7 replies to this topic

[rhythmboy]

Hey all,

So my tune was included on a podcast:

which is all very flattering and the PJ (pod-jockey) gives me a good rap and all 

But the ducking compressor she has used on the stream has squished my track so hard that it does that classic level jump in the quieter breakdowns and thus sounds small and quiet when the track should be full level.

The compression is extreme by any standards, but it got me thinking about a guy who was once talking about levelling mp3's to -10dB for web streaming. At the time I thought 'no, 0dB is the go' but am I wrong? Like FM, are professional podcasters and web radio stations applying uber-limiters to match voiceover to music and so on?

Or is this just an anomaly of this particular show? In this case, levelling to -10 or so would have made my track leap out at lot louder than it actually did because I'd be on/below the limiter's threshold.

So what's the deal - 0dB, -10dB or somewhere in between? It's easy enough to do, just worth knowing if/when to do it?

[rhythmboy]

bump!

this might have got lost in the recent flurry, and a result of me posting in 'Ableton sync' after this

if anyone has thoughts, would love to know or else I'll to go and ask at itm

[Captain Terrific]

i rarely listen to podcasts...i checked out an itm podcast, had my choon innit - twasn't loud (compared to commercial tracks) to begin with, and sounded lower than the other choons in the podcast...

did that help? dunno what sort of leveling is used... u could probably ask tho??

[rhythmboy]

Sound like with yours they just playlisted them without any levelling. In my case she did the full broadcast-style limiting that ducked heavily.

Which is at the heart of my question - are there any standards for podcasts or is it open slather regards levels? I'd think everything sitting a little below 0dB, everything brick-walled with a small amount of L2 or something, rather than AM-radio sounding super-compression would sound good through PC sound systems.

Any thoughts?

Maybe I should just look up AES docs - there must be something around...

[dylab]

electronicexplorations.org is one of my fave podcast and it prides itself on the sound quality
have a listen, i always find dialogue quiet but tracks sound fine, esp between more ambient space sounds and the more banging techno sounds..

[rhythmboy]

Ok doing some research for class and it seems there is such a dire lack of standards that companies are offering auto-levelling tools like (deep voice with big reverb) THE LEVELATOR!

http://www.macupdate...4/the-levelator

Quote

The Levelator... Do you believe in magic? You will after using The Levelator to enhance your podcast. And you'll be amazed that it's free (for non-commercial use).

So what is The Levelator? It's software that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It's not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It's much more than those tools, and it's much simpler to use.

In other words, slam the whole lot through a look-ahead compressor/limiter with auto attack and release :-

I found a wide range of complaints back to podcast providers about inconsistent levels, especially amateurs who have no idea about things like mic technique when doing v/o etc.

Yep, looks like streams and casts are the last frontier of 'anything goes' in digital audio.

The AES need to do something imo...

[rhythmboy]

^ Ok I'll just talk to myself hmm? Don't mind me...note to self...

Must get a copy of proceedings of the 125th AES conference from last August. The conference included a workshop session on audio standards for Internet streaming. I'd say from what I'm reading that the so-called standards would be a mere proposal at this point. The big challenge then would be (a) notifying the entire world of the standards, and ( finding ways to ensure amateur and hobby broadcasters know how to implement them.

Overwhelmingly the push at present seems to be for the world to adopt one universal audio format for all streams and podcasts. MPEG-4/AAC is the one most seem to be advocating for, at least in the US. I guess standardising something as specific as levels and EQ is further down the track...

[Sid]

'The Levelator' lol!

I guess with those independent podcasts the PJ is doing all the technical set ups and probably wouldn't think too much about levels and compression/limiting but rather more about show content etc.

There would be a strong argument that podcast don't need to be loud like an analog radio signal might. Firstly people don't tune through the radio frequencies to find the channel supposedly stopping on the loudest like people believed about radio. I wonder if dynamic levels will improve with digital radio - isn't it supposed to be launched later this month? Not much hype.