Dave - Sound levels

Just popped over to 'Dave' to watch a bit of Red Dwarf.

Who the hell balanced the sound levels?

1) Red Dwarf = quiet (have to turn the volume up)
2) Ads = quiet-ish
3) Announcer = f*kin loud

"Linker3000" wrote in message
...
Just popped over to 'Dave' to watch a bit of Red Dwarf.

Who the hell balanced the sound levels?

1) Red Dwarf = quiet (have to turn the volume up)
2) Ads = quiet-ish
3) Announcer = f*kin loud


I very much doubt anyone did. This is the world of automation now, no human
intervention.
Years ago when I worked in this field, we had faders to even out sound
levels, and we did. Now there is no such thing, and in any case, no-one
trained to recognise the problem.
Even on BBC1 and 2, which have real live announcers (most of the time) there
is no way to interfere with sound levels.

In article ,
Linker3000 wrote:
Just popped over to 'Dave' to watch a bit of Red Dwarf.

Who the hell balanced the sound levels?

Not me - honestly. ;-) Or anyone. Balancing sort of means an active hands
on art - not setting levels and leaving it. If anyone even got this far.

1) Red Dwarf = quiet (have to turn the volume up)
2) Ads = quiet-ish
3) Announcer = f*kin loud

Saves everyone complaining about the ads being too loud, I suppose. ;-)

--
*Born free - taxed to death *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Besides, a lot of the problem is not the peak levels, its the compression
used to make some parts sound loud.


I've noticed the same problem on automated radio stations as well.



Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Brian" wrote in message
...

"Linker3000" wrote in message
...
Just popped over to 'Dave' to watch a bit of Red Dwarf.

Who the hell balanced the sound levels?

1) Red Dwarf = quiet (have to turn the volume up)
2) Ads = quiet-ish
3) Announcer = f*kin loud


I very much doubt anyone did. This is the world of automation now, no
human
intervention.
Years ago when I worked in this field, we had faders to even out sound
levels, and we did. Now there is no such thing, and in any case, no-one
trained to recognise the problem.
Even on BBC1 and 2, which have real live announcers (most of the time)
there
is no way to interfere with sound levels.

Another thing is that since the advent of everything digital, some
diabolical liberties are taken with running times. I'm not sure how its
done, but sometimes you can hear the sound gurgling due to the apparent use
of a digital device to shorten or lengthen the content without changing the
pitch and presumably the video.

Csi seems to get this treatment a lot on 5US.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Linker3000 wrote:
Just popped over to 'Dave' to watch a bit of Red Dwarf.

Who the hell balanced the sound levels?

Not me - honestly. ;-) Or anyone. Balancing sort of means an active hands
on art - not setting levels and leaving it. If anyone even got this far.

1) Red Dwarf = quiet (have to turn the volume up)
2) Ads = quiet-ish
3) Announcer = f*kin loud

Saves everyone complaining about the ads being too loud, I suppose. ;-)

--
*Born free - taxed to death *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Besides, a lot of the problem is not the peak levels, its the
compression used to make some parts sound loud.

A processor on the output will reduce the dynamic range. That's its whole
purpose in life.

I've noticed the same problem on automated radio stations as well.

Radio stations tend to have 'live' presenters with large egos. Most small
TV stations use pre-recorded links. You can tell this by how often they
play in the wrong ones...;-)

--
*If your feet smell and your nose runs, you're built upside down.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message ,
Brian Gaff Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

Besides, a lot of the problem is not the peak levels, its the
compression used to make some parts sound loud.


Would you mind explaining that please?

Does that explain why some adverts sound louder than others (and louder than
the surrounding programmes - despite the fact that they are not supposed to
be?) The worst culprit at the moment being for somthing I can't remember,
but it involves lots of wild animals running round in an office and the
(eternally irritating) 'buzz buzz, buzzy bee, buzz if you like but don't
sting me' song...


--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)

On 19/11/2007 11:49, ChrisM wrote:

Does that explain why some adverts sound louder than others (and louder than
the surrounding programmes - despite the fact that they are not supposed to
be?)

Yes, but in fact the peak levels are not higher so it's deemed to be OK.

The worst culprit at the moment being for somthing I can't remember,
but it involves lots of wild animals running round in an office and the
(eternally irritating) 'buzz buzz, buzzy bee, buzz if you like but don't
sting me' song...

"Green Electricity" of some sort?

In article ,
ChrisM wrote:
Besides, a lot of the problem is not the peak levels, its the
compression used to make some parts sound loud.


Would you mind explaining that please?

Does that explain why some adverts sound louder than others (and louder
than the surrounding programmes - despite the fact that they are not
supposed to be?) The worst culprit at the moment being for somthing I
can't remember, but it involves lots of wild animals running round in
an office and the (eternally irritating) 'buzz buzz, buzzy bee, buzz if
you like but don't sting me' song...

There are no 'machines' which can assess relative loudness as heard by the
ear and compensate correctly. One reason being one person might consider
something they don't like to be louder than another who likes it. Think
teenagers and their music...

Also commercials and presenters have voices designed to punch through and
use mic techniques which make the most of this. Drama etc often demands
softly spoken acting. In other words there's a lot more to it than just
levels. But so saying getting those right would be a start. ;-)

--
*I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message ,
Andy Burns Proclaimed from the tallest
tower:

On 19/11/2007 11:49, ChrisM wrote:

Does that explain why some adverts sound louder than others (and
louder than the surrounding programmes - despite the fact that they
are not supposed to be?)

Yes, but in fact the peak levels are not higher so it's deemed to be
OK.
The worst culprit at the moment being for somthing I can't remember,
but it involves lots of wild animals running round in an office and
the (eternally irritating) 'buzz buzz, buzzy bee, buzz if you like
but don't sting me' song...

"Green Electricity" of some sort?

Hmmm, yea, might have been actually.
Not really very good at it's job though, if no-one is sure what it was
for...

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)