Comments on: The Decibel (Producer Speak) http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/the-decibel-producer-speak/ Recording Tips | Production Trends | Songwriting Analysis of Pop, Rap, & Indie Rock. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:59:33 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Phil http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/the-decibel-producer-speak/comment-page-1/#comment-1025 Phil Fri, 22 May 2009 15:11:21 +0000 http://blog.fixyourmix.com/?p=1123#comment-1025 Stuart, Thanks for the comment! I actually do a lot of work in television advertisement and I can promise you that broadcasters are absolutely right, they do not adjust volume at all. The real reason that commercials and TV shows vary in volume is because of audio compression. The same way a mastered CD sounds louder than an unmastered CD, some commercials are heavily compressed because whoever was in charge of audio for that commercial thought it'd be great to get the commercial as loud as possible. Most of the time, this kind of stuff is not necessary since all audio in broadcast situations runs through the same audio leveler (called an optimod). When a commercial arrives at the station that is already mastered heavily, it basically gets mastered again when it broadcasts and makes it ungodly loud. Additionally, it is easier to maximize the loudness in a 30 second commercial that doesn't have much sonic diversity than it is to get a 30 minute program uniformly loud. Interestingly enough, someone in the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would try to keep broadcasters from increasing the volume of their commercials. The problem is that the broadcasters aren't doing anything with it, increasing or decreasing. Furthermore, the kind of loudness we are dealing with isn't exactly easily measurable. The peak loudness is going to be the same as something that is not heavily compressed, the only thing that will change is the RMS loudness because of the compression. But it isn't a good idea to compare volume levels based on RMS loudness because a voiceover-only spot might not have much average RMS loudness, but will be very loud. Hope you find this informative. I hear this complaint all the time, maybe it'd be worth exploring in a deeper article in the future. -- Phil Stuart,

Thanks for the comment! I actually do a lot of work in television advertisement and I can promise you that broadcasters are absolutely right, they do not adjust volume at all.

The real reason that commercials and TV shows vary in volume is because of audio compression. The same way a mastered CD sounds louder than an unmastered CD, some commercials are heavily compressed because whoever was in charge of audio for that commercial thought it’d be great to get the commercial as loud as possible.

Most of the time, this kind of stuff is not necessary since all audio in broadcast situations runs through the same audio leveler (called an optimod). When a commercial arrives at the station that is already mastered heavily, it basically gets mastered again when it broadcasts and makes it ungodly loud.

Additionally, it is easier to maximize the loudness in a 30 second commercial that doesn’t have much sonic diversity than it is to get a 30 minute program uniformly loud.

Interestingly enough, someone in the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would try to keep broadcasters from increasing the volume of their commercials. The problem is that the broadcasters aren’t doing anything with it, increasing or decreasing.

Furthermore, the kind of loudness we are dealing with isn’t exactly easily measurable. The peak loudness is going to be the same as something that is not heavily compressed, the only thing that will change is the RMS loudness because of the compression. But it isn’t a good idea to compare volume levels based on RMS loudness because a voiceover-only spot might not have much average RMS loudness, but will be very loud.

Hope you find this informative. I hear this complaint all the time, maybe it’d be worth exploring in a deeper article in the future.
–
Phil

]]> By: Stuart http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/the-decibel-producer-speak/comment-page-1/#comment-1008 Stuart Fri, 22 May 2009 03:14:01 +0000 http://blog.fixyourmix.com/?p=1123#comment-1008 Thanks for writing this article. On a related note, I perceive that the advertisements played on commercial television (and radio) appear to be louder than the actual show content. This is in spite of the broadcasters swearing (under legislation, I believe) that they are not adjusting the volume between advertisements and content. I suspect that the broadcasters (or the advertising agencies producing the commercials) are manipulating the frequency content to give the perception of louder audio in the commercials. Or is something else going on here? Any ideas? Thanks for writing this article. On a related note, I perceive that the advertisements played on commercial television (and radio) appear to be louder than the actual show content. This is in spite of the broadcasters swearing (under legislation, I believe) that they are not adjusting the volume between advertisements and content. I suspect that the broadcasters (or the advertising agencies producing the commercials) are manipulating the frequency content to give the perception of louder audio in the commercials. Or is something else going on here? Any ideas?

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