can't believe that the best sound post-production tutorial i've ever found is not on some website, paid, but it's just secretely hidden on youtube for free. I'll make sure to support your work in the near future.
Thank you! And sure, I've seen plenty of paid online courses that different people have made, but sometimes I wonder how many people are actually able to afford to pay for the skills before they begin doing the work. Or better yet, even realize that this is what they want to do full time or as a hobby before spending the money. All I want to show is that anyone can do this type of work with a minimal amount of gear and software as long as they put in the time and the hard work. So sure, maybe I'm missing out on some potential profits, but I much rather make money from my store soundtuts.com by providing additional useful content to people than just charging everyone up front. Anyways, just my two cents. Thanks for watching!
Man, I can't even begin to thank you for this series. I've been working in the audio industry for a few years now, but mostly on the music and live side of things. When I've started getting into Film in recent years, even if I could use a lot of the concepts and techniques of what I already knew, I've always lacked having a clearly outlined workflow, this has been such a game changer! The fact this is available for free on youtube, explained so clearly and nicely is totally unbelivable, this kind of things are the good side of the world we live in. Thank you so very much :)
Also, I wanted to ask a few minor questions if possible, would you mind if I contacted you via email or even here in the comments? Let me know if you have the time and thanks again!
@@esmilges7 Sure, I'm always happy to answer a few quick questions. My email is in the About section of the channel. But if you really want to talk things through and have me check out your work and give notes, then it would be better to book a video chat session from my website: soundtuts.com. Anyways let me know!
Just wanted to give my appreciation, your tutorials have gotten me through my sound design for a university assignment where they just gave us Pro Tools and left us to fend for ourselves. Would have been lost without your guidance!
Awesome! This is essentially why I started making these videos in the first place, because I couldn't find tutorials like these when I started film school. Glad they could help. Thanks for watching!
I've bought your AAFs and template, which I think is the minimum someone can do to support you. Micheal, just a random question: why do we use VCA if we can use just the sub-masters for volume, what's the actual utility of VCA? Thank you!
Thanks! I appreciate it! You're right, they both essentially do the same thing. I generally use the VCAs during pre-mixing to making large volume adjustments, while I used the Sub-mixers to make small adjustments during the final mix. Also, since VCAs affect each track's volume individually, then it's easier to keep the balance between tracks consistent while mixing. For example, this can help when you're trying to compress a group of tracks through a Submixer without changing the threshold. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials Thanks for your answer, I'm not super sure if I understood the last beat about compressors. If you don't want to change the threshold then the submix should be the best choice ? Thank you!
@@kabed9413 I think this article explains what I'm trying to say better than I did: www.izotope.com/en/learn/the-difference-between-vca-and-sub-groups-in-mixing.html
Hey Michael, thank you so much for these tutorials! I was wondering where was this film, Murphys Law, played? TV, streaming services, theaters? Because you mixed it at -24 LUFS but I think that'd make the mix too quiet for streaming and too loud for theaters. Do you do different sub master mixes for every medium? Thanks!
Thanks for the question! Yes, for larger films you'll have a wide variety of different mixes depending on where the film is going to be shown (movie theater, online, mobile, airplane, etc). I remember hearing that the newer Pixar films have over 100 different mixes because of all of the different languages they dub the film in, which then still need to be mixed into the various mediums above. Now for Murphy's Law, I did make two mixes, one at -24 LUFS for theatrical release and another at -18 LUFS for streaming. And we haven't had any volume problems with the theatrical mix when it's shown at the various film festivals. Here's a webpage that has the various volume specs for different mediums: youlean.co/loudness-standards-full-comparison-table/ Hope that answers your question!
Hi, many thanx for recommending these free plugins! I got the WLM loudness meter by Waves, would you recommend it for measuring the levels of my final mix for a shortfilm? Or should I try the Youlean one? :^)
WLM will work great as well, so there's no need for you to download the Youlean plugin. In my videos I just want to highlight that you don't have to spend money on plugins to do the work, so that's why I try to only mention free plugins when possible. Thanks for watching!
Yes, generally I try to have -2db true peak headroom on my Printmaster file. And then for film, you're generally looking for an overall mix volume of -24 LUFS. I wouldn't say that all of my mixes always hit -2db headroom, sometimes it's more closer to -5db. But the overall LUFS mix volume is more important than hitting a specific peak value. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for your tutorial! Can i ask you for one question? Why are you using YouLean meter on master bus but not on dialog bus ? if I'm not mistaken R128 standard means -23 Lufs only for dialogs?!
