Audio Compressor-Limiter for Broadcast

[VicHaz]

The broadcast specs for our finished products require audio at -12Db. We had a great system with PP2016 where we had a compressor on Ch. 1&2 (where our voice tracks lived) and a limiter on the master channel of the audio mixer for the sequence. These features were made obsolete with PP2017. We have continued to use them, but it's time to adapt. (Besides, that limiter can be a little buggy.) What do you suggest? I have gone through the current plug-ins and nothing seems to work as well.

[Jim_Simon]

I'm a fan of mixing manually while using the Loudness Radar, found under Special in the Track Mixer effects.

[VicHaz]

I'll give that a shot.

[jon6569]

I edit to that audio spec for broadcast as well. I mix manually but use the Hard Limiter set to -12 on the master 1&2 tracks:

Dropbox - limiter.jpg

[VicHaz]

Another good option.

As with everything in TV we're always in a time crunch and those obsolete plug-ins literally saved us HOURS.

What about compression for voice tracks?

[jon6569]

When the edit is locked, I send to Audition to EQ and compress VO and dialogue tracks. There I use Parametric Equalizer and Tube-modeled Compressor (there are tons of other options).

But where Audition really shines is its stretch tool, where you can change speed by dragging the upper right/left triangles of a clip Dropbox - audio_stretch.jpg. This is especially useful when I place the final VO over the scratch track and need to do small timing changes. Premiere's Clip Speed tool doesn't maintain audio quality, Audition's does and is much easier to use.

I then export the individual tracks as wavs and lay them back in the Premiere timeline, where I do the final audio mix. It's maybe a clunky workflow, but because Edit in Adobe Audition sends the timeline to Audition so quickly, it works well for me.