maximum dB level for TV commercials?

Best is to ask the the tv channel or agency where you need to deliver. It depends on the channel. We've had to deliver from -12 up to 0db. It is very relevant to know. Often there will be a double check before it airs, but not always. And it would sincerely suck if all commercials are set at 0db and yours would not come across at -10db :)
 
Some of them seem to be +10dBFS!
But seriously, this does not work as a generic question. You must ask the station/network/agency, etc what their standards are.

Second-for-second there's probably more audio processing in a national TV commercial than in a top-10 music hit or a feature film.
 
I deliver commercials every week and they all are set at -11.9db peak. I've made a Protools project to ready make the audio for upload but most of the time the sound studio already done a TV-mix with the correct level.
 
Editman Sweden said:
I deliver commercials every week and they all are set at -11.9db peak. I've made a Protools project to ready make the audio for upload but most of the time the sound studio already done a TV-mix with the correct level.
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Where though? Different stations/ networks have different specs and different countries have different trends/ laws etc.

You really need to work from the Spec. with broadcast.
 
Thanks, everyone! Really appreciate it. I was assuming it kind of varied, but my contact at the station is acting like it doesn't really matter. I set it to -6, but hopefully they'll give me a clearer directive. Thanks, again!
 
Where commercials are concerned there are two different aspects, the level and the loudness.

Two different commercials could both peak at the same level of -10dbfs but they may sound totally different loudness wise due to the amount of compression used.

Loudness meters or LEQ meters are being used more and more and the broadcaster should have a delivery spec which also references the average loudness limits that are allowed.
 
Noiz2 said:
Where though? Different stations/ networks have different specs and different countries have different trends/ laws etc.

You really need to work from the Spec. with broadcast.
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I do deliver commercials to Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland/UK.
 
Kyle McConaghy said:
What is the maximum volume level for a TV commercial? -10 dB?

Thanks so much!
Kyle
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New regulations mean that the new Loudness specifications are coming into play.

The level would be -23dBLU

There have been so many many complaints about the level of adverts and trailers that this new standard corrects all this. I have heard uncompressed classical segued into heavily compressed heavy metal work beautifully - both set at -23dBLU.

But you *will* need a Loudness Meter to measure this.
 
Editman Sweden said:
I do deliver commercials to Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland/UK.
Click to expand...
And the OP is in the US. Cable is different than broadcast, PBS is different than everyone else.

I'm not saying your doing it wrong just that one needs to check what their delivery requirements are, because they may be different than yours.
 
So that station I'm delivering a commercial to on Wednesday specs out -20dBm. Can I just normalize my audio to -20 and be done with it? Seems extremely low to me......
 
Check that as I suspect that their reference level is -20dbfs which is something totally different altogether, you need to know what the peak level is as -20dbfs is normally a line up or reference level.

Can you ask them to put their specs in writing and post it here.

Also you need to check what they are calling their -20dm, as that could be a LEQ reading as well.
 
GaryNattrass - Here's their spec's:

Video
Video levels for all incoming content
needs to meet SMPTE 259M standards
for levels and timing of signal
components
Levels are not to exceed 100 IRE or
drop below -20 IRE
Chroma levels must not exceed 120 IRE
or be below -20 IRE
Sync level must be -40 IRE
Black level needs to be 7.5 IRE
Color Burst levels must be 40 IRE

Audio
Content audio must be stereo mixed to
channels 1 & 2
Analog level at +4dBm
Digital tracks at -20dBm

Spot length
:15, :30 & :60 second spots accepted
o :15 = 450 frames of video
o :30 = 900 frames of video
o :60 = 1800 frames of video

Electronically delivered content must be
“air-ready” and match exactly to these
lengths otherwise it will be rejected

SD & HD Audio MPEG LPCM
Encoding MPEG-1 Layer 2 SMPTE 302M
Channels 2 – Stereo 2 - Stereo
Peak Audio May regularly peak to, but should not exceed -20dBFS
Stereo Only

Using FCP6 so they want it in ProRes 422 format.
Thanks,
DDP
 
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Prior to the 'new' ATSC (and EBU) loudness specs, the major networks (at least in NYC) basically stated: Reference level of -20dBFS with program peaks not exceeding -10dBFS.
Many have confused the reference (calibration) level (aka, audio test tone) and the program level.
Most of the US networks as of lately use the ATSC spec. It's best to get the actual requirements before hand.

Audio
Content audio must be stereo mixed to
channels 1 & 2
Analog level at +4dBm
Digital tracks at -20dBm

-- dBm indicates a reference level of one milliwatt, and that would depend on the playback deck's analog output, so that is neither here nor there.
 
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Thanks but those specs do not look like any broadcast audio spec I have seen, they normally state a line up or reference level and a maximum peak level in either analogue or DBFS.

So what I expect to see is a line up reference of 1khz tone of 0db with a maximum peak of +8db or the equivalent -18dbfs and -10dbfs (-20dbfs and -12dbfs for the USA)

Yes LEQ has recently come into it but a peak of -20dbfs is way too low for broadcast IMO.
 
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