Best/fastest way to standardize different audio levels in long projects????

Question

Hey all,
I regularly have long projects with lots of different audio and audio levels (eg weddings and events) and am trying to figure the fastest and best way to set all the different levels to output around a standard level (eg around -4dB) and not peak!
I want to be able to do this at the end of my project(workflow) rather than individually adjusting each audio clip as i go, which wastes a lot of time.
I'm sure there has to be a simple way to do this but i haven't learnt it yet, so has anyone got the best/fastest method?

Answer 1

Well IMO "best" and "fastest" don't go together in a sentence very often!
However I think the key is in establishing a rock-solid set monitoring level (ie volume) for the speakers you mix on which never changes (at least while you mix). In professional mixing it's done with equipment to analyze the mixing room and calibrate everything to a nominal 85dB spl at the mixing position (for the cinema... which is quite loud!).
While you might not want to emulate this you can get some content you are happy with (your projects, CD's, DVD's etc) and play them in you environment with your mixing software faders at zero gain and the meters reading -12dB or thereabouts (they will if the content was mixed correctly). Now adjust your listening volume (on your speakers or amp) until you get a comfortable listening/mixing level (you could get a Radio Shack sound pressure meter and try to set the volume to around 70-80dB spl or whatever so if you ever need to reset you can) and mark the amp/speaker levels with a grease pencil. Never Move this control again.
From now on whenever your audio tracks reach this 'ideal' listening level, your level meters will show the ideal -12dB. Your ears just have to "learn" how loud this is... and then you can mix by ear... keeping an eye on the meters to make sure you are on target. If you want the audio to sound 'normal' mix to a comfortable listening level, if you want it softer lower the track's fader until it sounds right ... louder? Well turn it up. Although you can only go louder until your meters overload... which is at 12dB. (that's why some people like to set their "ideal" level lower -15 or -18dB, so there's more room to get loud (especially in the cinema!). It's all easier said than done ... but once you learn your listening levels you'll just adjust tracks correctly as you go, then tune it all up on a mixing pass.
If you have a completed project you still have to do all the above... set your listening level. Then scan through your material. I like to find the worst clip (probably too low) and tweak it to sound the best you can (add gain, eq, etc) trying to get it up around -15 to -12 dB. Then run though the whole project bringing other clips down to match the worst. This will get everything basically even.
After all this you might try running the whole mix through a single Sub Mix and insert a compressor across it (with a basic 'Mix" preset) to even the whole thing out. Though a lot of the time, with Doco type sound, I find a pretty even mix can be done by ear alone!
It's a lot to think about ... but the key is learning what your ideal target level sounds like. Then use your ears.. and check your STP level meters to make sure all is OK.
Hope this helps
Lee
Hope this helps
Lee