So EBU R128 and the old Dolby Dialnorm are two different ways to measure loudness. R128 was partly made because of the issues with Dialnorm. But no, R128 states that you should measure the average overall volume of the film, no just the dialogue, so that's why it's on the Master Fader. Here's a link to the R128 guidelines: tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials i've cheked this link, thank you so mutch!) But i don't really get sense of metering of master bus. So we have scene without music, just dialogs and ambs in. And it be on the same "volume level"( -23 Lufs) like scene with the epic score and helicopter crashing? )))))
LUFS metering is all about measuring the average volume level of a film throughout the entire film. So some scenes with only dialog will be around -27 to -24 LUFS, and then actions scenes can get up to -14 LUFS. So when the volume throughout the entire film is averaged out, the soft and the loud scenes, it should be around -23 LUFS. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials i used to mixing for tv only checking my DX aux, and usually got -23 in result without no problems. i thought i need to chek only my dx aux)))) but i will try checking master section in next project )
so do you have to basically play the whole movie thru to get the integrated LUFS readout? I some someone else do that but it was like a 5 minute short so it wasnt that long. He was also using the WLM meter from waves which had a trim option which would adjust his gain to automatically be at 24LUFS
Essentially yes, unless you use Izotope's Loudness standalone software which can auto level a mix, similar to WLM like you mentioned. I'm not really a fan of software auto fixing levels for me since that only fixes the Printmaster and not the individual Stems. But it can be helpful when rushed for time. And for your second question, the specs to the LUFS depends on the broadcaster. Some want average -23 LUFS for the whole show versus some want -23 for every section between commercial breaks (so more of a compressed mix). So it depends on where the piece is going to play. Generally -23 for the whole show is the norm though. Hope that helps!
1) UA-cam specs are -14 LUFS, not -18. 2) The loudness metering requires two parts: the fist one, called dialogue-gated, is where you measure the dialnorm so that the dialogue alone by itself matches the correct specs. The second part of the measurement is done with the entire program. 3) The -24 LUFS with -2 dB True Peak refers only to the ATSC A/85 standard for the TV and Broadcast in the USA and it is by no means an international standard.
Cool, thanks for the clarification. Personally I think -14 LUFS is too loud for a film in general, especially for indie films that want to use the same mix for theatrical release and for UA-cam. So in those situations, I use -18 LUFS as a good middle ground and I'm sure UA-cam just normalizes it up to -14 LUFS when they upload it. And yes, specs vary wildly in the US and abroad, so that's why I mention people should research their target LUFS before mixing. But -24 LUFS is a good starting point for most films. Thanks for watching!
@@FilmSoundTutorials well it doesn't really matter which LUFS you are minxing to for the internet, because streaming platforms have got their normalization process. So that means that no matter what your final loudness is, it will be brought up or down according to the specific platform specs. For instance, if you mix to -18 for UA-cam, it will be always 4 db louder at the end anyway. And that is a problem for you because you will get undisired compression and the quality of your work will be negatively affected, since to gain those 4 db your audio will have 4 db of gain reduction. UA-cam true peak is -1 by the way, not -2. So, better you mix appropriately for each platform in order to avoid surprises. A common sense rule would be to mix everything for the internet at -16 LUFS, that's a good compromise.
@@marco_ronca You are incorrect. UA-cam never increases the loudness of anything, ever. It definitely does not compress/limit your audio either. UA-cam only turns down audio.
@@WillyJunior i actually picked the wrong example, but it was just to get the concept across. UA-cam doesn't in fact normalize audio, because normalization works by compressing the peaks and raising the LUFS to a set level. It goes both ways.
When we recieve (Dialogue, Music and Effects) files of drama or movie of any other country...I mean for dubbing...The music and other background tracks are in mono or we mix in mono??Bcz background music does not surround as in original version...Plz
When you receive the original stems to dub it into a different language, the stems should be in the same format as the original English mix. So if they original mixed it in 5.1, you should get 5.1 stems. If you're only getting mono stems, something seems wrong. Hope that helps!
It depends on where you're delivering the film. But generally -24 LUFS is a good target. -27 LUFS is very low volume and only sounds good in a movie theater with a good speaker system. You need a higher LUFS number if the film is going to be shown on TV or on a mobile phone. That's why if you show a film on UA-cam, they recommend -14 LUFS. Hope that helps!
