AES Paris 2016
Workshop W6
Sunday, June 5, 10:15 — 11:15 (Room 351)
W6 - Screaming Streaming—Loudness Peace Talks Are Mandatory
Chair:Florian Camerer, ORF - Austrian TV - Vienna, Austria; EBU - European Broadcasting Union
Panelists:
Eelco Grimm, HKU University of the Arts - Utrecht, Netherlands; Grimm Audio - Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Thomas Lund, Genelec Oy - Iisalmi, Finland
Abstract:
Streaming is rapidly becoming the preferred way to consume not only music but any content relying on a timed presentation (like broadcasting). So it seems only natural to apply the successful loudness levelling and normalization paradigm developed in broadcasting to streaming. Unfortunately, the loudness war in popular music as well as the limited level playback capabilities of European mobile devices have led to de-facto levels for streaming that are way above the Target Level in broadcasting. Most of the levels used in streaming also enforce severe compromises regarding the technical quality of the content. The panel will introduce this topic, reflect on the AES recommendation for streaming and report on recent findings regarding the loudness levels of streaming services as well as developments in European legislative bodies trying to improve the situation.
