I was wondering what are the ideal loudness levels for mixing and mastering classical and film orchestral music. I read somewhere that generally it’s fine for music to be up to -14 dB Integrated, so I would like opinions from sound engineers here about that, if that’s the recommended level or not.
I would also like to know what to shoot for for the other levels in Supervision, like True Peak (ideally close to 0 but I’m happy to set it to -1), short term, momentary max, etc.
My goal when it comes to mixing is to achieve a clean mix that is not really saturated and messy. Two examples that come to mind are the works of Bear McCreary and Michael Giacchino. I think I read that Bear has a sound engineer that started with him since the time of Battlestar Galactica, and those 5 CDs sound like heaven. All the other stuff I have by Bear McCreary sounds perfect. Same with Michael Giacchino, although I don’t know in his case if he has the same engineer always or not, but it seems like it because all his stuff sounds similar in terms of sound quality and it’s perfection.
All of their works (that I know at least, and it’s quite a lot from both) sound really clean, as if you were there with the orchestra in the studio as they are recording it.
Ignore the numbers and mix for the genre. It’s almost pointless trying to hit a specific loudness target (e.g. streaming) so simply use the metering as a tool to tell you some information (e.g. things might be too dynamic, they might be too compressed), but mix it so it sounds good and how you want.
You might want to look at top-down mixing so you’re hearing things sound “finished” as you mix and that can help making informed mix decisions too.
Well, that’s what I’m asking, that’s why I mentioned the genre. At this point I’m not concerned about streaming targets. Wavelab Pro has a nice list for that. I would like to get an idea of the targets for orchestral music that are the most common for film music when it sounds clear and balanced.
Going to totally depend on what you’re going for. There’s orchestral/film music which is dynamic, there’s orchestral music which isn’t.
The best tools available are on either side of your head and then you can use other analysis tools to verify what they’re hearing.
It’s hard to say “this is the target you should aim for” as it’s going to depend on arrangement, instrumentation, how “dense” you want it to sound, how dynamic it is etc. Best you can probably do is reference something you like the sound of and see how your mix stacks up in various sections. As the arrangement is likely different it might be worthwhile to check short term LUFS levels in the loudest parts of your reference and your mix and work backwards from there (you will know how loud you could/should go for the loudest part).
…and the music itself if I may add. For example, Mc Creary adresses quite a range of different styles which serve different needs within a score. Hence, the target moves…
Having read your other threads: It can be overwhelming to see how much information is needed to understand a seemingly easy topic. And I can assure you it will never stop if you are serious about it. There’s always another “what if”. That’s the dilemma and the beauty of art and craftmanship.