I've come across the phrase "DME separated" and haven't yet found an explanation for what DME means. Could someone here enlighten me?
Most/all commercial distributors and TV networks will require various audio deliverables: 1. Obviously a full mix, either: A theatrical standard 5,1, 7.1 or higher mix. A broadcast 5.1 mix for HDTV, compliant with their specs and inter/national specs (either ATSC or EBU). 2. In addition they will usually require a stereo fold-down (usually LtRt, sometimes LoRo) and 3. They will require some form of stem breakdown. This may be just an M&E mix, IE. A mix containing all the
Music and sound
Effects but without any of the
Dialogue (or associated dialogue elements, such as room tone). For documentaries, it's more common to require a DM&E (or just "DME") mix rather than an M&E mix. A DME mix contains the same as an M&E (Music and Effects) mix, plus all the on-screen
Dialogue (interviews, etc.). IE. The same as the full mix but minus the VO/narration. Confusingly, this DME mix will sometimes be referred to (in audio specs) as a "Mix minus (-)" or even as an M&E mix, as the assumption for docos is that an M&E mix is really a DME mix. Finally 4. Some distributors or broadcasters will have additional audio deliverables requirements beyond these standard basics, for example a full compliment of individual (separated) stems.
Standard professional audio post workflow practice has always been to work in stems and the mixing phase separated into three sub-phases; the pre-mix, final-mix and print-mastering phases. In the pre-mix phase all the stems are mixed, in the final-mix these stems are mixed together and print-mastering is where the final mix and all the other required deliverables are physically re-recorded (rendered into audio files).
In my experience, the primary distributor/broadcaster is usually known well before audio-post starts and therefore the audio deliverables tailored to that particular broadcaster's/distributor's specifications/requirements. However, even in this case and where the specific distributor/broadcaster doesn't require individual (separated) stems, it's still common practice for a Producer to require them, to cover most of the likely bases of any future syndication/sub-distribution (which is usually not yet known).
As I mentioned, there can be (and frequently is) some confusion of terms and it's not uncommon to find apparently contradictory requirements in broadcaster's/distributor's published audio specs. Therefore, a fair amount of knowledge/experience is required to "interpret" published specs and even then, clarification is sometimes needed as many distributors/broadcasters update their audio specs every year or so. It is possible that the term "DME separated" has nothing to do with audio and is something else entirely (although I don't know what that could be). But it's not an entirely unexpected (or un-encountered) term for what we in the audio-post community would more commonly refer to as "individual stems".
G
