FCC Passes Rules to End Loud Commercials

I meant to add to my previous post that this really does sound great in theory, but wont really solve the problem much.

It will definitely help with network television shows during prime-time, since most of those shows are live fed straight to your local station. The networks will be sure to keep the levels optimal.

As far as the rest of the broadcast day when you are watching local channel programming (what your nearest local station decides to air, not what the network makes them air) it will be much of the same.

The reason is the FCC can in no way monitor every station (now of course you can call and complain that your local station is not conforming to the new rules and get someone yelled at, possible fined) is because there are just too many. It will be just as it was before.. spots will slip through.

This ruling is more about appeasing the public that "their concerns have been heard" than actually fixing the situation.

Now if they came up with a new automatic audio governing system for all stations, I could see some actual headway being made.

These are just opinions and observations from someone who does this stuff on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it does boil down to being a high stress, usually lower paying job that some employees just throw spots into the system to get done for the day... sad, but true.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


more broadcasting stations are hiring people off the street opposed to college grads that studied engineering. its all about the pay. some wont work as hard while being payed minimum wage. after all those engineers with a certificate make a good amount.

there are definitely...some who are bigger violators than the others...but really sometimes I just have to say, damn what is your problem ...get a grip...your volume in decibels is not going to make me buy your product any more than any other, in fact you turn me off...literally.

because I mute...

reply to post by Rekrul


I disagree...just look at the tags at the bottom of the screen....used to be an acceptable margin of interruption...perhaps a minimal of maybe .5 percent of screen space...now occupy up to 25% and absolutely ruin the immersion into a movie...and they think this makes some one tune into an event or buy a product...LMAO

wrong...just pisses people off

good move

reply to post by Rekrul


Again, hypocrite or not, The fact remains that whenever a commercial break comes on,
the volume is at least 1 third louder, if not twice as loud as the paid for programming.
I am a part time Professional Musician, and I am fully experienced and dialed in
so to speak when it comes to sound checks and volume levels.
I don't want to create an unnecessary arguement here with you.

However, if you expect me to accept that every Sound Engineer across the plethora
of Channels,Programming,and Advertising is a "Slacker,"
and that The Cablevision, Satellite,Digital T.V. Companies are not only clueless, but
have no control over the thresholds of their bandwidth as far as the final product delivered
into a paying customers homes are concerned, you have got to be kidding me.

The blatant, low brow, and obnoxious methods of advertising are obvious.
It is time to reign in this ungodly herd.
If that cannot be done, then will should shoot them and carve out some filets,roasts.tenderloins,
Chateau Briands,Flank steaks, and then grind the rest into hamburger.
There is only one way to turn scum into something good, and I have the recipe.
Wildmanimals Magic Chili Anyone?

Cheers, and someone bring me a cold one.

reply to post by Maxmars


I once phoned one of the television networks and asked why the hell their commercials were always so loud. They told me that the volume was exactly the same at all times. The reason for the apparent loudness, they say, is because some commercials use special tones and frequencies that help make it 'seem' louder. So I guess those fools lied to me after all...

...And it's about damn time too, I have been waiting or this for some time.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
reply to post by Maxmars

 

I once phoned one of the television networks and asked why the hell their commercials were always so loud. They told me that the volume was exactly the same at all times. The reason for the apparent loudness, they say, is because some commercials use special tones and frequencies that help make it 'seem' louder. So I guess those fools lied to me after all...

edit on 15-12-2011 by ChaoticOrder because: (no reason given)

Back in the days of AM music radio, all radio stations used compression. It makes sounds "thicker" or "richer" and your favorite song sounded better on a cheap AM radio than a recording played on the average home audio system. Mostly compression is the way the equalizers are set and not the volume. I think there was a special sound wave modifier that but maybe it was just an art.

The advertizers must have found the frequencies that our ears are most sensitive to.

Originally posted by Rekrul
reply to post by avocadoshag

 

no its not. i used to be a master control and made these errors myself. quit guessing.

What an obnoxious answer. TV commercials are deliberately made louder through the overuse of audio compression. When a signal is heavily compressed, the quiet parts are boosted to maximum loudness, and of course the loud parts stay loud. During regular programming, the audio signal has loud bits and quieter bits; when the ads come on they stand out more because there are no quiet bits.

Radio broadcasts run everything through compressors (and limiters) so the overall signal is the same for songs, talking, and ads. Unfortunately, that ruins many songs by reducing the dynamic range that contributes to the expression of the music.

Originally posted by Semicollegiate

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
reply to post by Maxmars

 

I once phoned one of the television networks and asked why the hell their commercials were always so loud. They told me that the volume was exactly the same at all times. The reason for the apparent loudness, they say, is because some commercials use special tones and frequencies that help make it 'seem' louder. So I guess those fools lied to me after all...

edit on 15-12-2011 by ChaoticOrder because: (no reason given)

Back in the days of AM music radio, all radio stations used compression. It makes sounds "thicker" or "richer" and your favorite song sounded better on a cheap AM radio than a recording played on the average home audio system. Mostly compression is the way the equalizers are set and not the volume. I think there was a special sound wave modifier that but maybe it was just an art.

