Digital Audio for Media – UOW Malaysia KDU University College – School of Computing and Creative Media

CW#8: Mixing and Mastering (10%)

DUE: 18/11/2022

Objective: To marry all the mix elements and produce a commercial sounding soundtrack.

Instructions:

Congratulations on reaching this point. This is the final step before your audience will hear
your hard work. Now it’s at a stage where it’s ready for all the audio elements of the film to
come together and give your audience the whole auditory experience.

1. Download the course materials here -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z-aIUrK116O_FocmfcOpnqHXsn3Gtdae/view?
usp=share_link
2. Open up the CW8_AKIRA_FINAL MIX PRACTICE session.
3. Familiarize with the signal flow of the mix session.

Signal path guideline

4. Once you understand how the session is routed. Before you start, go ahead and
locate the Master channel and turn off the Pro Limiter. Then start with the
backgrounds. Mute the FX and DIA or solo the BG. The idea is to mix one element at
a time For the entirety of this coursework, you are to only move the Fader and the
Pan to mix. Do not touch any other parameters. Refer to Figure 2.
Good background levels is mixed at around -40dB to -35dB.

5. Once you’re done with backgrounds, move to the FX. Mute the BG and DIA or solo
the FX. FX here is populated well, so work systematically by identifying what sounds
are being played in 5 second chunks (depending on the actions your chunks should
be determined by the beat of the scene).
Digital Audio for Media – UOW Malaysia KDU University College – School of Computing and Creative Media

FX levels should hover around -35dB to -15dB or maybe -10dB if it’s key piece.

6. If you’re happy with FX, move on to dialog. Mute the FX and BG or solo the DIA.
Currently, it’s a scratch track in place. Dialog should sit at the top of the chain, if you
see yourself hitting around -10db you’re on the right track.
Digital Audio for Media – UOW Malaysia KDU University College – School of Computing and Creative Media

7. Once you’ve got all your mix to your satisfaction. Go ahead and open up your
Loudness radar meter (or use the meter in Pro Limiter) in your Master channel
and get a loudness snapshot of your mix.
Target: -23 LUFS
Turn on the Pro Limiter and set your settings accordingly to the list below.

a. Dial the Ceiling amount to -5.0dBTP

This will set your True Peak output to -5

Then compensate according to the difference of LUFS using the Threshold. Quick

tip.

1 LUFS = approx 1dB

So if your LUFS is -22 LUFS, you are 1 LUFS more than the target. You have to
reduce the LUFS by 1. Thus, your input boost should be set at -1dB.

8. Once you’re done, export your mix as [Name]_CW8_MixPractice.wav and submit

using the form below. You need not zip/rar. Do not send me any screenshots.

https://forms.gle/29v8FihEJ7CasqQ57

Format:
Soundtrack must be delivered as 24-bit, 48kHz WAV files.
○ All sounds must be in stereo.

Delivery:
All folders should be grouped into a single folder named:
○ [Name]_CW8_MixPractice

Rubric below
Digital Audio for Media – UOW Malaysia KDU University College – School of Computing and Creative Media

RUBRIC

Total Marks Marks Comments

Given

Mix Student is 6
expected to mix
elements of
Backgrounds,
FX and dialog
according to
mix guidelines
shown on
Figure 2

Mastering -23 LUFS is 2

observed

Delivery Student is 2
expected to
deliver
according to
delivery
instructions on
time.

Total