How exactly should you level the loudness of your programme? What loudness range does your material have? How to deal with archived material? How does the upcoming EBU Recommendation relate to other Loudness specs? These type of questions were addressed at the last PLOUD meeting in Vienna, held this week.
Practical guidelines
The audio experts participating in the 8th PLOUD meeting worked hard to capture their conclusions for the upcoming EBU Practical Guidelines. The Guidelines will help broadcast audio engineers apply loudness metering and levelling in their organisations. The Guidelines are scheduled for release at the IBC in September, together with (amongst others) the EBU Loudness Recommendation, EBU R128.
Other important work performed in Vienna came from the meter manufactures. In a textbook example of constructive collaboration, the manufacturers progressed the EBU metering specification which defines the EBU (Loudness) Mode, a conformance point for interoperability between Loudness meters.
The PLOUD Group now has over 200 participants, representing broadcasters and manufacturers from all over the world. For more information, see the PLOUD Group page.
|
A side topic not really related to Loudness was touched on during the breaks: the loud Vuvuzelas at the Soccer World Cup. Broadcasters have been receiving many viewer complaints on the excessive presence of these stadium horns in the broadcast audio. Various approaches to reduce the Vuvuzela sound were shared. |  a Vuvuzela |