Is it actually acceptable that the integrated LUFS actually goes over the -23 LUFS even up to -16 or so at certain moments of the film while generally staying at -24 LUFS for most of the time?
Yep, -23 LUFS is what your final measurement should be for the entire film. So you can have scenes that are -16 LUFS are long as the overall film is -23. Hope that helps!
Films mixed only for UA-cam should be -14 LUFS. What I imply in the video is if you're mixing a film for multiple playback locations (movie theater, UA-cam, phone) then I would recommend more around -18 LUFS since -14 LUFS will be way too loud for a movie theater. If the film is going to be shown in multiple locations, the best thing to do is ask your client for additional budget so you can make a different volume mix for each screen-type. But for low budget films, generally they don't have the budget, so I just shoot around -18 LUFS. Hope that helps!
Oh, I'm not sure why the subtitles are not auto-generating for this class. It has the same settings as every other video on this channel. Not much I can do, sorry!
can't believe that the best sound post-production tutorial i've ever found is not on some website, paid, but it's just secretely hidden on youtube for free. I'll make sure to support your work in the near future.
Thank you! And sure, I've seen plenty of paid online courses that different people have made, but sometimes I wonder how many people are actually able to afford to pay for the skills before they begin doing the work. Or better yet, even realize that this is what they want to do full time or as a hobby before spending the money. All I want to show is that anyone can do this type of work with a minimal amount of gear and software as long as they put in the time and the hard work. So sure, maybe I'm missing out on some potential profits, but I much rather make money from my store soundtuts.com by providing additional useful content to people than just charging everyone up front. Anyways, just my two cents. Thanks for watching!
Man, I can't even begin to thank you for this series.
I've been working in the audio industry for a few years now, but mostly on the music and live side of things.
When I've started getting into Film in recent years, even if I could use a lot of the concepts and techniques of what I already knew, I've always lacked having a clearly outlined workflow, this has been such a game changer!
The fact this is available for free on youtube, explained so clearly and nicely is totally unbelivable, this kind of things are the good side of the world we live in.
Thank you so very much :)
Also, I wanted to ask a few minor questions if possible, would you mind if I contacted you via email or even here in the comments?
Let me know if you have the time and thanks again!
@@esmilges7 Sure, I'm always happy to answer a few quick questions. My email is in the About section of the channel. But if you really want to talk things through and have me check out your work and give notes, then it would be better to book a video chat session from my website: soundtuts.com. Anyways let me know!
Of course, happy to help!
Just wanted to give my appreciation, your tutorials have gotten me through my sound design for a university assignment where they just gave us Pro Tools and left us to fend for ourselves. Would have been lost without your guidance!
Awesome! This is essentially why I started making these videos in the first place, because I couldn't find tutorials like these when I started film school. Glad they could help. Thanks for watching!
This is the best explanation I've found. Thank you!
Awesome, glad it could help. Thanks for watching!
Another fantastic tutorial! Thanks again for supplying brilliant, considered and well delivered content!
My pleasure! I'm glad the videos are helpful. Thanks for watching!
Thank you Michael! Another banger of a tutorial!
Thank you! That's very nice of you to say. Thanks for watching!
Great!! Thank you so much for this. Greetings from Colombia
Bienvenidos de California! Thanks for watching!
A highly informative tutorial! Great job.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
I've bought your AAFs and template, which I think is the minimum someone can do to support you.
Micheal, just a random question: why do we use VCA if we can use just the sub-masters for volume, what's the actual utility of VCA? Thank you!
Thanks! I appreciate it! You're right, they both essentially do the same thing. I generally use the VCAs during pre-mixing to making large volume adjustments, while I used the Sub-mixers to make small adjustments during the final mix. Also, since VCAs affect each track's volume individually, then it's easier to keep the balance between tracks consistent while mixing. For example, this can help when you're trying to compress a group of tracks through a Submixer without changing the threshold. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials Thanks for your answer, I'm not super sure if I understood the last beat about compressors. If you don't want to change the threshold then the submix should be the best choice ? Thank you!
@@kabed9413 I think this article explains what I'm trying to say better than I did: www.izotope.com/en/learn/the-difference-between-vca-and-sub-groups-in-mixing.html
awesome stuff here. This info will help lots of people!
I hope so! Thanks for watching!
Really enjoy these tutorials!
Glad they could help! Thanks for watching!
Yes! Been waiting for this!
Thanks for sticking around!
