Mastering audio for broadcast

[JZilla]

Hi everyone. I'm doing a project with a quick turnaround that has me doing the sound design, mix and mastering on an animated commercial. My mastering experience is pretty limited, and I want to make sure that the commercial is done to broadcast spec, the problem is that I can't seem to find out what that is. I'm thinking mainly of the frequency range/dynamic range aspects of it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Jeff

(the spot is an animated bit with orchestral score, light sound fx, and a prominent VO)

[gref]

Nearly all broadcasters have different specs… so this isn't easy to answer.
Here in Germany I usually format the audio due to ARD/ZDF specs: -9dBFS maximum peak and a lineup tone of 1KHz@-18dBFS… this would usually not be rejected.
But you'll have to find out the specs according to the broadcaster.

[Radiogal]

The Swedish national radio test tone translated to digital DAW metering is
TEST tone 1kHz -18 dB
Highest peaks -12 dB

[burn em]

MTV in Sydney Australia accepts footage -10 peak for music videos/ live clips on Digi Beta. I still haven't been able to get a straight answer from anyone though as to the actual Illusive "specs" they "require". Jobs are accepted and well received, I don't ask any questions.

The guys who do my DV file to Digi Beta conversion put in tone and bars for me, so I have no idea of specs that.

Make sure your mix sounds good in mono and on small and crappy speakers and be careful with anything below 200/150Hz. Avoid multi band compression in mastering if you can help it.