Getting ready for Replication...audio levels ?
 

I'm getting ready to send my DVD in for replication (www.discmakers.com) and am concerned that my audio levels are not consistent throughout the DVD. We filmed outdoors over a six month period and had problems with our wireless lav among other things. During post production we tried to work with the levels but I'm still not happy with it. Listening to the DVD on my home surround sound system I could definetly hear the changing audio levels. For $500 Discmakers have an option called Soundlab mastering that should take care of this problem. Is there anyone with experience in this situation?

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Mark, I'm not familiar with what diskmakers is doing, exactly, but, if you've unhappy with changing levels and they offer a "mastering" service that you can afford it would probably be a good idea.

You might want to confirm with them exactly what they'll do. Perhaps they could send you back the mastered DVD before you commit to replication.

Alternatively, you could work with a local studio or audio engineer on the project and probably get more of an education in the process.

Don't send to replicate until you are satisfied. Hire a post production sound editor or dialog editor to clean up your audio.

Hi Mark,

Not knowing more specifics, it's a bit difficult to give more than general advise on how to resolve your changing audio level problems. You mentioned that you "tried to work with the levels" - ostensibly you might have gone through brute force techniques (compression, equalizations, normalization, etc) as well as manual processes (tweaking amplitute on problem areas). Of course, some problems cannot be fixed regardless of the sound engineer - bad signal-to-noise ratio, interference, clipping, etc.

Perhaps if attached a snippet of your problem audio (MP3 or WAV) or described in detail what's objectionable about the changing audio level and your "problems with your lavaliers", we could be more helpful.

Good luck, Michael

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. This project is a DVD that included lots of on river filming intergrated with time sitting at the tying vise showing how to tie steelhead jigs. The problem with the audio levels is that the segments we filmed sitting at the vise the audio levels are considerably lower then the on river filming. Watching the DVD it's very noticeable. The gentleman doing the post production work for me tried his best to make the transistion from the vise to the river as smooth as possible but I'm concerned that it will still be noticeable.

This is my first project and from reading all the input from the experts on this forum I know that audio is one of the most important aspects of a film so I'm inclined to spend the money to ensure it's done right but wanted to get opinions from others first.

Mark

Mark,

If you know with certainty that the Soundlab mastering service will take care of your audio issues, then $500 is a bargain (especially if this is for a retail DVD). If you have the time yourself, it would be well spent learning how to get your audio consistent and listenable.

At the very least it will ensure a better viewing/listening experience and give you a more professional product.

I've never regretted putting time/money into mastering; but I DO have regrets about projects where I was sloppy or cut corners. Those things can come back to haunt you.

I look at the Disc maker website and could only find references to Soundlab mastering concerning CDs. I think this is different. Yes, mastering can help you, but I think you want to remix first. Have you processed with noise reduction, EQ, gates, limiters and ambience to get the audio to match?
Which software did you use?

Banjamin

This is my thoughts exactly. I'd rather take the extra time/money and make sure it's done right then put it out to market and have regrets later.

Brooks

Thanks for replying. I didn't do the actual post production work myself so I can't tell you the specifics as far as noise reduction or other work invloved.

Thanks

Mark

Hi Mark,

Hmm, I get the impression that whomever tweaked the audio either wasn't qualified or needed give enough time/attention to your project. And since this isn't your forte, yes, it certainly will be a good investment to have the replication service first provide mastering service. You don't want to replicate with such critical problems (I'm assuming it's 10db+ of audio variation).

I recommend you have DiskMakers provide you a draft DVD (MP3, etc) of their audio mastering before cutting a replication disk. Better yet, inform DiskMasters of particular problem areas before they correct the problematic audio areas.

Happy Trails, Michael

Michael

Thanks for your reply. I contacted disc makers and they will provide me a master for testing before they replicate. I feel confident they will adjust, tweek, compress, etc. the audio so it should be fine.

Mark

Perfect - that's one of several instances where it's nice to have a single vendor take care of several post-production activities including editing, replication, etc.

Let us know how it all worked out.

Warm Regards, Michael

So what happened? I'm curious.

I hate cliffhangers in forums.