Volume level for submissions

[ComposerLDG]

Hi all,

Apologies if this was asked before; I did search the forum and couldn't quite find what I was looking for.

Typically for "consumer release" productions, the mixes are pretty hot for radio, etc. When producing for licensing, though, is that as critical to take part in the loudness wars? Some of you who are more experienced in placements and working with libraries/supervisors would know. Is some headroom required for them to work with?

Thanks!

-Loren

[LOCK88]

Great question Loren, I'm interested to hear the answers from some more experienced members. It seems like louder almost always sounds "better" when you A/B, so I'd hate to have my low volume mix played by a screener, immediately following a really hot mix they had just listened to...

[cassmcentee]

I would say louder is better, editors play with the volume anyways.
My final limiter is set at -.01 or -.03 and I push right up to it so it has to do a little work (I'm sure I'm doing something wrong! )

[ComposerLDG]

Thanks, guys. That’s what I figured too. If the first thing a screener has to do is crank the volume, I don’t think that leaves a great first impression of the track.

That said though, I bet the tracks are also squashed down pretty good by the time they make it into a production.

[ComposerLDG]

Plus, I'm guessing that if a library or supervisor has particular requirements, they'll just ask for a non-normalized wav or so many dB of headroom or whatever.

[cassmcentee]

Approximately 60 tracks signed and I haven't been asked yet!

[annayarbrough]

Thanks for posting this Loren. I've always been curious about that too. Especially in regards to piano cues—I hate the idea of squishing everything too much just for the sake of getting it louder!

Cass, that's good to know!

[andygabrys]

Basically what you have all remarked is the way I see it too, although I would phrase it differently:

Remember that most mysic is pulled WAY down in volume when placed on tv or in a film if it’s behind dialogue. So that leads some to believe that loudness isn’t important. In some ways if you always get placements behind dialogue then that might be true. But.......

Professionally produced music has certain standards of recorded sound and clarity, stereo width, punch and loudness which is genre specific.

If you want to compete with the music that fits this description, yours needs to be comparable.

Music for sync has to first impress with its message and quality and then be considered for a certain placement.

If a screener needs to jack the volume to listen, or if you send something direct to a super and they have to do the same, it might not be in the running any longer. It’s the perception of being less impressive, and ultimately lower quality.

It never gets placed and then you have a chance to make it sound right. Sure sometimes you might supply stems or even splits to the publisher so that they can cover all the bases and make a custom tweak, or you might have the same for a music supervisor who comes back with an oddball request.

Br there is so much music out there that is already great - they might just move on to another tune that is less work to get in shape.

If you are doing instrumental stuff - google some big production music libraries (i.e. owned my major record labels) and listen to their offerings in a genre that suits your style.

That’s the bar.

[stevebarden]

I recently had a return because the screener said the volume was too low and that made it "not broadcast quality".

[ComposerLDG]

Thanks for posting this Loren. I've always been curious about that too. Especially in regards to piano cues—I hate the idea of squishing everything too much just for the sake of getting it louder!

Cass, that's good to know!

Hi Anna,

You're welcome! I know what you mean. I sometimes use a very minimal amount of compression on solo piano pieces. Sometimes I can get a bit carried away and I'll go up and hit a high note and just blast it. It can be pretty piercing if I don't tone it down a bit. A very slight compression helps make those peaks more reasonable, helping the overall volume of the mix without killing it dynamically.