Niveau de Mixage Cinema

CINEMA MIXING LEVELS
SURVEY
A first step on the way to playing it at 7 again.
Steven Ghouti (AFSI - AES)

July 12, 2017 - revision 3
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Reminder of Dolby Processor levels vs dB SPL calibration
3. The Survey questions
a. What is your MAIN mixing expertise area?
b. What country do you operate in?
c. How would you describe the budgets of the films you mostly work on?
d. If you work primarily for ONE mixing facility, what is the approximative size of
the room?
e. If you work primarily for ONE mixing facility, what sort of screen channel
speakers do they use?
f. When mixing feature films for CINEMA (not trailers) , what is the Monitoring
level in the mix room during predubs/premixes?
g. When mixing feature films for CINEMA (not trailers), what is the Monitoring
level in the mix room during Final Mixes?
h. When mixing, do you offset the Monitoring level to compensate for the size of
the mix room / mix stage?
i. When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, how loud does your Mix
feel to you in the room?
j. When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, have you ever used ear
protections while being actively engaged in the mix?
k. When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, have you ever mixed loud
scenes with the DIM button enabled?
l. How often do you take breaks in a normal work day?
m. When mixing for CINEMA, do you have an approximative loudness target for
dialogue?
n. If the Monitoring is set at a level other than Dolby Fader 7 (85dB), what is the
reasoning behind it?
o. Do you go to a cinema to watch the movie after release?
p. If yes, how do you rate the sound level of the movie in the cinema compared
to the level of the mix stage
4. Response analysis by Region
a. Worldwide
b. USA + Canada
c. France + UK + Germany
d. Eastern Europe
e. Asia
f. South America
5. Conclusion and proposed solutions to the issue
1
1 - Introduction
Why I feel concerned about the issue of Cinema playback levels
I have been working in sound for film for around 23 years, and in that time dynamics have
gradually disappeared and good practices have all but dissolved in what used to be a
standard-driven industry. The catch-all phrase “Dolby was here just last week” - which used
to mean that the theater you were in was grossly misaligned - is not even used anymore as
the advent of Digital Cinema has in some cases turned theatre installation and tuning into a
last-minute rushed job that is rarely re-visited.
For years, Re-recording (or Dubbing) Mixers had to contend with pre-show content being
mixed very loud (commercials and trailers with a max loudness of 85 Leq, usually mixed up
to 8 or 9 dB hotter than the movie), which forced projectionists to turn the B chain level
down, sometimes not to be turned back up again.
Today, playback levels from DCP servers can be programmed, but the levels often stay well
below the once-standard Dolby Level 7 because the actual movies are often mixed too loud,
and cinemas prefer to play at lower levels rather than risk being on the receiving end of a
complaint. A knee-jerk reflex emerged over time: to mix louder to counter the fact that the
cinema might lower the playback level. This led in turn to more complaints and more
projectionists lowering the level further. And so Producers/Directors/Mixers feel the need to
mix even louder...
This never ending cycle is causing havoc in film sound all over the world. People used to
accuse most US-mixed blockbusters of being the loudest films of all, before starting to mix at
lower monitor levels themselves and pushing out very loud mixes with reduced dynamic
ranges. In a 2013 AES paper, Eelco Grimm did a very good job of explaining what was
happening to loudness in cinemas.
I happen to passionate about my job, like many people in this business. I do not want to go
with the flow, and let cinema-goers end up watching movies mixed so loud that they have
the dynamics of an internet podcast played back at 2 on the Cinema Processor. I believe
that filmmakers have a responsibility toward their ticket-paying audience to show them a
movie made with an attention to detail, dialogue intelligibility, overall levels and dynamics,
and that those same filmmakers need to be able to be trusted again by Cinema owners to
deliver content that adheres to a common playback standard.
I fear that if we do not act all together, Cinema mix levels will soon be subjected to stringent
Laws and Rules that will be totally contrary to artistic freedom that one has when mixing for
film.
The survey got 387 responses, from all over the world, and from Mixers working on all sorts
of movies (from ultra low budget to Hollywood blockbusters). The survey was voluntarily
anonymous, so that responders would not feel inhibited in their answers by having their
name tied to their monitoring level.
So why not all try to mix responsibly, at 7...
2
2 - Reminder of the Dolby Processor
fader level vs dB SPL playback level
For years the fader on the Dolby box in projection booths around the world has given us a
rough idea of the actual playback level in the cinema. Even though some recent boxes (ie.
Datasat AP20) no longer exactly follow the attenuation curve of a Dolby, here is a refresher
on the Cinema Playback levels for a given Dolby Fader Value:
From the Dolby CP 650 manual:
3
And a quick summary of levels from 7 down to 4:
Dolby Fader Pink noise playback level per

