Volume on TV HD? Walter???

[Mike Hennessey]

I use to work master control at a TV station and the loud audio level is intentional. The spots would come in with low tone all the time, so if the tech that dubs them for play back sets up to tone it screams. I think they do that it to catch the attention of the viewer and create excitement. Bleeding ears will do that.

It

[Michael Gissing]

There are set broadcast level standards for NTSC and PAL. They are close to identical with SMPTE peak levels of -10dbfs (thats decibels full scale on a digital meter). Please don’t talk in +db levels cause digital doesn’t have +db scale.

Pal is -9dbfs. These levels are also related to tone which must be -20dbfs (SMPTE) or -18dbfs (PAL). Wrong tone or peak levels means tech rejection.

OK thats the techo stuff. The reason commercials are loud is a combination of voice over projection, agressive music and all of that jammed into a tiny dynamic range with compressor/limiters. Don’t bother with meter levels, cause in broadcast land all must comply with the international standards. I can make something seem much louder without illegal levels.

Cable and satelite operators are often not demanding complinance with broadcast level standards so there is extra fault there.

[Tom Ackroyd]

Woah there.

Speaking as an ad agency “pinhead” producer can I have a say here?

1) Ads are not TV shows. They are shorter, contain more information, cut faster and so are literally “compressed” – it’s in their nature. Michael G put it better (below).

2) It’s up to broadcasters to regulate audio levels, not producers of spots or TV shows. If a broadcaster cannot be bothered to police audio levels, no-one is happy. Not the programme makers, not the advertisers, not the producers, not the viewers. Broadcasters should quality check each spot (and TV show) before it airs and reject it if audio levels do not meet their spec.

3) All the careful work I put into making a blanced audio track for spots is wrecked by broadcasters putting compression in as they go to air. This compression is only switched in on ad breaks. A “dramatic” 30sec ad with an atmospheric, filmic soundtrack is completely ruined by this process. Ad agencies need to put pressure on broadcasters to fix this. I do.

4) Audio post-production studios should be well aware of “legal” levels – and in a booking if I see the PPM going above 6 I will get them to wind it down.

I know “local” can mean “don’t know what they are doing”. The only way this is going to change is by broadcasters regulating audio levels across the board. The people to effect change are viewers – either by complaining or switching off or hitting the mute button or running away or throwing a brick at their TV; and advertisers and agencies who don’t want viewers complaining or switching off or etc.

And yes I am one of those viewers. Funny old world.

Google “Loud ads on TV” for useful and thought-provoking submissions to the Australian Broadcasting Authority on this very subject early last year.

Tom Ackroyd

[Tom Matthies]

It is still very necessary to speek in terms of “+db” levels in broadcasting these days. The difference between “digital” and “analog” audio levels is one of the big problems we face today in the changover to newer broadcasting systems. Last time I checked, the vast majority of TV broadcasting is still analog, and will be for a while yet. I’d guess that many if not most master controls are still relying on good old fashioned analog meters to set their levels. Acceptable (or legal) levels for analog transmission and digital transmission are miles apart. And the entire infrastructure of getting a spot from conception to air is loaded with technical land mines. How many times have you all experienced getting dubs of a spot that was mastered in the digital environment with acceptably “high” audio levels only to transfer those same levels (or try to at least)to the analog dub. Our audio sweeting guys typically run their levels up to very near 0dbfs to wring every last bit(get it? Bit) of information out of their tracks. That’s fine in the digital world, but at some point, at least in my market, those levels have to make it into the analog world for the dubs that go out to the stations. At that point, the levels MUST be brought into complience with the analog broadcast standards. Very often I have seen dubs that were not corrected from the original digital levels. The result is a set of VU meters that are wrapped around the limiting pegs on the VTR’s meters. (or a peak level indicator that could be used as a night-light)

There is a lot of audio compression still used in spot production today. As stated above, a given spot will sound very loud without ever exceeding “legal” levels when broadcast. There are a lot of spots, however, that do exceed these levels and are then clamped (or clipped or compressed) by the stations audio processing equipment before it hits the transmitter for broadcast. None of the TV stations I’ve worked at over the years, specifically compresses just the commercial content of a broadcast. Typically, the audio processing gear is downstream of all the sources of audio and is usually the last step before the signal is fed into the transmitter, or at least into the station’s STL.

Today, while deep within the changover from analog to digital broascasting, there are simply too many places for the audio level mismatching to occur to place the blame on any single entity. As stated above, a typical 30 sec. spot is pretty much a self-contained story, with all of it’s associated story telling and state of the art technology. The levels are much easier to control on a short 30 sec. spot than on a typical 30 minute TV show. Usually the average levels are much lower on programming. A TV show rarely contains the sustained energy found in a TV spot. If so, it would be exhausting to watch a show that crammed so much energy (both technical and emotional) for that period of time. That’s not to say that a TV program isn’t or can’t be ad loud as a tv spot however. The levels in a typical TV show are dynamic and vary greatly. They can range from very quiet to very loud and the levels on a show must be set with that in mind. Our local Public Radio station, here in Green Bay, typically has program levels far below the commercial stations. When asked, the radio engineers tell me it is that way on purpose to leave enough headroom for the times when the contelt gets loud, usually on a piece of classical music. They typically use very little processing in the transmission and little in the broadcasting either. They prefer to let the content control the dynamics of the signal. We all hate that pumping compressor effect, don’t we? The commercial stations, on the other hand, compress the living daylights out of their music amd make it as LOUD as possible. Louder is better in radio, isn’t it?
The bottom line is the loudness of a given spot often depends on the desires of the provider. Advertisers usually want their spots to cut thru the clutter and produce the audio track accordingly. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the broadcaster for purposly trying to make the spots sound louder on their end. Most stations are set up for unity gain whenever possible. Now, that doesn’t mean that somewhere in the ingesting process at the station, a mistake wasn’t made and incorrect levels were recorded (digitized?) into their servers. Human nature, being what it is, is full of shortcuts and most TV master control/engineering folks are a bit overworked these days, with all of the duties they are now responsible for that were unheard of just a few years ago. Ever try to take in program feeds while lining up a live shot while loading tapes for master control while answering the ringing phone while…well, you get the idea. Sometimes the attantion to detail get spread a little thin.
High levels on TV spots is nothing new. It’s been a complaint for years and will probable be a problem for years to come. I don’t think that there is or ever will be a Magic Bullet for this problem. Darn…

Well, enough rambling…time to put in my ear plugs and get to work editing another really LOUD spot for you all to enjoy!
Tom