming, TV, cinema) than the type of content itself. The distributor will normally give the production company (or you in this case!) tech specs like the target LUFS, number of channels of audio etc.

[vignesh.vijay]

That is a complicated question. As there are different broadcast standards for different countries and online platforms like Netflix have their own as well. If it's an indie film - it may not be that important because it will only be played at festivals, etc.
Also, you may want to mix in 5.1 (unless it's an indie film).

It is an indie film.
Most of the places say it should be around -15 LUFS for youtube and -23 LUFS for theatre/netflix.
Should it be -15 and -23 at the loudest part or should the levels be consistent there throught the movie?

[Effectsworks]

That is a complicated question. As there are different broadcast standards for different countries and online platforms like Netflix have their own as well. If it's an indie film - it may not be that important because it will only be played at festivals, etc.
Also, you may want to mix in 5.1 (unless it's an indie film).

It is an indie film.
Most of the places say it should be around -15 LUFS for youtube and -23 LUFS for theatre/netflix.
Should it be -15 and -23 at the loudest part or should the levels be consistent there throught the movie?

The dialog has to be consistent that's the real issue. The SFX on the other hand can be a lot louder (just don't ever let it clip). Think of a star wars movie, the SFX really booms in the mix. The music must never eclipse the audio so it should always remain below so the voices are clear.
But you've got to maintain that loudness using something like this (consistency over time):


But if it's an indie film then a lot of those rules can go out the window. I mean, you can probably deliver it in stereo (as opposed to 5.1). And some of the directors will want their movies to be loud as hell, because it's at a festival or some such and there are no rules per se.

First thing I always do, is find out where the director wants it to be played and work back from there. That said, you may have to deliver multiple versions depending on the broadcast formats.

[kidslow]

I would expect an indie film in this age to require a 5.1 mix, but def. worth clarifying deliverables before you start.

I aim for -16 to -18 LUFS for the dialogue.

My film mixes come back mastered as:

• +6db Web
  1. Full mix
  2. Splits: DIA,FX,MX

• theatrical
  1. 5.1 (Full, Splits)
  2. ProLogic LtRt
  3. Stereo (Full, M and E, Splits)