screen channel in dB (C)
7 85
6.5 83.33
6 81.66
5.5 80
5 78.33
4.5 76.66
4 75
4
3 - The Survey questions
There is not much science behind the questions that I put to those who responded to the
survey. The questions are based on the points I believe have an impact on the way we mix,
and that may be pushing a re-recording mixer to choose a non-standard mix monitoring
level.
The full set of responses can be found here (some responses have been edited to conform
to a common set ie. United States has been edited to USA).
Answers can also be viewed and filtered using the Awesome Table widget here.
● a) What is your MAIN mixing expertise area?

○ I thought it would be interesting to know if Film Mixing is the main occupation
of the Mixers who answered.
● b) What country do you operate in?

○ This allows me to do a region by region analysis.
○ Responses cover 52 countries
● c) How would you describe the budgets of the films you mostly work on?
○ This question requires an answer on a scale from 1 (very low budget) to 10
(Hollywood blockbuster).I left it as a relative scale, as a US big budget would
not be the same as a German one, but what is important is how the Mixers
approach mixing levels for different budgets.
● d) If you work primarily for ONE mixing facility, what is the approximative size
of the room?
○ Some Mixers are tied to certain facilities, or prefer to mix there.
○ Room size is one the first reasons invoked for mixing at different levels.
○ 324 Mixers answered this question
● e) If you work primarily for ONE mixing facility, what sort of screen channel
speakers do they use?
○ Music Studio Monitors will react very differently to sound vs typical cinema
speakers, as will more modern approaches like the Meyer Sound speakers.
○ 359 responses
○ Please note that in some of the graphs there is a reference to soft dome
tweeters. This is just an example, as it could also be hard dome. Please
consider this as a more general “Music Studio Speaker” category. This was
pointed out to me by Philip Newell.
5
● f) When mixing feature films for CINEMA (not trailers) , what is the Monitoring
level in the mix room during predubs/premixes?
○ Some Mixers prefer to predub a bit hotter (lower monitoring level) so that the
predubs will retain their integrity when mixed with other elements (ie. Music
brought in later in the mix)
● g) When mixing feature films for CINEMA (not trailers), what is the Monitoring
level in the mix room during Final Mixes?
○ This is the level for Final Mixing and Printmastering
● h) When mixing, do you offset the Monitoring level to compensate for the size
of the mix room / mix stage?
○ Sort of related to question d), but relevant also for freelance Mixers who go to
smaller studios to mix.
● i) When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, how loud does your Mix
feel to you in the room?
○ It’s important to know if - for a certain monitor level - Mixers feel that they are
mixing Loud or Soft
○ OK so this one is on a scale from 1 to 7. Would have been clearer with a 1-10
scale.
● j) When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, have you ever used ear
protections while being actively engaged in the mix?
○ One to get the myths out of the way
● k) When mixing for CINEMA at the level stated above, have you ever mixed
loud scenes with the DIM button enabled?
○ And another
● l) How often do you take breaks in a normal work day?

