Mixing in a Small Room

A few days ago I wrote a post about mixing levels and game audio mixing. This post will be an addendum to that one.

In that post I suggested using a 79dB at -20dBfs pink noise calibration level. This is a good level if you are mixing in a large room and are seated a decent distance from your speakers. If you, like many people in the game audio industry, are sitting only a couple of feet from your speakers in a small room then this level is going to seem way too loud when referencing other material and therefore make your mix too quiet. A more practical level to set would be 73dB or lower for this environment.

For extended reading on this topic there is a great gearslutz post in it: Mixing levels and dynamics: Hand me the tylenol.

Also, here are the Dolby Facility Requirements that state that the theatrical mixing level of 85dB should be from a listening position of at least 13 feet and 4 inches from the screen.