London, U.K. (April 30, 2026)―For Dan Johnson, re-recording mixer and dialog editor at The Post Republic in London, Nugen Audio’s DialogCheck plug-in has become part of his daily workflow.
“I’d like to think I’m known for the quality of my mixes,” shares Johnson, who discovered the world of post-production audio while working his way up from runner to re-recording mixer at London studios such as Videosonics and Molinare. “I’m slightly more dialog-focused, maybe because I do dialog editing as well. Once you get that right, the tasks of mixing, effects and music become much more straightforward. Dialog is the solid base of every mix.”
That commitment to clarity made Johnson an ideal early tester of Nugen Audio DialogCheck, a plug-in designed to measure the intelligibility of speech within a mix. Introduced to the tool through a colleague, Johnson, a BAFTA and RTS Award-winner, and an Emmy and Golden Reel nominee, worked directly with Nugen’s development team to provide feedback during its beta phase.
“It was good for me because it made me think about dialog clarity in quite a philosophical way,” he explains. “What is it? How can you measure it? How much is subjective and how much can be reduced to a number? I went back and measured quite a few of my past mixes, compared the data with my notes and thought about how DialogCheck could fit into a real-world workflow.”
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DialogCheck has since been integrated into Johnson’s daily sessions, as he found the plug-in particularly useful for providing objective feedback when human perception can waver after weeks in the studio. “It’s a handy way of knowing whether you’ve gone too far in burying the dialog or whether it’s still audible,” he says. “You like to think you’re consistent, but everyone has biases. DialogCheck gives you something objective and consistent to refer to when you’re unsure.”
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Beyond analysis, Johnson believes the plug-in serves as a valuable communication tool in collaborative environments. “Sometimes, during mixing, you’re pushed to bring up the music or effects. DialogCheck can help you have that conversation with a director or producer. It provides an objective assessment of dialog clarity, so you’re not just relying on an opinion. It helps protect the dialog, which is so important to the audience experience.”