Was watching sky one the other day and half way through the simpsons while it was still on, the sound was turned down and some fucking voiceover came on advertising some programme so u couldnt hear what the characters were saying. Couldnt believe it, thts takin things to a new level.

And tv ads sound really loud cos they’re mastered to be as loud as possible – they have the fuck compressed out of them so its at maximum level pretty much the whole time. Its supposed to make you take more notice of them, and since no-one wants to be quieter than the adverts on either side of them, everyone does it.

i thought it was acually illegal for them to raise the volume of the adverts as this could be classed as subliminal messaging? not sure if ive asked you this before… my memory isnt what it was before new year!

just checked the ASA code and although there are warnings against subliminal types of advertising I can’t find anything about a restriction on audio levels.

it would be impossible to police as there are lots of things that impact on this,even the receiving equipment, many tellies have built in “EQ/sound processing” as well.

there is an absolute maximum limit on audio that can be sent to any sort of radio/TV transmitter but thats dictated by technical issues – too much audio will distort and if this signal is fed to a transmitter it may cause interference to other sevices such as mobile phones or military aircraft.

my former employers did also make kit for lots of foreign broadcasters as well many of which have even less regulations than the UK, but there was definitely a demand for a different audio path for adverts and trailers or the ability to switch in various extra pieces of equipment. what many broadcasters tend to do is lower the peak audio level of normal programme material but raise the peak audio level of ads, whilst remaining within the safe zone to avoid overload at the transmitter.

the big problem is there are already a lot of regulations on adverts but if they get too heavy the advertisers walk away and take the money for making programmes with them! Already the production of childrens and young peoples TV in the UK by ITV has stopped as the junk food ads ban removed its main revenue stream.

i want to invent a machine that you plug the ariel into then plug that into the back of the telly, when it sense’s that the adverts are coming (it would be able to tell by that little black box appearing at the top left/right of the screen) it would automatically turn the volume down and maybe play some ambient lift music and some nice relaxing visuals eg log fires, rain forests, waterfalls, naked girls/men whatever etc etc. you could program what you want. Then when the adverts are over it would switch back to the program. Ive already patented the idea! (so no stealing!)

this is worth a read (particularly for those of you who have knowledge of sound systems and audio electronics)

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/focus/background_briefings/TV+Ad+Sound+Levels.htm

after watchin spanish tv the last coupla nights not sure i’m ever gonna moan about the english adverts again

they come on for 15-20 mins at a time! i keep forgetting what i’m watching! the red wine etc doesnt help

they also come on an then go back again at stupid points like the last 30 seconds of a film :you_crazy insane!

when i was in america it was even worse. Its literally opening titles/ adverts/ 10minprog/ advert/ 10minprog/ advert/ 5minprog/ advert/ closingtitles/ advert. You couldnt keep track of what was going on…:crazy_diz

Try watching a film in New Zealand, on some channels you get more ads as the film progresses until it’s one every 7 1/2 mins! Then again who needs TV when you live in Middle Earth…

:crazy_diz

but cath, if the adverts wearnt louder how would we know what were supposed to buy?