Broadcast Quality (TV audio)

[Stormie]

Hi guys, recently got a job as a audio engineer with a broadcasting station in Asia. And they have been complaining to me that the audio levels on air seems muffed and low. I suspect it could be the peak levels are over the limit and the operators have turned it down to its legal limits. Buut no confirmation as yet. I was suggested to get mastering tools like L2 or L3 to boost a few more dB to enhance the audio. Not sure if its gonna work. Again this is subjective, some guys tell me they think its ok some think its low. Sigh... and the sad thing is that they dun have specs to follow... i will jus have to keep testing.

Btw, if my master drops by 1 or 2 dB from the peak, will it sound a lot different on TV?

Cheers

[JFreak]

First of all, broadcast usually expects everything peaking at -10 (naturally depending on who broadcasts, may be higher too) and if the material is way off, there usually is a "box" that does plenty of stuff to your material (normalises to desired level, might compress a bit, surely there is a limiter, etc). This spec you have to know, ask the station and they'll tell you what kind of audio they want to broadcast.

Then, after you know what to target, you can think of dynamics of your material. It's not a loudness war, but many broadcasts are only having like 12dB dynamics on music and 6dB on dialog.

Thinka about this for a minute and then think about tools: you can get SUPERB limiter (and more) for free from www.masseyplugins.com but I suggest you pay for whatever you continue to use. At least buy the limiter which costs less than a hundred but sounds like more than a grand.

[Stormie]

HiJ,

Tks for the info and tips... Yup asked the pple at the master ctrl room and they say they take an average of -6db to -3db.. Anything that peaks over -3 they will tweak it dwn, often this results in losing the lower frequencies. They also tell me jus to follow this range of level.. no other specs needed... so strange... even the designers have specs to follow!

But the good thing they got me this VU/PPM meter called the Wohler LM60-2... this is the thing they use for monitoring the levels. But i still think the Dolby loudness monitor works better and easier to use. What u think? Also is there a formula to calculate peak levels?