5.1 Mix Doubt for DCP

[NightStarOcean]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I need some advice.
My feature film will premier at a Theater in 20 days, I've been transferring my Stereo mix to 5.1, track by track. I have only two speakers calibrated to 85 db SPL and I'm using dearVR Monitor to have a notion of what it will sound like in the Theater. The problem is my film has a lot of quiet scenes, around 60db, and some room tones and even sound design details shouldn't be that loud, most border at -30 LUFS (75 db SPL) and have a base of -40 LUFS (65 db SPL). The Dialog for example is normally at -31 Integrated LUFS, I find the -27 LUFS (or LKFS) too damn loud (78db for dialogue in unnatural sounding to me).
Is it that bad to have moments on a film where the INTEGRATED LUFS are -35 to -32 LUFS ? I'm asking this because I've tried to make a louder mix but I really can't bare it, I end up hearing it all at 80 SPL to find the right mood.

Is it that uncommon for a projectionist to raise +4-5db if the mix is too low for a certain Theater ? I only have one trip (where I will lose one day completely) to check if everything is right and I'm afraid that I will make a mistake were I won't have enough time to fix it.

Can anyone please say something about this, I'm pretty sure it is a common thing. My film is a Drama but it has a very delicate sound design due to some abstractions in the narrative, it won't be quick to fix details, track by track if there is a big mistake.

Thank you for your attention.

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

[...]
Is it that uncommon for a projectionist to raise +4-5db if the mix is too low for a certain Theater ? I only have one trip (where I will lose one day completely) to check if everything is right and I'm afraid that I will make a mistake were I won't have enough time to fix it.
[...]

No, it is not uncommon for a projectionist to set the volume to a mark specific for a feature. Quite the opposite.
What you may not expect:
The projectionist to change the volume on any other time, but the beginning of the DCP.
Equalization and/or balancing. (It is pre-configured in a standard way and, unless the audio equipment is not cinematic, the projectionist has no access to configuration. Even if they had, they shouldn't make any changes for a specific feature.)

In terms of volume setting, there is a range within which amplification may take place.
If you see the diagram in this article (it is not created by the author there, it comes from Dolby https://film-mixing.com/2013/12/12/dolb ... er-levels/) you will find that the fader may set the volume from 0 to 10, but the target area is from 4 to 10, with 7 being in the middle. Below 4, the change is 6 times larger.
That is a good reason to not decline too much from what people call "normal". If you are talking about four or five db, then that corresponds to less than 1,5 points on the fader. That is not a problem from say... 7.

Yet, I have to say this: When working on a booth and always, always, always checking before the first screening the volume of a movie, there was only one kind of feature that I knew from the beginning that I would have set on a specific point (say, 7). That was pre-recorded National Theatre Live pieces. I suppose that the reason behind it is that the features were broadcasted, so the audio was calibrated in the EBU level restrictions, with the dynamic range being narrow, in comparison to feature films.
In all other cases, there was no volume setting to predict. Seldomly the volume would need to go up to -say- 8. Mainly because there would be parts where 8 would be too loud.
In rare occasions, on productions from a specific country, or for amateur short films, the volume would need to go bellow 4. But for that, a 0,1 step up or down is a great difference.

Bottom line, what you wonder about (volume/fader setting) is no problem.
Yet, it's hard to simulate the way cinema sound is perceived in non-cinematic environments.

About specifics on scenes' LUFS, others may have a better insight to share.

[Carsten]

Can you send us the audio graph screenshot of the full feature?


For short 'standard' pieces, it is usually okay to look at LUFS or LEQ(m) numbers, but for full length, these will usually not tell the whole story. It would still be interesting if you give us these numbers.



Is it possible for you to upload a part of the audio somewhere (or some excerpts), something like 1-3 minutes? It must be audio created from DCP-o-matic though (MXF), otherwise the level reference may be wrong. Just import your audio into DCP-o-matic, leave gain untouched. I don't need any visuals. You can crop the audio in DCP-o-matic using the 'timing' tab, then create multiple DCPs of short segments that have some reference value to you (e.g. dialog with music, surrounds, LFE signals, etc.). The resulting DCPs will contain two MXF files each - one is black video, one is audio. You may ZIP the audio MXFs only and transfer it e.g. using Wetransfer or the like. I can play it in our cinema at our standard fader setting and make an educated guess.


Another option is to play your DCP in DCP-o-matic player at some fixed volume setting on your playback hardware. You may then play a commercial DCP trailer of similar characteristic using the same settings, and compare the loudness. Of course, there are commercial trailers, unfortunately, that are also way off standard levels.

It is not so complicated to set up a calibrated audio playback chain using e.g. -20dB reference pink noise in DCP-o-matic. The difference, however, is that cinema speakers are full range and 5.1, and you can not replicate this at home.

[NightStarOcean]

Thank you for your replies. Unfortunately I just saw them today - for some reason I didn't get an email that confirmed the message being approved.

I did find a way to solve the situation. I ended up measuring the STEMS one by one PHYSICALLY with a LOUDNESS Meter at 4 meters of distance from the speaker. (I heard all of them in MONO).

It seems to be ok. But I had to redo almost all of the levels because I didn't have a notion of ZONE, so I ended up having reference physical levels just to guide myself (what is too low and too high) and played the film using dearVR Monitor - Mind you that I was hearing everything at the same distance (4 meters).

I will check it tomorrow. The Festival Allowed me to do a test 24h before. In case there is a problem they can project a file manually. But I would love for this to work. I will post the results in 3-4days.
Also with the audio diagrams. Because if there is any problem I will want to understand it and solve it anyway, because I want a fully functional DCP.

Thank you for the output and I'm sorry for the late reply.

[Carsten]

If you are very uncertain, it is usually best to take the final 5.1 mix into DCP-o-matic and bring average/RMS dialog level to around -30dB to -24dB FS in the audio graph . Then also look at LUFS and LEQ(m). The overall mix/balance should have been fixed before and listening level subjectively set to your personal preference for this. Then adjust overall gain in DCP-o-matic to bring dialog (normal talking) to between -30 and -24 dB RMS FS.

This is the audio graph of 'Captain Fantastic' (DVD RIP):

The green line is dialog RMS. It's a bit on the soft side. It's a DVD. And the movie has a lot of talking.

Bildschirmfoto 2025-11-27 um 23.12.41.png