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MDX 5.1
When it’s indicated to bring up dialog level and speech
intelligibility, you may end up with something like the level
diagram presented in Fig 4.
Fig 4. MDX5.1 Example. Preset named “Spectral Dialog Lift 1”.
In this example, low level boost and spectral shaping is
added to the Center channel.
The diagram shows more low level gain being added to
the Center channel than to the other channels. It also
shows the Center channel at low level being subjected to
extra boost at high frequencies, thereby helping speech
intelligibility further. The spectral boost is obtained
by bringing the Hi band Steer up, and/or the Hi band
Threshold down in the sidechain which processes the
Center channel.
When Steer and Thresholds are set identically in all three
frequency bands, spectral shaping is not invoked. In Fig
4, the L/R Front and L/R Surround curves are examples of
channels with no spectral shaping.
Tip: To produce multiple mastering versions from the
same source material, start doing the one for the highest
resolution. Lower resolution versions can be achieved by
adjusting the Limit Threshold to comply with the alternative
delivery format, then adjusting the Ref Level to optimize
results under the new, restricted dynamic range conditions.
In many cases, no further tweaking will be needed.
Please be advised that some reproduction systems distort
when down-mixing hot multichannel signals to stereo.
Therefore, don’t abuse multichannel formats by bringing all
channels close to 0dBFS at the same time, except for short
duration, loud incidents.
When making the final mastering adjustments, try
changing the Ref Level parameter up and down a
few dB. This is an efficient way of trimming
hundreds of parameters in MDX5.1 at the same
time. Listen to the result, while deciding what is the
optimum setting for that particular material.