A History Detective Pays a Visit

Wes Cowan of the History Detectives stopped by this morning to do some voice over recording.

"His credentials include a Ph.D. in Anthropology, and ownership of an auction company that specializes in historical Americana.

The team looks to Wes for informed opinions on almost any item from our national past, from furniture to folk art, political ephemera, and rare old prints."

The History Detectives airs on PBS.

Wes Cowan is also known for his work on Antique Roadshow.

Cincinnati connection to the Grammy Awards?

Grammy winners Cee-Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley) and John Legend performed at the Grammy's last night. They have also recorded right here in Cincinnati at Sound Images Recording Studios. And did you see the movie trailer for "I Am Number 4" promoted during a Grammy Awards break? Well Sound Images also performed ADR Automated Dialog Replacement for the motion picture due out this month. This is the process where the actors are re-recorded, or Dubbed over the original location recording. Sound Images has performed ADR for Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Brothers, and many other Film Companies.

"It was fun to see some of our friends in the Grammy spotlight", said Jack Streitmarter, President of Sound Images. "Much of what we do is so far behind the scenes, that most people don't know that this work is performed right here in Cincinnati."

Why are TV Commercials Louder Than The TV Program?

People often complain about the volume of TV commercials compared to the volume
of the actual program. And they’re surprised when I tell them that they’re exactly
the same! They both have a maximum volume (10dB below digital zero). Why then
are commercials so much louder?

First, understand the difference between loudness and volume. The basic difference
can be illustrated with the question… “if a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one
around, does it make a sound?”

The answer depends on whether you’re talking about volume or loudness. If you
define sound in physical terms you’re describing volume. The tree falling disturbs
the air and creates measurable sound waves that have a definite volume.

If you define sound in a physiological sense, you’re talking about loudness.
Loudness depends on the response in a living creature. For example, to a deaf
person the tree wouldn’t make a sound, even though they might feel the impact of
the tree hitting the ground. In the same way, a sound outside the frequency range
of human hearing (like a high-frequency dog or dolphin whistle) would have a
definite volume, but would have zero loudness for any human.

Speaking Dolphin?

But you say, how does that explain commercials being louder than the programs
they appear on? The actors in the program aren’t “speaking dolphin”, and the music
and sound effects are all in the audible range for humans. The answer is the
average volume.

To use an illustration, if you drive 50 miles in one hour, one might assume that you
drove 50 mph the entire way. But your speed probably varied from zero to well
above 50 mph during the trip. Volume levels in a program are not always constant
either. There are portions at higher levels and also at lower levels. The difference
between the highest and lowest volume levels is called the dynamic range.

Absolute Peak Volume

There is an absolute peak audio volume that television networks require program
material and commercials not to exceed. I mentioned it earlier as 10 dB below
digital zero. But how often is the volume at this level? In commercials it’s at or near
this level much more than in movies and other television program material.

Compressors and Limiters

Commercials stay close to the maximum volume from beginning to end. This is done
by using signal processing devices called compressors and limiters. These devices
act like the cruise control on a car, which allow drivers to drive at the maximum
speed limit almost all the time. It’s not that movie and television program mixers
(and broadcasters themselves) don’t use these devices. They do. They just don’t
compress and limit the dynamic range as much as commercial mixers.
So by maintaining a higher average volume level, commercial mixers make the audio
track louder. Now that you know why and how, maybe those loud commercials will
seem less annoying…but probably not.

Posted by: Jay Petach - Audio Engineer

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Proper microphone selection (there are lots to choose from), and the placement of the mics with respect to the talent are the first two steps in achieving great presence. Generally microphones used to record studio voice talent have a unidirectional pick-up pattern. This would be analogous to a close-up lens on a camera. An omni-directional microphone that picks up sound from all directions, would be like a wide-angle camera lens, and is seldom used in studios, because it would also pick up more room reflections and possibly unwanted sound (bleed) from other voice talent who are speaking.

It should be noted the lavaliere mics, (lavs) that are worn by the talent on film shoots are omni-directional, since the on-camera actors could be turning their heads as they speak. Lavs are usually augmented with a boom (shotgun) microphone which is highly-directional. The live sound mixer then generally decides between the two, or possibly records both and lets the audio editor choose.

In a studio setting, generally every talent gets their own microphone. If there are two actors, the mics are typically placed with the two actors facing each other. If there are three actors, the mics are placed in a triangular pattern with each talent facing the center of the room. With four people, the mics are in a diamond pattern, again with the actors all facing inward. Since the unidirectional mic picks up primarily on the front side facing each actor, arranging all the mics in this way minimizes the bleed from the other actors.