Hi all,
I use Soft Encode to create the final master when dealing with 5.1 mixes. First off, if anyone knows of a more recent 5.1 encoder that's similar, please let me know. I read a nice guide that's helping me to get better results than I'm used to. However, there are still questions. For instance, the guide specifies how it's ideal to calculate the RMS of a sample of nothing but dialogue, then round up or down to determine what level to set in the encoder. My question: What channel are you supposed to take a sample from? I'm assuming it's the Center...?
My next question regards levels. Is there a "standard" that one should go by when monitoring how loud each channel should be? I dissected a fair share of remasters and it appears that there isn't a standard. Each mix seems to sort of "do their own thing".
Lastly, what's up with the lack of hiss reduction? There are some films that aren't too popular, so I'd expect it to have flaws, but there are some films that are incredibly popular, yet are still filled with hiss. Wouldn't you think that if they're going to go through the work of creating a Surround Sound mix, they'd also "restore" the audio a bit? A Nightmare On Elm Street (1), Jacob's Ladder and Poltergeist (1) all seem to have hiss all but removed. However, there are two versions of The Exorcist (1) ... the original 5.1 mix has hiss, but the 2000 5.1 re-release, when compared, has hiss reduced.
I'm sure there are some questions I missed, but I already posed enough questions for now.
Thanks in advance,
Justin