○ Not directly related to the mix level, but a good indicator of how we take care
(or not) of our most precious tools: our ears
● m) When mixing for CINEMA, do you have an approximative loudness target

for dialogue?
○ This was to see if there was a trend starting about measuring or aiming for a
non-broadcast target for dialog, on top of using one’s ears of course.
● n) If the Monitoring is set at a level other than Dolby Fader 7 (85dB), what is the
reasoning behind it?
○ Ready-made answers as well as free ones.
● o) Do you go to a cinema to watch the movie after release?

● p) If yes, how do you rate the sound level of the movie in the cinema compared
to the level of the mix stage
6
○ Two questions out of pure curiosity, as we all know that cinema experiences
are as varied as there are cinemas… Until we get that to change ;-)
7
4 - Response analysis by Region
a - Worldwide Responses
b - USA & Canada
c - France, United Kingdom and Germany
d - Eastern Europe
e - Asia, North Africa and Middle-East
f - South America
8
a - Worldwide Responses
Number of responses: 387
Average Monitoring level for Final Mixes is 81.3 dB (Dolby Fader 5.8) with a minimum
of 73 (3) and a maximum of 85 (134).
Fig. 1
As you can see in the graph below, 35% of Mixers who responded mix at 85. 82 also seems
to be a favourite, with 24% of responses.
Fig. 2
As expected Predub levels get a slightly lower rating for 85 dB at 21.4%:
Fig. 3
9
Country:
Fig. 4
Area of expertise:
As shown below, 54% of responses were from Mixers who mainly mix feature films, followed
by 37% for TV/Broadcast professionals.
Fig. 5
10
Budgets:
Fig. 6
Room size and equipment:
Fig. 7
11
35.8% of responders mix in what could be called a very small room when compared to
theatrical standards, and 26.9 % in a small mix room (120 to 250 cubic meters, my own
room falls into this category, at 200).
The first group would clearly not have been approved by Dolby at the time when
Printmastering for 35mm required a Dolby License, and some if not most of the second
group would also be in that situation.
One can clearly see that with the advent of Digital Cinema, people are now able (for good or
for worse) to mix for Cinema in very small rooms.
Fig. 8
Out of the 359 responses to the screen channel question, over 50% reported using studio
monitors. If one looks at the very small room responders, this figure jumps to 81.9%. This is
of course natural as cinema speakers tend to be too aggressive in smaller listening
environments, but shows that many films are being mixed on systems that bear no
resemblance to the equipment used in cinemas.
How loud does the mix feel in the Mix Room vs the (average) cinema?
Fig. 9
12
Fig.10
13
b - US & Canada Responses
48% of responses come from people working mainly in Film, and 41% from Mixers working
mainly for TV.
Fig.11
Fig.12
14
Fig.13
Fig.14
Fig.15
15
The big budget movie situation:
Having received quite a few responses from Mixers claiming to work mainly on top-tier
budget movies, I thought we could take a closer look at those answers.
I chose to select budgets 7 to 10 (in our relative scale, 10 is really a blockbuster budget
here). The number of responses for the budgets 7 to 10 are respectively 12, 18, 7 and 4.
Fig.15 (filtered)
And here is the monitoring level:
Fig.16 (filtered)
It seems that there is one fluke answer (73), but overall the listening level is 85.
Now how loud are they actually mixing? With monitors set to 85, things can get a bit loud in
the room, so here we go:
16
Fig.17
5 out of 7 can be considered loud, and 6 very loud, which probably explains that some of the
responders also answered that they have used ear protection when mixing:
Fig.18
The 22% rises to 57% when taking into consideration those who answered 5 or 6 to the
in-room loudness question.
To sum things up for the big budget part, I’d say that nearly all Mixers in this category mix at
a monitoring level of 85, but some will be mixing hot at this level.
However, and this is my personal opinion, I do not believe that Mixers (even when mixing
Hot) can go all day at levels exceeding normal mix levels by more than 3-4dB.
17
Lower budgets (1 to 3)
The USA also have a thriving indie movie scene, let’s take a look at the mixing practices for
that budget tier.
Fig. 19
Fig.20
18
Fig.21
Fig.22
A vast majority of these films are mixed on Studio Monitors in small rooms, but the loudness
impression in the mix room is roughly the same as that of the large mix stages for high
budget films. The result should be movies with much hotter levels for this tier vs the higher
budgets.
19
If we go back to including all budgets for USA responses, here are the most common
reasons for a different monitoring level:
Fig.23
If the Monitoring is set at a level other than Dolby Fader 7 (85dB), what is the Top
reasoning behind it? results
Smaller room 56
Smaller room, Worried about playback levels in Cinemas 5
Worried about going deaf... 5
Worried about playback levels in Cinemas 5
Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room 3
