Mastering Audio for VCD/DVD.

[staring]

Good day! What is the appropriate level audio for vcd or dvd? Do you guys level it at 0db and -12 to -8 db rms? Thanks

 

[LogicDeLuxe]

-12 to -8 db rms?

I seriously hope that we are not talking about movies here. This is not much for music to begin with, and a movie usually needs much more dynamic.

At least Dolby set some standards here (a good thing which unfortunately never happened for CD audio). It should be -27 dBFS rms dialog level.
It's simple. Take some general, preferably long dialog lines and measure it. Then adjust the entire soundtrack so that particular excerpt reaches -27 dBFS rms.
If it doesn't reach 0 dB anywhere, don't care. MPEG audio, AC3 and dts all play back at 24 bit resolution, so there is plenty.

If it's all music and you want to match movie levels, then you will probably end up somewhere between -17 and -20 dBFS rms. If this isn't a requirement, you can master just like any CD, of course (except you don't use 44100 Hz for DVD).

 

[Massive Master]

One of many reasons I love music in movies - Very rarely over-compressed.

 

[staring]

Thanks

What happened was I recorded a live concert and had mixed and mastered the songs for CDA.. and now someone else wanted the tracks for the video. Should I just give him the master or remaster it again lets say -16 -> 14 dbfs rms at -0.01 limit or just give him the mix down... :?

 

[Massive Master]

Ask him...?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Thanks

What happened was I recorded a live concert and had mixed and mastered the songs for CDA.. and now someone else wanted the tracks for the video. Should I just give him the master or remaster it again lets say -16 -> 14 dbfs rms at -0.01 limit or just give him the mix down... :?

If they are going to be mastering the video, let them do the mastering. Just give them the mix, I would think. If they need more from you, they'll let you know.

G.

 

[staring]

I gave him the mixdown.