I'm currently working on a project to covert a looooong movie from PAL to NTSC. It's split across 3 DVD.

My typical method for determining dialog normalization in a 'from scratch' project involves doing an RMS normalization scan with Sony SoundForge.

For PAL2NTSC projects, I will usually examine the original audio track, and use the same normalization they do (figuring they have commercial tools that can calculate this better).

In this movie, the PAL audio is -31db (on all 3 discs). When I tried that number for my test disc, I found myself occasionally turning the volume down to about -32/-33db in the louder portions.

Typically, with my set up, -28 +/- 2db is my normal listening level and NEVER turn it below -30 to -31db.

So I tried -27 (figuring it seems to be 4 db louder than my normal levels). It's largely ok there, but I end up listening around -26db and there still seems to be a good deal of swing between loud and soft dialog, let alone loud music and effects. I ended up reaching for the remote quite a bit. (A good indicator of the wrong normalization.)

I'm not completely clear about testing the RMS with SoundForge in a 5.1 situation. One guide says test the whole Center channel, another says highlight and test just a section with dialog. If I don't have an original AC3 track to examine, it's usually 2 channels and I do well scanning the full film (both channels).

Trying different methods I get wildly different numbers between discs, channels, segements tested, etc. (Between -27 and -35.)

Any suggestions what to do here? I'm thinking of just using -31db and turning down the volume. I suppose as inconsistent as the audio is on this disc, being commercial produced their number is probably more correct.

I just don't know.