This could be a really big deal<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.radiomagonline.com\/streaming\/0023\/aes-publishes-recommendations-on-audio-loudness-standards-for-streaming-media\/37116<\/a><\/p>\n This is a problem as old as Radio \u2013 and the FCC has tried a couple times to rein this in.<\/p>\n We have all experienced this \u2013 you are listening to some nice soft music at 2 AM, and suddenly the radio is blaring at you about your erectile dysfunction at maximum volume, loud enough for your next door neighbors to giggle. This is not an accident or inattentive engineering. The volume of the programming is deliberately turned down, so that you will turn up the volume on your receiver. Then the advertisements are blasted at maximum volume to make sure that you hear them.<\/p>\n The problem is regulating loudness is easier said than done. Your ears do not hear all frequencies the same \u2013 if you have ever played with an equalizer, you get some of this. If you make a rule that advertisements can be no louder than the programming, if you make a rule that advertisements can be no louder than the programming, you create incentives to “game” the audio to meet the standard, for instance emphasizing the part of the music that you can’t hear well, but contains sound energy to make it measure louder than it really is. <\/p>\n In a perfect world, radio stations would use restraint, but we do not live in a perfect world. <\/p>\n Anyone have good examples of this problem? Note that this proposal is specifically targeted at streaming – digital is harder to tweak than analog as the loudness is encoded in the digital stream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This could be a really big deal http:\/\/www.radiomagonline.com\/streaming\/0023\/aes-publishes-recommendations-on-audio-loudness-standards-for-streaming-media\/37116 This is a problem as old as Radio \u2013 and the FCC has tried a couple times to rein this in. We have all experienced this \u2013 you are listening to some … Continue reading