Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/17668
Surround sound mixing is still evolving and changing rapidly, which leads to varia- tion, confusion and even contraction in de- liverables and audio spec.“We are in a time of change,” says Goldblatt. “It used to be about maximum audio peak. Generally, most of the broadcasters had a minus 10 to a minus 8 max peak for their stereo levels. Now with 5.1, there is a push for a new loudness standard such as the LKFS, which is a digital full scale reference based on dial- norm a la the Dolby LM 100. Broadcasters are pushing for that in the 5.1.They are talk- ing the -24 plus or minus 2, and not con- straining you to the transients, as long as you do not distort. Now for commercials, it is going to be more difficult because when the dialogue or announcer dominates mix, the dynamic range seems limited. But it is not a problem for the big audio houses from a practical sense.We are working in the older spec of minus 8 or 10. I am hoping that down the line, we will be allowed to use more of dynamic range available to us.” Goldblatt does all of his mixing in the box on Pro Tools with DynAudio and JBL speak- ers. He uses Kontakt by Native Instruments for sound design. “It’s an easy program to use and I really like that I can set sounds to a piano keyboard quickly.”Waves plug-ins, par- ticularly the restoration bundle such as X- noise, are also used. Even with single thread delivery for broadcast and the “stereo rules” mentality of the commercial world, Goldblatt has a very positive outlook on surround sound mixing.“I am very optimistic. We have waited a long time to get to where we are with surround for commercials. At least surround is a fact of life now. For 10 years, it has been debated, but now it’s a stan- dard.The bulk of work that I do is surround for TV. We keep trying to push for and educate people as to what the benefits are to surround. The more creative we can be, the better the product is.” POP SOUND Stephen Dickson, mixer at POP Sound (www.pop- sound. com) in Santa Mon- ica, gives his in-depth view on how a commercial is mixed in both stereo and 5.1 simultaneously. With credits such as Taco Bell, General Motors, Jose Cuervo, and The Call Of Duty videogame commercials, he works in the more conven- tional way of making the sur- round mix first, then deriving the stereo mix from the 5.1. Dickson explains,“I am doing only one mix, the 5.1 and the stereo simultaneously. One key reason is because of the amount of changes and revisions needed along the way. I can’t have two ses- sions or separate mixes at once. Both mixes have to be done at one time where I 38 Post • October 2010 www.postmagazine.com can switch between 5.1 and the stereo fold down. As a commercial mixer, I have to re- alize that 95 percent of our listeners are lis- tening in stereo, not 5.1.That’s why even though I am mixing in 5.1, the downmix is king and I have to continually monitor for downmix compatibility.” Following the more traditional workflow of film and television series, Dickson takes great care to ensure that the 5.1 mix down- mixes to stereo properly.“I use the Dolby 563 and 564 encode and decode hardware units. I would love to keep it all in the box in Pro Tools, but it is easier for me to have it all done with outboard gear.” Dickson also uses a custom template he created in Pro Tools to ensure the 5.1 mix will downmix properly to stereo. “I have a set-up where I have all of my groups ready, the dialogue,music and effects set up as 5.1. I use this same set-up whether I am doing a 5.1 mix or stereo. I am using the 5.1 bussing and their sub-busses within Pro Tools so a dialogue track going to the center channel, for instance, is preset.There is no panning, no divergence, it just gets assigned. I also have stereo busses that are defaults. Any- thing else, I will send to the groups 5.1 bus and use a panner to do what I need to do.” Elements such as music and sound ef- fects are commonly only available as stereo files, even when mixing in 5.1. Undaunted, Dickson has developed a creative and effec- tive technique using his Pro Tools template to make stereo elements translate easily into surround.“For stereo files, I use a music decoder bus and an effects decoder bus,” he says.“For example, if I get stereo effects like ambiences and I am doing a 5.1 mix, I simply make a stereo ambience track.Then I