We have a tv channel, it’s an infomercial channel but it’s always soooo loud. Much louder than any of the other channels. Why? How does that even happen? Like most all other channels are the same volume unless I manually turn it up or down except that one and I’m assuming there might be more that I just haven’t seen yet. How does that happen? Does the channel specifically do it or something?
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>Does the channel specifically do it or something?
Each specific TV production will have their own standard for their sound. This is Not channel related, each specific production will do their own sound. The channel just plays the video.
There is some processing done at different points in the chain before it gets to the user’s eyes, but its more that it can’t be “too loud”, as long as the volume falls within a fairly wide range its fine.
Why are infomercials and sometimes commercials loud? Marketing. It gets your attention. Its effective, it works, and nothing more to say there, its a standard tactic in advertising.
I also want to know the answer. It happens with online streaming too. The commercials end up awfully loud compared to the show I’m watching.
I wonder if there is a 3rd party software that could level the sound for me no matter what app I’m streaming from…
Your tv signal has a range of sound. The idea is that a whisper is very quiet and a siren is loud. However, the actual volume of things within the range of sound is up to the people making the tv show or ad.
Makers of ads often just make them louder within the range. Instead of normal talking being a 5, they make it a 7, so it is louder. But really obnoxious ads put everything up to the maximum volume. So what would be the loudness of a siren on a tv show is the volume of the normal talking in the ad.
When sound is recorded, it needs to be recorded loud enough so it can be heard clearly. If you record someone whispering, everyone who hears the recording will have trouble hearing what the person said. Even if you turn up the volume really loud, it will still sound garbled. This is called fidelity. Once you lose fidelity, your sound is not clear and it can’t be fixed. That is worse than the TV being too loud.
So, you cannot record sound too loud. Loud is clearer, and you can turn the volume down when you play the recording.
The volume of the sound coming out of your TV is like adding up numbers. Every step in the process of getting sound to you… recording, editing, broadcasting, and finally your TV playing the show can add or remove volume. This is called gain.
If the gain is too low, you will lose the fidelity, and then the sound is no good. So we tend to play things a little too loud to make sure the transmission succeeds.
The original recording’s volume has a gain, the broadcast volume from TV station has a gain, and your TV has a gain (volume button.). If the recording (like commercials) is loud, or the broadcaster is set too loud, the programming will be too loud on your TV compared to other programs.
In the case of a single tv station being too loud, the station’s broadcasting gain is too high.
But why does this frequently happen that one thing is too loud and the next is too quiet? A small change in gain can be perceived as huge change in volume. There is noise everywhere. How loud the TV appears to be is determined by how much louder it is than noise. So if your neighbor starts mowing his lawn, you can’t hear the TV any more! I have my TV at 4 unless my box fan is running, which makes noise, so I have to turn it up the TV to 14. Then I turn off the fan and I’m like, “that’s so loud, it hurts my ears!”
The point is that sound levels are relative and there is some human judgment required. And mistakes happen.
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