http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/16/uktv-yesterday-asa-loud-ads


"Adverts during Catherine Cookson drama on digital channel once called UKTV History four decibels louder than show".


Well, we always thought they were, didn't we?

They used  a "subjective loudness meter"....
Does anyone listen to the output nowadays?

... and no background music.....

The most irritating thing? Every scene change there is a new piece of music, which is often 'dipped' within a few seconds. Why bother with it?

It's out of context, adds nothing and makes the important sound hard to hear.

There was an experiment with (I think) a NHU production, when they had a "Red Button" facility which changed the selected sound track to "narration only" I believe.

I do think that in this age of digital technology and Dolby 5.1 sound, it must be possible to broadcast an option of "Centre narriation" only on an audio channel so those that detest "over (sound) production" can actually HEAR the programme!


I say again... "Is there anyone out there ACTUALLY listening" (on decent monitoring speakers and not cheap headphones in front of a computer)?

Oh, and by the way.. remember we don't all live in a perfect acoustic environment.

Hello I'm new here.
I worked in London for a while but mostly in Scotland.
At one stage in my career I used to tech review programmes and package presentation trails. In the early 90's TV continuity asked if we could boost the audio on their trailers by about 6dB over what was considered to be the norm.
We put up some resistence at grass roots level but ultimately failed they remain loud to this day..
When I watch TV and the sound is too loud on either the beeb or other channels it only serves to prompt me to switch over or switch off!
Conclusion: It doesn't work!!

Sherlock Holmes TV ads 'too loud'

"Eight advertisements shown during an episode of Sherlock Holmes were so loud that they breached regulations, the industry watchdog has ruled.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the slots on digital channel ITV3 were "excessively strident".

But it said complaints about noisy advertisements have gone down since rules were tightened two years ago.

ITV3 said the series was made in the 1980s and had many silent pauses so the commercials seemed louder."




"Seemed Louder" and "Many Silent pauses".

Perhaps that's why we liked them! We weren't bombarded by over-produced noise!
Let the pictures tell the story- we don't need a 'sting' of music every time there is a change of mood, neither do we need 'noise' all the time.

Please producers, and 'new-wave' audio technicians, leave well alone- and where there is real sound ...

leave it there and don't cover it up!


The article went on to say....

" In the US, the House of Representatives recently passed a bill to curb loud advertisements.  "


Anyone know an MP?
Source:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8519231.stm

It's a measure of the problem that we have had to change our remote control twice in the past four years because the mute button has failed due to over-use! The irritating thing about the whole sound shambles is that Managements of all the broadcasting providers are in denial that there is a problem. Don't they listen/view at home too?.....or do  they have only preview discs of progrmmes to watch?

I like this bit from the above pdf:-

6.9 Sound levels in advertisements

Advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident. The maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.

Broadcasters must endeavour to minimise the annoyance that perceived imbalances could cause, with the aim that the audience need not adjust the volume of their television sets during programme breaks.  For editorial reasons, however, commercial breaks sometimes occur during especially quiet parts of a programme, with the result that advertisements at normally acceptable levels seem loud in comparison.

Measurement and balancing of subjective loudness levels should  
preferably be carried out using a loudness-level meter, ideally conforming to ITU recommendations (See note 1).  If a peak-reading meter (See note 2) is used instead, the maximum level of the advertisements must be at least 6dB less than the maximum  
level of the programmes (See note 3) to take account of the limited dynamic range exhibited by most advertisements.

Notes:
(1) The relevant ITU recommendations are ITU-R BS1770 Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level and ITU-R BS1771 Requirements for loudness and true-peak indicating meters.

(2) Peak-reading meters should be a PPM Type IIa as specified in BS6840: Part 10, Programme Level Meters.

(3) Normal convention for analogue audio is that the peak sound level of programmes is set to be no higher than +8dBm, which corresponds to ‘6’  on a peak-reading meter. The peak sound level of advertisements should therefore be limited to +2dBm or ‘4.5’ on a peak-reading meter. Note: +8dBm corresponds to a digital audio level of -10dB relative to digital clipping level. ITU-R BS.645 and EBU recommendation R68-2000 describe how analogue audio levels should be translated into digital levels.



So, that's OK then. All sorted. Everyone's paying attention.......

Ah! But!
The intro page for the Editorial Policy :-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/

says:
"The BBC Editorial Guidelines outline the standards the BBC expects of all BBC content on TV, radio and online.
They are designed for everyone who makes content for the BBC, to help them deal with difficult editorial decisions."

(my emboldening)