Broadcast levels vs. Podcast levels...

[McBoob]

Howdy,

My question concerns the final output level of material prepared for podcasting. I've been listening to podcasts for a few months now, and since then I've been involved with some podcast production.

From listening to a number of podcasts, I find it striking that the optimum listening volume seems to reside near the top of the volume dial. In other words, when I listen to professionally produced podcasts such as NPR, one must have the volume cranked up on their iPod so it is nearly maxxed out at the top in order to listen to and understand all the words being spoken.

This is the case with 90%+ of the material I have downloaded.

Is this level the norm, or are podcasts just generally mixed low? It seems to me that you'd want more headroom for various listening environments, etc. Or are my ears just blown out from too many years of audio obsession?

Your thoughts + comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam