Hey all,
I'm curious what mixdown levels most (post-production) sound mixers use with films, particularly short films. I vaguely remember from college that our outputs should be peaking around -10 or -12dBFS at the most. However I think this must vary a lot depending on the application of the film and more confusion is added on what is an acceptable loudness, since peaks do not define loudness. Furthermore I suspect these levels would be inclined differently for web purposes.
I've done a few sound mixes in the past that clients were happy with, following the above rule, however recently I've received a request to basically get the mixes peaking as loud as possible (close to 0dBFS) as my mix was too "quiet". I also went to a student short-film screening at a well known film school and the sound was horribly loud in some films. The films I did sounded acceptable but I hope that there's not a loudness war going on here.
Any background appreciated, even if you have links to post-production mixing/mastering in general.
Thanks a lot.