So you’ve got your dialog cut across 5 tracks or so, each with an EQ and then compressor, and each bussed to your dialog master aux which is the home of your dialog chain of plugins.  On your chain you’ve first placed another EQ followed by a noise reduction tool of your choice.  What’s next?

Next up is possibly the most important component of the dialog chain: the main dialog compressor.  Once again, I’m partial to the Waves Renaissance compressor here.  Compression is of course that magic special sauce that can really make your dialog come to life.  Or it can be readily overused and destroy your entire mix.  This potential for greatness or destruction is why I think the main compressor on the dialog chain is so important.

Remember that all your dialog has probably already hit a compressor before getting to this point, and you’ve also already mixed the levels.  This means that the dialog coming into this main dialog chain compressor is already relatively even.  So the goal at this point is to let compression do what it does best; smooth levels out yet a bit further, add some nice impact and presence to the dialog, and make things seem louder (and therefore more clear and intelligible) without the peaks actually getting any louder.

So let’s discuss some settings and objectives for this compressor.  First I recommend a fairly swift attack time (under 10ms) to make sure that there aren’t too many brief transients sneaking through.  Next I suggest a relatively speedy release time (anywhere from 75 to 150ms is pretty good), to make sure that you neither have disruptive pumping nor excessive clamping down.

For the ratio, keep it simple and stick it around 2:1 or maybe 3:1, but never much more than that.  The primary means of dialing in more or less compression isn’t going to be the ratio, it’s going to be the threshold.

The threshold is probably the most important parameter on the compressor for dialog, and it’s the place where you decide between a modest amount of compression or “setting your dialog to stun.”  The threshold is the source of great power that also comes with great responsibility.

I can’t suggest a guaranteed threshold setting, because it is completely dependent on the level of the source material.  Starting at -10dB isn’t bad, but this will swiftly change depending on the dialog you’re working with.

So this brings us to the main objective with the dialog chain compressor; keeping an ear/eye to the amount of gain reduction, and adjusting the threshold accordingly.  Compressors like the Waves R-Comp make this easy by giving you an attenuation meter.  I recommend aiming to reduce the louder parts of your dialog by anywhere from 2 to 6dB.  Much more than that and your dialog will start to sound crunchy and gross.  Much less than that and you’re not accomplishing anything.

So what tool do you use to make sure that the amount of attenuation being exacted on your dialog by the compressor falls within that range?  Why, the threshold of course!  So keep your attention to that amount of gain reduction, and adjust the threshold as needed to keep things on target.  If you’re slamming your dialog down by 10dB or more, it’s probably time to ease off on the threshold.  If there’s no gain reduction happening whatsoever, you probably need to dig into that threshold some more.

This will of course be a variable throughout your entire mix.  From scene to scene, actor to actor, and even within a given line of dialog, you may want to make adjustments to your threshold.  So make it easy to get at; use the excellent plugin mapping capabilities of a D-Command or D-Control to get that threshold onto a physical fader if you have that option.  Even a Command-8 in Flip is a great choice.  I personally prefer to work with faders over rotary encoders, and I also treat the threshold of my dialog chain’s compressor as a sort of master dialog fader, so getting it onto a fader is always my goal.  But if you don’t mind spinning a trim pot, go with that.

In part 3 we’ll wrap out this topic with a discussion of final EQ and limiting.