These are so good, thanks !!
Glad the videos are helpful. Thanks for watching!
bro u r a legend. thank u so much for this
Of course, happy to help. Thanks for watching!
Hey Michael, thank you so much for these tutorials! I was wondering where was this film, Murphys Law, played? TV, streaming services, theaters? Because you mixed it at -24 LUFS but I think that'd make the mix too quiet for streaming and too loud for theaters. Do you do different sub master mixes for every medium? Thanks!
Thanks for the question! Yes, for larger films you'll have a wide variety of different mixes depending on where the film is going to be shown (movie theater, online, mobile, airplane, etc). I remember hearing that the newer Pixar films have over 100 different mixes because of all of the different languages they dub the film in, which then still need to be mixed into the various mediums above. Now for Murphy's Law, I did make two mixes, one at -24 LUFS for theatrical release and another at -18 LUFS for streaming. And we haven't had any volume problems with the theatrical mix when it's shown at the various film festivals. Here's a webpage that has the various volume specs for different mediums: youlean.co/loudness-standards-full-comparison-table/ Hope that answers your question!
Hi, many thanx for recommending these free plugins!
I got the WLM loudness meter by Waves, would you recommend it for measuring the levels of my final mix for a shortfilm? Or should I try the Youlean one? :^)
WLM will work great as well, so there's no need for you to download the Youlean plugin. In my videos I just want to highlight that you don't have to spend money on plugins to do the work, so that's why I try to only mention free plugins when possible. Thanks for watching!
Film Sound Tutorials Perfect! I will use Dorrough (instead the BF plugin) in the Submasters and the WLM in the Master :^D
Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Do you have any default headroom when mixing? Let's say you normalise a random item to -0.1db, will it go as high as -0.1db on your master?
Yes, generally I try to have -2db true peak headroom on my Printmaster file. And then for film, you're generally looking for an overall mix volume of -24 LUFS. I wouldn't say that all of my mixes always hit -2db headroom, sometimes it's more closer to -5db. But the overall LUFS mix volume is more important than hitting a specific peak value. Hope that helps!
6th comment nice, also amazing tutorials best ones for short film mixing on youtube
Thank you! Yeah even though it's fairly short, this one actually took quite a while to make. Thanks for watching!
thanks you so much
Happy to help!
Thx alot
No problem! Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for your tutorial! Can i ask you for one question? Why are you using YouLean meter on master bus but not on dialog bus ? if I'm not mistaken R128 standard means -23 Lufs only for dialogs?!
So EBU R128 and the old Dolby Dialnorm are two different ways to measure loudness. R128 was partly made because of the issues with Dialnorm. But no, R128 states that you should measure the average overall volume of the film, no just the dialogue, so that's why it's on the Master Fader. Here's a link to the R128 guidelines: tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials thank you!) i'll check this)))
@@FilmSoundTutorials i've cheked this link,
thank you so mutch!) But i don't really get sense of metering of master bus. So we have scene without music, just dialogs and ambs in. And it be on the same "volume level"( -23 Lufs) like scene with the epic score and helicopter crashing? )))))
LUFS metering is all about measuring the average volume level of a film throughout the entire film. So some scenes with only dialog will be around -27 to -24 LUFS, and then actions scenes can get up to -14 LUFS. So when the volume throughout the entire film is averaged out, the soft and the loud scenes, it should be around -23 LUFS. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials i used to mixing for tv only checking my DX aux, and usually got -23 in result without no problems. i thought i need to chek only my dx aux)))) but i will try checking master section in next project )
so do you have to basically play the whole movie thru to get the integrated LUFS readout? I some someone else do that but it was like a 5 minute short so it wasnt that long. He was also using the WLM meter from waves which had a trim option which would adjust his gain to automatically be at 24LUFS
Essentially yes, unless you use Izotope's Loudness standalone software which can auto level a mix, similar to WLM like you mentioned. I'm not really a fan of software auto fixing levels for me since that only fixes the Printmaster and not the individual Stems. But it can be helpful when rushed for time. And for your second question, the specs to the LUFS depends on the broadcaster. Some want average -23 LUFS for the whole show versus some want -23 for every section between commercial breaks (so more of a compressed mix). So it depends on where the piece is going to play. Generally -23 for the whole show is the norm though. Hope that helps!
When I’m mixing dialogue for UA-cam, what should be my target level, -24 or -27 LUFS?
