In Part 1 of our series, we examined the impact of the CALM Act, addressed some lingering loudness issues, and reinforced the continued relevance of real-time processing. This time, in Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at the challenges content creators and broadcasters face when managing loudness in a file-based workflow. Are there different requirements? Are all loudness control techniques created equal?

It’s been nearly six years since the CALM Act – the bill passed to address the issue of loud television commercials – was put into effect in the U.S. We thought it a good time to re-examine the loudness issue in a series of blog posts. Here in Part 1 we’ll explore whether or not these legislative mandates have been effective and find out if content producers and broadcasters are still struggling with managing loudness in traditional OTA  and OTT distribution.

Linear Acoustic Focused on TV Audio Issues in Latin America

Gilbert Felix, Linear Acoustic Director of Sales for Latin America, spoke with media regarding the issue of television audio control at the recent SET convention in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Regulations which aim to improve broadcast audio loudness consistency are being implemented worldwide. This is a perfect example of legislators everywhere reacting to an issue that affects all their constituents' broadcast channels with loudness variation that is annoying to viewers. Often attributed to commercials, it is often program related as well.

This is a case where the old adage “be careful what you wish for, because you may receive it” definitely applies; in some cases the fix for annoying loudness variations has produced unintended consequences.