From the course: Audio Mastering Techniques

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Mastering for television

Mastering for television

From the course: Audio Mastering Techniques

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Mastering for television

Most of the time, music intended for television is delivered to the post-production facility unmastered, or it's mixed in against the video. The video editor then determines the correct level against the effects and dialog, just like with film. But on the rare occasion when the television audio is coming from the mastering engineer, the first thing you need to do is obtain a technical specification from the engineering department of the network it's going to be shown on. This will tell you exactly what they want and how they want it. Among the types of things that the network spec will contain is all the video requirements, as well as all the audio requirements. Read and follow these carefully, or else you'll end up redoing the project to their liking. Here is what to watch for, the operating level for a reference tone, how long they want the tone, and if laid back to tape, where on the tape it begins. The operating level will usually be at -20dB full scale, but sometimes it might be…

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