[BC] Re: It's Eureka over IBOC down under

[Robert Orban]

At 09:01 PM 10/22/2005, you wrote:
>From: Kevin Tekel <amstereoexp at yahoo.com>
>Subject: [BC] Re: It's Eureka over IBOC down under
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <20051022221933.79594.qmail at web54603.mail.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>Robert Orban wrote:
> > Now all we need are PDs the political courage to turn the processing
> > down.  FM analog would sound dramatically better if everyone in the
> > current overprocessed markets were just 3 dB quieter than they are now.
>
>That's exactly what I was going to say.  Analog FM can easily qualify as
>"High-Definiton Radio" if stations simply backed down their processing to
>below the level at which clipping distortion constantly rears its ugly
>head.
>
> > No other branch of the entertainment industry (movies, television, etc.)
> > intentionally degrades its product the way all too many broadcasters do.
> > It's nuts.
>
>Well.... movies are definitely louder than they used to be, because
>producers have learned to make fuller use of today's more powerful theater
>sound systems.  Movies have always had "loud" and "quiet" scenes, but now
>the "loud" scenes are more vociferous than they used to be, often up to
>uncomfortably high levels.  Some of today's movie sound tracks peak at up
>to 110 dB -- that's LOUD!!

Movie soundtracks have no intrinsic loudness per-se. Although there are 
Dolby and THX standards regarding setting the theater's master faders, 
these are not always followed; a given movie theater can set its master 
fader as loud or quiet as desired. What is more important is the fact that 
these soundtracks are still very dynamic with plenty of quiet parts. Cinema 
sound mixers understand the dramatic value of dynamics.

Bob Orban