Smaller room, Producer/Director/Distributor request 3
Smaller room, Worried about playback levels in Cinemas, Worried about going deaf... 3
Producer/Director/Distributor request 2
85 is too loud, 78 is standard 1
Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, Worried about going deaf... 1
I often work on films that have a limited theatrical release and a much wider 1
DVD/streaming release. Without a budget to do 2 proper mixes, I find monitoring at 82db
on the mix stage tends to translate better when one mix has to be both limited (or art
house) theatrical and wide iTunes/Netflix/DVD. If the movie will have a wider theatrical, I
mix to 85, when it'll most likely be festivals and home video I mix to 82db. I often find
most festivals and art house venues play movies too soft, so curbing my mixes slightly
hotter tends to compensate. I have yet to hear a commercial mix of mine played back
too loudly by theaters, but often I hear them played back soft. (Again, especially in art
house or limited release venues, and especially at festivals)
Only if doing broadcast and need to hit lkfs spec 1
Only mix at a fix level based on K14 1
20
c - France, United Kingdom and Germany
Responses
Fig.24
58.8% of responses come from people working mainly in Film, and 38% from Mixers working
mainly for TV.
Fig.25
21
Fig.26
Breakdown by budget
Fig.27
Budgets 1 to 3
Fig.28
22
Fig.29
Fig.30
Fig.31
23
Budgets 4 to 6
Fig.32
Fig.33
Fig.34
24
Fig.35
Budgets 7 to 10
Fig.36
25
Fig.37
Fig.38
Fig.39
26
All budgets included, top reasons for a different monitoring level:
Fig.40
Smaller room 26
Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, Worried about playback levels in 4
Cinemas
Worried about playback levels in Cinemas, Want "more punch" in the mix 3
Worried about going deaf... 3
Smaller room, Worried about going deaf... 3
Worried about playback levels in Cinemas, Producer/Director/Distributor request 2
Want "more punch" in the mix 2
Smaller room, Worried about going deaf..., Want "more punch" in the mix 2
Because I know that it will never be released at 7 1
Bad source material, often keep it lower so I don't go deaf, but put the volume up when 1
I know there are no surprises.
27
d - Eastern Europe Responses
This group includes responses from the following countries: Bulgaria, Bosnia,Croatia, Czech
Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.
There were no responses from Russia.
84.2% of responses come from people working mainly in Film, and 10.5% from Mixers
working mainly for TV.
Fig.41
Fig.42
28
Due to the low budget average, I will not do a breakdown by budget for this group of
responses.
Fig.43
Fig.44
Fig.45
29
Fig.46
Fig.47
Smaller room 6
Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, Producer/Director/Distributor 1
request
Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, Worried about playback levels in 1
Cinemas
30
e - Asia, North Africa and Middle East
This group includes responses from the following countries: China, Myanmar, Philipines,
Singapore, Vietnam, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Qatar.
Fig.48
Fig.49
31
Fig.50
Fig.51
Fig.52
32
Fig.53
Smaller room 6
Smaller room, Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, 2
Producer/Director/Distributor request
Smaller room, Director thinks the level is too loud in the mix room, 1
Producer/Director/Distributor request, Worried about going deaf...
Worried about playback levels in Cinemas, Want "more punch" in the mix 1
33
f - South America
This group includes responses from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
Average Monitoring level for Final Mixes is 83 dB (Dolby Fader 6.4) with a minimum of
77 (1) and a maximum of 85 (5).
Fig.54
Fig.55
34
Fig.56
Fig.57
Fig.58
35
Fig.59
Smaller room 2
Producer/Director/Distributor request 1
Worried about playback levels in Cinemas, The real playback level for brazilian cinemas 1
is 4.5 to 5.5. And I already mesure dozens of multiplex. I Master 1 to 3 db up depending
of the genre of the movie.
its the standard 1
36
5 - Conclusion and proposed solutions
to the issue
It must be remembered that this survey, though quite successful at covering a good deal of
countries, remains limited in the number of responses it received. As such the responses are
only a sample, and might be subject to some bias (someone concerned with mix and
playback levels is more likely to answer than someone who is not).
A few key elements stand out:
- If big budget movies are still mainly mixed in large mix rooms, at a level not too far off
85, many, many small-to-medium budget movies are mixed in small rooms, with
generally lower monitor levels (in part to compensate for room size).
- Many of the aforementioned mixes take place using studio monitors which do not
necessarily translate properly to cinemas in terms of dynamic response. Many
theaters will end up exhibiting a mix that was deemed pleasing in the mix room, but
that - once played back on average cinema speakers - will turn out to be quite
aggressive toward the audience.
How can we solve the mix level discrepancy issue?