The overall mix for UA-cam should be -14 LUFS. youlean.co/how-to-edit-a-video-to-achieve-good-audio-loudness-on-youtube/ Hope that helps!
1) UA-cam specs are -14 LUFS, not -18.
2) The loudness metering requires two parts: the fist one, called dialogue-gated, is where you measure the dialnorm so that the dialogue alone by itself matches the correct specs. The second part of the measurement is done with the entire program.
3) The -24 LUFS with -2 dB True Peak refers only to the ATSC A/85 standard for the TV and Broadcast in the USA and it is by no means an international standard.
Cool, thanks for the clarification. Personally I think -14 LUFS is too loud for a film in general, especially for indie films that want to use the same mix for theatrical release and for UA-cam. So in those situations, I use -18 LUFS as a good middle ground and I'm sure UA-cam just normalizes it up to -14 LUFS when they upload it. And yes, specs vary wildly in the US and abroad, so that's why I mention people should research their target LUFS before mixing. But -24 LUFS is a good starting point for most films. Thanks for watching!
@@FilmSoundTutorials well it doesn't really matter which LUFS you are minxing to for the internet, because streaming platforms have got their normalization process. So that means that no matter what your final loudness is, it will be brought up or down according to the specific platform specs. For instance, if you mix to -18 for UA-cam, it will be always 4 db louder at the end anyway. And that is a problem for you because you will get undisired compression and the quality of your work will be negatively affected, since to gain those 4 db your audio will have 4 db of gain reduction. UA-cam true peak is -1 by the way, not -2. So, better you mix appropriately for each platform in order to avoid surprises. A common sense rule would be to mix everything for the internet at -16 LUFS, that's a good compromise.
@@marco_ronca You are incorrect. UA-cam never increases the loudness of anything, ever. It definitely does not compress/limit your audio either. UA-cam only turns down audio.
@@WillyJunior i actually picked the wrong example, but it was just to get the concept across. UA-cam doesn't in fact normalize audio, because normalization works by compressing the peaks and raising the LUFS to a set level. It goes both ways.
@@marco_ronca I think you're just saying whatever at this point. Normalization doesn't involve compression of any kind.
When we recieve (Dialogue, Music and Effects) files of drama or movie of any other country...I mean for dubbing...The music and other background tracks are in mono or we mix in mono??Bcz background music does not surround as in original version...Plz
When you receive the original stems to dub it into a different language, the stems should be in the same format as the original English mix. So if they original mixed it in 5.1, you should get 5.1 stems. If you're only getting mono stems, something seems wrong. Hope that helps!
At what LUFS should it generally be for short film going to festivals?
Generally I shoot for -23 LUFS for a short film showing in a movie theater. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials Thanks again!
They say for theatre master, we should do -27 LUFS..
Is it -27 or -24 LUFS? Can someone confirm?
It depends on where you're delivering the film. But generally -24 LUFS is a good target. -27 LUFS is very low volume and only sounds good in a movie theater with a good speaker system. You need a higher LUFS number if the film is going to be shown on TV or on a mobile phone. That's why if you show a film on UA-cam, they recommend -14 LUFS. Hope that helps!
Is it actually acceptable that the integrated LUFS actually goes over the -23 LUFS even up to -16 or so at certain moments of the film while generally staying at -24 LUFS for most of the time?
Yep, -23 LUFS is what your final measurement should be for the entire film. So you can have scenes that are -16 LUFS are long as the overall film is -23. Hope that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials Thanks, that helps!
@@FilmSoundTutorials Thanks!!
Chances are if you can afford Pro tools you can fork over $30 for WLM+
Not necessarily, a lot of the viewers on this channel are from developing nations. That's why I highlight free software whenever possible. Thanks!
youtube videos are in -14LUFS and not -18LUFS as you say, correct?
Films mixed only for UA-cam should be -14 LUFS. What I imply in the video is if you're mixing a film for multiple playback locations (movie theater, UA-cam, phone) then I would recommend more around -18 LUFS since -14 LUFS will be way too loud for a movie theater. If the film is going to be shown in multiple locations, the best thing to do is ask your client for additional budget so you can make a different volume mix for each screen-type. But for low budget films, generally they don't have the budget, so I just shoot around -18 LUFS. Hope that helps!
求自动生成字幕，只有这节课没有……
Oh, I'm not sure why the subtitles are not auto-generating for this class. It has the same settings as every other video on this channel. Not much I can do, sorry!
1337
??
thank you so much
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!