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Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

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Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#191

Post by BoxOfRain »

imtyler wrote: post #83
matthewfelgate wrote: post #2

A script for automatically lowering the volume during radio advertisements and DJ announcements and turns the volume back up when songs are playing. It controls a Sonos speaker using the Soco-cli Python library when Tunein is being used.

Aw. I want to like this, but I work in radio. If you remove ads then there's no reason for the broadcaster to keep going. I'm not trying to be controversial, but if you remove profit how can the business continue to exist? And if terminating the business is your goal, why? People seem to have a grudge against radio and I honestly don't know why. It's my livelihood. I'm not seeking sympathy, but I am curious.

I'll be honest I love radio as a medium but I'm either listening to a BBC station like Six Music which are ad-free to begin with or enthusiast-run stations like Radio Caroline which tend to air adverts which are more subtle and pared-back, I genuinely can't enjoy anything with anything more than the bare minimum of adverts in it having enjoyed advertising-free forms of radio.

It wouldn't be as bad if half the ads didn't have all the obnoxious hyperactive qualities of a toddler with a recorder but 'irritate your audience until the fact your ads are irritating becomes a meme among the general public' seems to be the go-to strategy with a lot of radio advertising in my neck of the woods.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#192

Post by BLKNSLVR »

nichos wrote: post #148
jacquesm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you just use a playlist on some service or your own local MP3 collection or something like that then?

You could, but it's basically an echo chamber of music. I know services offer discovery, but I often switch songs instantly, whereas if its on the radio, I'm forced to listen to it, and songs often grow on me.

Yes. This!

I like my collection, but I want it to grow, and over the years my musical tastes have matured and changed as I've discovered and listened to more varieties of more genres.

Something I've explained to my kids is that you need to know what you don't like in order to better refine and describe what you do like - and this means listening to music that doesn't 'spark joy', because it's educational, and I care about my musical knowledge and journey. Listening to music selected by someone else allows that journey to continue and branch off into unexpected places.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#193

Post by [deleted] »

Minor49er wrote: post #59
aatd86 wrote: post #37

Another way would be to simply throw a limiter somewhere in the chain.

The loudness war already has squashed dynamic ranges so much that music and commercials are both pretty thick blocks of sound. It would be hard to put a limiter into the signal path that would adequately block the commercials and leave the music untouched

[deleted]

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#195

Post by aatd86 »

Minor49er wrote: post #59
aatd86 wrote: post #37

Another way would be to simply throw a limiter somewhere in the chain.

The loudness war already has squashed dynamic ranges so much that music and commercials are both pretty thick blocks of sound. It would be hard to put a limiter into the signal path that would adequately block the commercials and leave the music untouched

LUFS limiting :) But you're right. It will probably affect the music especially sinxe it seems that LUFS is not an instantaneous measure.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#196

Post by brookst »

imtyler wrote: post #103
brookst wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We process visual and audio data differently. No website or or magazine is going to trick me into thinking someone’s at the door by playing a dry doorbell sample over reverb for the rest of the ad. Radio (and TV) are uniquely obnoxious in their use of instinctive audio cues to demand attention by making us go on alert.

But that's not a product of the medium, to be fair.

I thought the claim was that all ads are obnoxious, so singling out radio for ad-killing efforts is, IDK, morally wrong.

My point was that radio ads are uniquely obnoxious because of a combination of the way we process audio signals and radio stations’ apathy about intentionally irritating ads.

I’ll grant it’s not a moral failing on the part of sound waves. It’s 100% the broadcasters who see short term profit from “more effective” ads, who then have no right to complain when people are irritated enough to develop filters for the ads.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#197

Post by jeegsy »

imtyler wrote: post #83
matthewfelgate wrote: post #2

A script for automatically lowering the volume during radio advertisements and DJ announcements and turns the volume back up when songs are playing. It controls a Sonos speaker using the Soco-cli Python library when Tunein is being used.

Aw. I want to like this, but I work in radio. If you remove ads then there's no reason for the broadcaster to keep going. I'm not trying to be controversial, but if you remove profit how can the business continue to exist? And if terminating the business is your goal, why? People seem to have a grudge against radio and I honestly don't know why. It's my livelihood. I'm not seeking sympathy, but I am curious.

> If you remove ads then there's no reason for the broadcaster to keep going.

Not removed. The volume is turned down. In any case, if I'm figuring this out correctly, the broadcaster is paid to run the ads, which they are doing.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#198

Post by bryanlarsen »

psd1 wrote: post #53
bryanlarsen wrote: post #48

This is even more important for classical music stations. Most people think that classical music should be quiet, but do you think 100 piece orchestras are quiet? Classical music sounds a lot better when you crank up the volume. Classical is also mixed quieter to give it a larger dynamic range. So when you set the radio volume appropriate for the music, the DJs and ads are insanely loud.

BBC Radio 3 Voices as well modulated as the programming

No, it has the same problem as every other classical music station. If you turn up the volume to an appropriate level you get voices yelling at you.

The DJ's should be no louder than the quietest part of anything played on the station.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#199

Post by elf25 »

RF_Enthusiast wrote: post #128
ohelabs wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem starts when ads are significantly louder than the rest of the content in order to be an "ear catcher"..... Now radio is much better than other forms of media (looking at you cable... and now some streaming services that are on the take from both sides) but its also the fact that ads have become steadily more intrusive over the last decade(+). My real hope is that there is a movement back to "sponsored con…

> i.e "this hour is sponsored by ... Commercial station KRKQ in Telluride, CO, does this, and it sounds amazing. WDRE (now WPTY), WLIR-FM and WBON on Long Island, NY, tried it in 2005, and it did not generate the revenue they were expecting. But it's 17 years later-- I think they were trying an idea that was ahead of it's time.

No post body was provided.

Re: Turn the radio volume down for adverts and DJs talking

#200

Post by Minor49er »

aatd86 wrote: post #195
Minor49er wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The loudness war already has squashed dynamic ranges so much that music and commercials are both pretty thick blocks of sound. It would be hard to put a limiter into the signal path that would adequately block the commercials and leave the music untouched

LUFS limiting :) But you're right. It will probably affect the music especially sinxe it seems that LUFS is not an instantaneous measure.

Would LUFs limiting work across all types of speakers?
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