The advertizers must have found the frequencies that our ears are most sensitive to.

edit on 15-12-2011 by Semicollegiate because: (no reason given)

edit on 15-12-2011 by Semicollegiate because: (no reason given)

They weren't really lying, because the peak levels were likely the same...the loudest parts of the regular programming are the same as the loudest parts of the ads. They just don't have that many loud parts in a show, whereas the ads are nothing but loudest.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Rekrul

 

No, its not laziness. Its called "compression." TV shows and movies have a variety of sound levels, whereas commercials are intentionally broadcast at only the highest compression level.

At least that is what my cable company told me. Yes, I called to complain many times. They say they have no control over it, but they do. They could fix it, but they let their advertisers dictate the sound level.

Instead of making the cable operators fix the problem why doesn't the FCC make the advertisers lower the sound volume in advance? Less work for everyone it seems. Why give advertisers so much leeway?

I am no sound or video technician, but it seems the government hates direct method problem solving!

reply to post by EarthCitizen07

it seems the government hates direct method problem solving!

I work for the government and I would agree with you 1000%

As my mother would say, the government has a way of going around its ass to get to its elbow.

This sickening fault - delivered by stupid adverts - has now made many UK citizens determined to note the particular advert and Make Sure Such Is NOT bought. The BBC also have to dump a loud drum beat into our feeble ear-drums each time their about to deliver a News broadcast. To top it all, we now see a so called Pop Star - supposedly singing - yet the singer is practically silenced by loud, over the top racket of background music.

Television is gradually becoming the most unwanted stack of junk anyone needs.

Oh and each time a certain News reader - speaking from abroad about certain incidents - always get's blacked out as he or she is about to say something dodgy, I think used to call it 'TRUTH'.

This has been a most informative thread for me. But I have to make one dissenting comment....

I understand the use of compression...

But I cannot be dissuaded from my direct experience in suffering the shock of significantly increased volume frequently in the gaps between meaningful media on cable.

I'm not arguing that your assertion is incorrect, only that I know what I heard... and I am not the only one... I assure you that what I have been consistently experiencing is not merely a dramatic increase in richness and sound density... (as if I care about how rich and marvelous some damn commercial sounds).... but an actual face-slapping increase in volume.

I suppose my family and I may be suffering from auditory PTSD; but I can lay odds it was a significant increase in the wattage burning through the TV speakers.....

reply to post by Maxmars


This is GREAT news! Everyone I know always laughs at the old adage that 'they' do not turn up the volume on commercial ads, some worse than others. Haha this is great.

I think the reason they did it in the past, present is because they want people getting up during commercial interruptions to at least hear the commercial while out of the room.

With the advent of digital audio, I don't understand why they don't run final broadcast audio through relatively simple automated analysis, calculate the RMS average, stick a brick wall limiter on it, auto adjust the gain, and call it a day. The technology is there, so what in the heck are they waiting for? We have had tools like this for years.

The sad part is the loudness wars carried over into music. Now all there is are horrible sounding CD's that are overdriven and distorted. Back when music used to be real music, and not this machine BS, there used to be so much more expressive dynamics in music. If there is a soft part any more, it probably doesn't last long. Cause that throws the average RMS too far down- and the record companies don't like it. In their mind it has to compete volume wise.

Stupid. Art made to suffer due to greed. There is nothing safe from greed anymore. Not sure there ever was.

Oh God, I remember the time I used to watch Television (years ago) I would always be bugged by those loud commercials, suddenly blaring out of the TV set. Almost scared me (and my mother) half to death a few times.

This really needs to extend to the internet too. There was this time I watched ustream, and they had just incorporated ads in all the videos and streams, so AdBlock Plus filters weren't updated. The stream I was watching had a quiet volume so I had mine all the way up. Without warning, one of those super-loud commercials start (the ones with music from the start) and my head almost breaks the ceiling in surprise. I would have died from a heart attack if my eardrums didn't rupture first. I had earphones on, but thank God, I'm OK.

Safe to say I'll never watch ustream ever again without ad blocking software. I'll sure as hell do everything in my power to prevent those ******** at ustream from filling their wallets at the expense of the suffering of their victims. It's blood money I tell you, BLOOD MONEY! Ahem, anyway that's another reason why I have Adblock Plus installed on both Firefox and Google Chrome.

Active equalizers can boost the volume of specific sound frequencies, so the volume would be increased on your eardrum even though the volume knob at the radio station would be the same.

Ear sensitivity to sound is logarithmic. Twice as loud requires 10 times as much energy which could put them over on their legal power license. However, I really don't know how transmitted power relates to the volume out of the radio receiver. More power might mean only a clearer signal.

Now if we can only get the movie industry to tone down the special effect noises and turn up the conversation.