Guides · Film and video
How to check your film or video mix on a phone
Films, series, ads and social videos are watched on phones and laptops as much as on TVs. A phone check won't replace your mixing room, but it tells you quickly whether the dialogue still carries and whether the music and effects still land.
Why check a film mix on a phone
A theatrical mix and a phone are opposite ends of the playback chain, and a lot of your audience is at the phone end: trailers and clips on social media, series on a commute, rough cuts sent to a client who watches them on a laptop. A mix that's perfect in the room can still lose its dialogue under music and effects on a small speaker.
The phone check answers one question: does the story still come through? Can you follow every line? Do the music and effects support the scene without burying it? Does anything important vanish?
What happens on a small speaker
Dialogue competes with everything in the mids
A phone speaker puts most of its energy in the midrange, exactly where the voice lives. Music beds, ambiences and effects that sat comfortably under dialogue on your monitors can crowd it on a phone. If a line gets hard to follow, the fix is usually masking in the music or effects, not more dialogue level.
The low end disappears
Booms, rumbles, score low end and LFE content mostly vanish on a phone. That's expected. What matters is that scenes don't lose their impact entirely: a hit should still read through its upper content, and nothing in the story should depend on sub-bass alone.
The image folds toward mono
A phone's two speakers sit centimetres apart, and in portrait it's close to mono. Wide music and ambiences fold into the centre with the dialogue. Check that the fold doesn't cause phasey, hollow music or effects, and that the dialogue stays on top. The mono check covers this in detail.
Quiet scenes fight real-world noise
Wide dynamic range is part of a good film mix, but on a phone in a noisy room, whispers and quiet scenes can drop out. You can't change the device, but you can make sure the quietest dialogue is still intelligible at a normal listening level.
A checklist for the phone check
- Every line intelligible. At a moderate level, can you follow all the dialogue, including quiet lines and lines under music?
- Music and effects in balance. Do the score and effects support the scene, or do they take over in the mids?
- Hits still read. Do impacts and transitions still land without their low end?
- Mono fold. Switch Listen as to Mono: does the dialogue stay on top, and does anything go hollow or disappear?
- Surround fold-down. For 5.1 and 7.1, listen on the phone speaker (folded down) and on AirPods (spatial). Centre-channel dialogue should stay clear in both.
- Loudness against your spec. Play the full program or reel from the start and read integrated loudness and true peak against your delivery target.
- Quiet scenes. Are the quietest passages still audible over normal room noise?
Picture and phone aren't in sync
The phone plays about 60 to 200 ms behind your Mac. Don't judge lip sync on the phone while watching the picture on the Mac. Use the phone for translation, balance and loudness, and judge sync on your main monitors.
Loudness delivery
Broadcasters and streamers specify loudness, and the phone is a convenient place to keep an eye on it while you work. MixOutpost reads momentary, short-term and integrated loudness and true peak, with targets for EBU R128 (−23 LUFS ±1), ATSC A/85 (−24 LKFS ±2) and Netflix (−27 LKFS ±2). Netflix measures dialogue only, while the meter measures the whole mix, so treat that reading as a guide and confirm with a dialogue-gated meter before delivery. Trailers and social cuts headed for YouTube or music services can be checked against those targets too.
Doing it live with MixOutpost
- 01
Put the plugin on the main bus
In DaVinci Resolve, add MixOutpost last on the Fairlight main bus. In Premiere Pro, add it to the Mix track. In Final Cut Pro, use the MixOutpost Mac app instead. Press Start Sharing.
- 02
Pair and listen
Scan the QR code once with the iPhone app and tap Listen. The phone plays a lossless copy of the mix over your local network, bit-exact at 48 kHz, the usual rate for video.
- 03
Work the checklist
Pick the phone speaker or AirPods, switch to Mono, read loudness, and keep editing. The director or client can listen on their own phones at the same time, with up to eight phones in the room.
The plugin never changes what your editor outputs, and exports are skipped. The video editors aren't tested yet; Logic Pro and Ableton Live are the hosts verified on real hardware so far.
Questions
Should I mix dialogue for phone speakers?
No. Mix on your monitors to your delivery spec, and use the phone as a check. The goal is that dialogue stays intelligible on a small speaker, not that the mix is tuned for one.
Can I judge lip sync on the phone?
No. The phone plays about 60 to 200 ms behind your Mac, depending on the buffer and the Wi-Fi. Judge sync on your main monitors, with the picture, and use the phone for translation and loudness.
Which loudness target should I check against?
The one in your delivery spec. MixOutpost shows integrated loudness and true peak against EBU R128 (−23 LUFS), ATSC A/85 (−24 LKFS) and Netflix (−27 LKFS, dialogue-gated), alongside the music services for trailers and social cuts.
Does it work with surround mixes?
Yes. 5.1 and 7.1 mixes stream from plugin buses and play as spatial audio on AirPods, or folded down to stereo on the phone speaker, which is a good test of your fold-down.
Which editors work with MixOutpost?
DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro load the plugin on the main bus (expected to work, not yet tested). Final Cut Pro has no master bus, so use the MixOutpost Mac app. Media Composer needs the AAX version, which is coming.
Hear your mix on your phone
Free Mac plugin (AU, VST3) and iPhone app. Lossless, bit-exact and encrypted.