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Loud Commercials

M

Mark Giardina

Wasn't there suppose to be a new rule that went into effect this year that required commercials not to be louder than the TV shows which these advertisements appear in?

The reason for my inquiry is because other night I was watching a TV program and when the commercials came on and I had to quickly lower the sound volume because they were so damn loud. :mad:
 
Yes. The CALM Act went into effect January 1.
 
All these problems could be solved if there were a live person monitoring what is going on the air instead of a machine.
 
One problem is, the Promotional material is exempt.
Another problem is, certain frequencies are exempt..hence, the booming bass-track sounds in so many shows, promos and spots.
 
kenglish said:
One problem is, the Promotional material is exempt.
Another problem is, certain frequencies are exempt..hence, the booming bass-track sounds in so many shows, promos and spots.
Click to expand...

As I said, another sterling example of inept federal legislation. The geniuses who put the legislation together couldn't anticipate such loopholes?
 
SixtiesGuy said:
kenglish said:
One problem is, the Promotional material is exempt.
Another problem is, certain frequencies are exempt..hence, the booming bass-track sounds in so many shows, promos and spots.
Click to expand...

As I said, another sterling example of inept federal legislation. The geniuses who put the legislation together couldn't anticipate such loopholes?
Click to expand...
Don't those sorts of loopholes have to be actively written in?
 
How about a marginal volume for ALL commercials? NOTHING EXEMPT!! :) :)

-crainbebo
 
I'm one of those "live" persons at the board of three TV stations, all automated, in one facililty. All programs, spots and promos are played from hard drives now, not tape. The volume is set when the files are created. Shows and spots are ftp transferred to our facility and there is nothing we can do about the volume. It's like watching videos on YouTube - some are louder than others. You get the volume as set by the creator. Well, there is something we can do. We could play the spot in real time and re-record it back into our system at the proper level. We've had to do that on several occasions until the production company could ftp us a corrected spot.

But, the main reason spots "sound" louder is the lack of dynamic range. On the VU meters all the volume peaks hit the same point, but on a show with dialog there is a lot of dynamic range - the difference between low and high volume moments. Spots are produced with a reduced dynamic range. The audio is compressed so there are no low volume moments. Even though the audio peaks at the same electronic level, the compressed audio will sound louder.

And as far as I know, nothing is exempt.
 
PirateJohnny said:
I'm one of those "live" persons at the board of three TV stations, all automated, in one facililty. All programs, spots and promos are played from hard drives now, not tape. The volume is set when the files are created. Shows and spots are ftp transferred to our facility and there is nothing we can do about the volume. It's like watching videos on YouTube - some are louder than others. You get the volume as set by the creator. Well, there is something we can do. We could play the spot in real time and re-record it back into our system at the proper level. We've had to do that on several occasions until the production company could ftp us a corrected spot.

But, the main reason spots "sound" louder is the lack of dynamic range. On the VU meters all the volume peaks hit the same point, but on a show with dialog there is a lot of dynamic range - the difference between low and high volume moments. Spots are produced with a reduced dynamic range. The audio is compressed so there are no low volume moments. Even though the audio peaks at the same electronic level, the compressed audio will sound louder.

And as far as I know, nothing is exempt.
Click to expand...

Since you are a broadcast professional perhaps you can answer some questions (and I am not posing these as argumentative or rhetorical; I'd really like to know):

*You say that since material is all digital and is broadcast directly as the ad producers provide it, what about the video content? Your stations do not have the need or ability to adjust video parameters such as brightness, contrast, or color tint or saturation of the material you're provided? If in fact you can and do have the ability to adjust the video parameters of such files, which are at very large bandwidths compared to the audio, why can't the audio be adjust as well?
*Couldn't you put a digital signal processor in the chain before the signal is broadcast? Radio stations, which also have the need to mix program material with pre-recorded ads, are all digital from hard drive to transmitter, yet they manage to keep their volume levels fairly constant.
*If it is technically impossible (or not feasible) to adjust the audio content of files before they're broadcast, why can't the NAB establish parameters for audio consistent with the requirements of the new law, which ad producers would then have to stick to?

It's very hard to believe that this problem really can't be dealt with, or that it's just too hard to do. In the meantime, I and millions of other viewers will continue to deal with it in a most effective way: "DVR" everything and just "hop" right over those uncontrollably loud ads.
 
Very good question. Again I make a reference to YouTube. When you watch YouTube you see/hear the files as created by the creator. Some will play dark or loud or too low and you have to make adjustments on your end. YouTube plays what it gets. One of the benefits of going digital is we can transfer files instead of recording a satellite feed in real time. Yes, there are video/audio level parameters, but getting production companies on board has been difficult. We have had some spots re-edited and re-sent four times.

And now with every computer having video editing software, every used car lot thinks they are also production companies.

We don't have any video adjustment on the files either. There is "some" processing of the video and audio signal after leaving the master control console, but the adjustments we had with analog equipment is gone.

If a file gives us problems and re-delivery time is an issue we can play the files out in real time and make adjustments as we re-record them back into our system. But we shouldn't have to do that.
 
Television stations do have audio processing that is nominally similar to what radio stations have. But radio stations want to be in-your-face loud all the time, so they set the processors up in that manner. Televisions stations want to allow dynamic range and stereo separation, and do a very gentle level control.

Being in-your-face loud is actually much easier from a technical standpoint than doing audio leveling.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Television stations do have audio processing that is nominally similar to what radio stations have. But radio stations want to be in-your-face loud all the time, so they set the processors up in that manner. Televisions stations want to allow dynamic range and stereo separation, and do a very gentle level control.

Being in-your-face loud is actually much easier from a technical standpoint than doing audio leveling.
Click to expand...

Plus, the content between the commercials is very different, in terms of dynamic range - music vs. dialog. And with the switchover to digital, we move MPEG streams through the system, with the audio already encoded. We have very little access to the audio, as compared to the analog days.
 
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