Some voices can be heard arguing that a system close to EBU R-128 and its various
applications could be a good idea. I disagree with this, as that system imposes a target value
for overall loudness for a project. I would argue that for a TV product that needs to fit into a
broadcast workflow, with content often used as background sound in a living room that might
work, but not in an area where many projects are driven by artistic sense rather than by
Loudness Meter numbers.
Cinema is a storytelling media. Many would agree that one key element to telling a story is
dialogue. With that in mind, I propose the following (very broad) guidelines for ensuring that
films are displayed as intended in cinemas:
- A Dialogue Loudness measurement, akin to Dialnorm, would be the anchor for the
main playback level. The cinema would have a written playback value (still ideally 7),
or metadata for automated cinema playback systems for each movie.
- The overall content would be rated depending on overall dynamics, so that the
audience can be warned that some or many loud passages may occur. These
dynamics are relative to the Dialogue measurement.
- At no moment would filmmakers have to hit any form of target, be it Dialogue
Loudness or Overall Dynamics, leaving full creative freedom.
37
With this system, all films should be displayed with Dialogue at what could be considered the
proper level for the audience. Films could still have wide dynamic ranges, which is one of the
reasons we love mixing for the film in the first place. In the long run, dynamics could come
back into movies, with mixers and directors coming back to peak and valley soundscapes,
always keeping in mind that a mix needs to show some form of robustness in any case to
survive the wilds of cinema background noise (air conditioning and audiences).
I do hope, however, that we can manage to get some sense back into filmmakers and
manage to get back to mix levels that will be both pleasing to the audience and
non-frustrating for the directors and producers.
38

Niveau de Mixage Cinema

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Niveau de Mixage Cinema

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Niveau de Mixage Cinema

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CINEMA MIXING LEVELS

A first step on the way to playing it at 7 again.

Steven Ghouti (AFSI - AES)

From the Dolby CP 650 manual:

Dolby Fader Pink noise playback level per

● a) What is your MAIN mixing expertise area?

● b) What country do you operate in?

● l) How often do you take breaks in a normal work day?

● m) When mixing for CINEMA, do you have an approximative loudness target

● o) Do you go to a cinema to watch the movie after release?

b - USA & Canada

c - France, United Kingdom and Germany

e - Asia, North Africa and Middle-East

Number of responses: 387

As expected Predub levels get a slightly lower rating for 85 dB at 21.4%:

Room size and equipment:

And here is the monitoring level:

Number of responses: 102

A few key elements stand out:

How can we solve the mix level discrepancy issue?

You might also like