DCP AUDIO LEVEL

[Ciskate]

Good morning guys I’m a newbie, I have to make DCP for a short movie and I exported my DCP from Da Vinci resolve studio version 16. I putted my DCP in dcp o matic to check levels and here’s the result. Is it bad or good? Thanks

[carl]

Can we see a screenshot of the DCP-o-matic audio analysis window?

[Ciskate]

Sure! I attach the image here ! Thanks

[Carsten]

This seems to be something like a 15min short film?

I'd say you're in the right ball park. From my personal experience with LUFS and Dialnorm levels, it may be a bit soft, you could probably raise overall gain by 3 to 6 dB.

But that depends a bit on the type of material, I can only guess. Should it give a 'loud' or 'decent' impression. There is no specific number one has to hit technically. There are only regulations in place for maximum advertising and trailer level. For short or long features, it is up to you. From what I see in your graph, your dialog hovers around -30dB RMS. That's okay, but, again, could be a bit soft, depending on the character of the piece.

There is only one way to absolute confidence - you need to take this to a properly calibrated cinema and listen to it there with the sound system set to their standard main feature level.

[Ciskate]

Thank you so much for your reply! Yes it’s a short movie, not action, It’s a drama with some music ( not too overwhelming). I will try to make 3 dcp, one with those levels and two with a higher dB value. The headphone listen seems to be nice as well with no clipping audio anywhere. Is it ok to deliver a 3 surround channel like this? I’ve read is ok but I’m afraid some servers will read empty channels as an error and wouldn’t play the file, what’s your experience so far?
Thank you again
Francesco

[Carsten]

That's okay. From the graph I see you setup a 5.1 channel layout and have only L/R/C populated. That is the right way to do it.

You could do +3/+6dB versions (should go very quick) - depends a bit on the screening situation, it is of course also possible to adjust the volume in the cinema.

- Carsten

[scozz76]

Aim for -21LUFS for features and -19LUFS for Ad's/trailers.

[Herbert]

I´ll chime in:
Before testing a lengthy DCP in a nearby cinema, I would like to check
if the audio levels are ok.
The feature is a 2hr documentary with 80% of dialogue (all Interviews), no narration.
I did only a very slight compression on the dialogue.
So it has dynamics.
I upmixed the sound to 5.1 from stereo.
But I did NOT use the original Stereo file but the stems
originally intended for Stereo. So the dialogue has its own stem/track.
I have no means to monitor in 5.1, so I still had to mix deaf.
The defunct Apple program Soundtrack allows to monitor in Stereo but deliver/ export5.1
Because the Dialogue it is not very clean (Room noise etc) ,
I decided to bleed 10% of the center it into the L and R channels.
This is why L/R have almost identical waveforms an follow the center about -20db.
(See first image) Still there is ambient (room) noise in L/R.
Ls/Rs are mixed down with a little reverb, only ambience and music.
No pan effects.

I made screenshots of:
A 5 Minute scene with dialogue only (again, 80% of the documentary are like this)

Just_Dialogue_5Min.jpg

A scene with about 25 seconds of dialogue followed by very loud music
that builds up (A chorale with orchestra from Bach)

Very_Loud_Music_Passage_2Min.jpg

A 5 minute scene with dialogue followed by loud music (not as loud as before) and dialogue again.

Dialogue_Loud_Music_Passage_5Min.jpg

But how do I read the data:
I.e. the integrated loudness in dialogue only:
Do I read the summation of all channels?
So the center channel plus the 10% "bleed" in L/R
sums up to -35LUFS?

Using soft dialogue with loud music passages was my intention.

But I assume the dialogue is too soft, whereas the very loud music is about 3db too hot?
Best, Herbert

[Carsten]

The EBU R128 (LUFS, etc.) are for all channels. They indicate how loud the subjective experience in the auditorium is.

In my opinion, the dialogue is too soft. It hovers around -40dB. That is much too soft in my opinion. It should at least cross the -30dB line from time to time. It seems that surround channels are too loud.

You can disable peak curves for now, they are a bit distracting and are not so relevant for loudness. It is only important that you don't run into clipping. You seem to be far away from that.

I would lower surround channels by -6dB, then increase overall level so that you reach just a tiny bit below 0dB true peak. Could be something like +8 or +9dB. That should get your dialog closer to a useful level.

What type of cell phone do you have? (I mean this question serious). What type of audio system (speakers) are you monitoring this on?

If you actually do surround/upmixing - there is no other way than to actually check your mix on a full range 5.1 system.

If you test this in a cinema, you have to talk to the projectionist in order to make sure they use the correct playback level for features. Often nowadays, cinemas play preshow/trailers a lot softer than main feature.

Depending on the type of processor, this could be around 3.5 to 4 .5 (typical Dolby systems), or between 4.5 and 6 (typical for non-Dolby processors). They can always adjust for your piece, but it is better to get it into the right ballpark in the DCP. Make sure if they play your piece that they don't rise the volume to a suitable listening level right from the start. They should set it to their standard level, and then you should decide how much it needs to be adjusted. Make a note about their standard level, and what level you consider suitable for your piece. Ask for the type of cinema sound processor.

[Herbert]

Just come Back from the cinema. Mix is good but too soft.
We started a 5, ended at 7.
7 is 85dB correct? How much is 5?
Best Herbert