Typical Mixing Costs

[Andre W.]

Hey all,

So I've been working on this short, that was shot on EPIC for a while now. We are at the stage for audio mixing, and this is a first for me. Technically this is the first full on project that I've been a part of. So needless to say I'm running at the learning curve full force here. I've been talking with the individual that had recorded the onset sound for us and he has said he can help us with the sound mixing, and we are in the talks of how he needs the files to do what he needs to do.… WOOOO…

What I'm hoping for is some advice on what this process would normally cost. As this is a whole new area for me (usually I'm behind the camera, and don't hit the post process to much), I'm not sure the typical budgeting for this.

Shorts TRT is roughly 15min, only two audio tracks were recorded, but he had mentioned mastering in 5.1…… soooooooo, yeah. Typical rough cost estimate if anyone can let me know… Thanks in advance

 

[Steve Sherrick]

For a short, I would recommend bringing it to a few places to show them. If it's a really good film, they may be willing to cut you an indie rate. Typical mixing rates will be in the $150-$250/hr range. If you also need dialogue editing, sound effects editing, etc. that will of course be another line item and those rates may vary depending on the shop. Just sticking with the sound mixing side of things, without knowing how layered your sound is or whether you have major location sound problems, I would estimate that they could probably do this in a day, so you are probably looking at $1500-2000. But again, if you can work out a deal, they may be able to get those numbers down for you. Also, by showing them what will be involved they will be able to give you a better estimate as to how many hours/days it will take. 15 minute film probably doesn't tell them enough because that could be dialogue and music, or simply a voice over track, or it could be crazy amount of tracks packed into 15 minutes that will take a while to process and mix.

There's a good place in Boston that is sometimes open to doing indie films if you need some contacts.

Good luck with the project.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I agree with Steve's advice above. I think the best thing to do is to hire a post supervisor who can cut deals with different people and different companies, then spread the work out so that you can get sound effects editing and dialogue editing done economically, but without compromises in quality. Quite a few indie mixers can do most of the work at home, then when everything is locked, you move the project onto a bigger stage at a real post sound company and knock the whole thing out in a day. 15 minutes should be no problem for an 8-hour day, provided there are no major issues.

One key is that the original dialogue needs to be recorded well, and you'll also need to be sure that the original sound files were synced up and labeled correctly in your original edit. You'll need to be able to export an OMF or an XML for sound editing purposes (preferably in Pro Tools, in my opinion). There's always the chance that you'll need some ADR, but it's possible to do this relatively inexpensively if you're well planned and can do it in a few hours, pending the availability of the actors.

Surround mixes are doable, but if it's just a short, I think you can safely stick to just stereo and phantom center without any problems. Bear in mind what your potential market is going to be; if you need to deliver surround for a big festival, via a DCP, then you will need to do a 5.1 mix, but you'll also need to check for stereo and mono compatibility. I think this is especially important for the web, where viewers of your short could be watching it on an iPad, an iPhone, or worse.