# blaringly loud commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506 "2009-04-09T14:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/21 "2009-04-14T16:10:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For those interested, here’s an example of a waveform from [Helter Skelter](http://www.peterpawinski.com/helter.jpg), which was a pretty hard rockin tune in the day. And here’s [Disturbed’s “Believe”](http://www.peterpawinski.com/helter.jpg) as an example of modern production. Your “Believe” link is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/22 "2009-04-14T16:25:21Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > Your “Believe” link is incorrect. [Oopsie. This is what I meant.](http://www.peterpawinski.com/believe.jpg) It should make a little more sense now. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/23 "2009-04-14T16:25:42Z")
Sadly, this practice has evolved onto the internet. Comedy Central does it with the ads in their full episodes of The Daily Show and Colbert. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/24 "2009-04-14T17:03:08Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I think this whole “technically, they’re not actually louder, they just _seem_ louder” argument is a bunch of crap. Who cares? We’re the Dope, that’s who. 😉 If it is indeed a matter of compression, then complaining to you local station to stop turning the commercials up makes no sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/25 "2009-04-14T20:03:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You need room for louder and quieter sounds, so if typical movie dialogue is mixed at, say, an average of 5 loudness on a ten point scale, you have room to put in sounds that are supposed to be louder, like someone screaming (say at 7) or an explosion (say at 10). If you mix your dialogue audio at the maximum volume, then you have no place to go if you want to introduce relatively louder sounds. “You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?” ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/26 "2009-04-14T20:16:50Z")
What ever happened to the ‘smart sound’ tv’s? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/27 "2009-04-15T01:04:58Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > What ever happened to the ‘smart sound’ tv’s? Oh, there’s a button that says “smart sound” but it doesn’t do anything when it comes to loud commericals. I’m not sure what it does do, if anything, but it doesn’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/28 "2009-04-15T03:31:19Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > What ever happened to the ‘smart sound’ tv’s? > [@elfkin477](#): > > Oh, there’s a button that says “smart sound” but it doesn’t do anything when it comes to loud commericals. I’m not sure what it does do, if anything, but it doesn’t do that. As indicated earlier, ours works for commercials. The ones on BBC used to blare up, sending us racing for the remote, but no more. On our set, it’s not called “Smart Sound,” but rather “Intelligent Volume.” ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blaringly-loud-commercials/492506/29 "2009-04-15T07:57:29Z")
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