mixing for film and tv

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newera

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Im currently mixing the music and sound for an amateur film, I was just wondering if there was anything specifically I should watch out for, in terms of how it differs when mixing a normal track. Maybe there is no particular difference and that if its mixed well it will translate well on a TV. I get the feeling though that if it is mainly going to be watched on a television, with very unresponsive speakers, that maybe I should be reducing the dynamic range slightly, perhaps adding a touch of extra compression on the tracks?

Also its important to bear in mind that at the moment none of the audio will go off for mastering due to the nature of the project, so that may mean doing a few extra things this end for the moment.

If anyone with experiance in this field could help me out I would be greatful.
 
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You don't need to do anything different. Don't mix your tracks into a "smaller frequency spectrum" hole simply because someone's TV speakers may be smaller, and don't mix your tracks in mono because a lot of people may have mono televisions. If their TV's are mono, then they just won't hear the stereo spread... they will still hear all the elements but they will just be in mono... and the stereo people will hear it in stereo... get it? anything that cant come across on lower quality speakers will just not be heard as well... it's no big deal.

If you are composing music specifically for television, I would advise against making all the music entirely subbass, because then it will not translate well to TV... but that is a compositional guideline, not really a mixing guideline.

...ansd I compose, record and mix music for TV and films every day... and I don't do anything different than I would do for a record or anything else. :)
 
Ok thanks a lot for that response, that was the sort of stuff I wanted to know about, and yes i understand what you mean about sub bass, obviously as you said that should be the case in any track.

my only other question would be,

I imagine your tracks are mastered before they are sent back to the TV or film company to process, will the mastering engineer take a different approach to music for TV and film or, as I imagine people will say, the same applies?..

The thing im finding hardest really is mixing a voiceover over the music, its difficult to keep the music packing a punch at a vital part of the film, whilst not drowning the voiceover, anyway thanks for your help
 
You're not going to be doing anything special at all when working with audio that will end up in television.

When songs appear in films and TV there isn't a need to go back to the mixing stage and then to re-master to make things ready for film and TV. A good mix will translate well to different systems, even without mastering.

You can try side-chaining if you need to get the music to sit over the voices.
 
Mono campatibility. That is a must when it comes to TV. There are a lot of TVs that are still mono. So, you want the material to translate just as well to the folks that have those televisions. Also, film is 90% sound and 10% visual. So, make sure the foley is the center point, not the music. But, make it subtle, believable. The only time music comes to a center point is when you have the foley quiet, or when you have audio climax's (unlike the standard story-board, an audio climax can happen numerous times throughout a film). The most important thing is that you feel connected and interested in the material (film). As the Foley-Score engineer, you need to be able to feel the flow of the material and give it an atmosphere. If you look at any film, the sound forged the entire atmosphere of the film. Keep it true to the work and you will be fine. As for compression, keep it subtle. Dynamics are more important to film than anything. Danny Elfman knows this, and if you have ever herd his scores you would agrees. Basically, you want to be able to tell the story with audio... the audio just happens to have a nice visual to go with it.
 
newera said:
Ok thanks a lot for that response, that was the sort of stuff I wanted to know about, and yes i understand what you mean about sub bass, obviously as you said that should be the case in any track.

my only other question would be,

I imagine your tracks are mastered before they are sent back to the TV or film company to process, will the mastering engineer take a different approach to music for TV and film or, as I imagine people will say, the same applies?..

The thing im finding hardest really is mixing a voiceover over the music, its difficult to keep the music packing a punch at a vital part of the film, whilst not drowning the voiceover, anyway thanks for your help
Click to expand...



mastering is no different, either.


With regard to getting the dialogue to fit with the music... in addition to writing your music with the dialogue in mind (for example, you may want the music to become more sparse in certain dialogue moments) you will have to manually adjust volume levels of the music to let the dialogue be heard... it may also help to perform some subtle EQ automation on the music when the dialogue is present. It is a very exact and delicate process. Best results will be achieved through manual adjustment... using a "ducker" or sidechaining the dialogue to a compressor will not be the best way to do this.


...by the way, this thread should really be in the "film scoring" forum. I will probably move it there being that this is a typical scoring issue rather than a general mixing issue.
 
Thanks guys thats really a great help. I considered using side-chaining but I felt it would sound a bit too manufactured but Ill take all your comments and get back on it.

Having never done anything like this before I found it a very unique process. I find trying to 'unattach' myself from the music very difficult, when you watch a film you dont want people to be particularly noticeing the music, It needs to flow very much with the visual to create one big picture. When I watch it I still hear all the minute details of the music and find it very hard to watch the thing as a whole. I imagine this is something you develop a feel for over time.

Anyway ill post the film up when its done if anyones interested, would be great to get some feedback on the music and sound before It is publicised so to speak.

Feel free to move this to scoring and orchestration, In all honesty i forgot that forum existed.
 
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