Does anyone mix audio for TV?

[nickfever]

I have an opportunity to mix a television show that would be aired on national TV.I have never done this before, and I would like to try for the opportunity. It is a show that will be broadcast nationally.I haven't received a spec sheet from hem yet, which I know I need, but I don't know what all that entails. (I believe test tones are one of the specs that a spec sheet entails).I'm not even sure what the process is from receiving the audio from them to how i would return it to them. Is there a way it is typically done?I am not even sure what other questions to ask here, but hopefully this will get the ball rolling.FYI - I run DP 5.13 on a mac pro.Thanks,Nick

[mazz]

Nick,I've never done this before either but I do know that there are certain level specs that must be met but in the era of "digital but still analog" TV I don't know what those specs would be. The main thing is that broadcast isn't mixed like records, you're never supposed to go in to distortion (analog), I don't know what the maximum levels for digital are. Test tones are easy, you can probably download those.Try to find the maximum level specs online, I think that's the main thing you need to know. There's other folks here that might have more experience with this, Aub and Stick come to mind. Maybe send them a PM in case they miss this post, I know they're both pretty busy right now.You can mix it on anything, DP is fine. For delivery they might want surround "stems" which I believe have a labeling format that you should follow, i.e. Lt, Rt, C, LFE, Ls, Rs, or something similar. Those would be mono tracks. The other thing they might want if they want a surround mix is a stereo "downmix" which I think you can do in DP as well, I've never done surround but I know some of the terms . Of course, to do a surround mix, you need a surround monitoring system. DP has a surround master and a surround panner in it but I've never called them up but the manual has all the info you need.Also remember that broadcast uses 48K sampling rate so either work at that rate or you'll have to do a conversion before you send it, other wise the pitch will be off and it will sound funny (probably faster if you accidentally send them 44.1).That's all the info I've got for now. I gleaned that from reading every article in Mix and other magazines every month religiously, whether it pertained to me or not. I'm just fanatical that way.Good luck!!MazzGood luck, you can do it, just find out the parameters.