Broadcast Loudness

An in-depth look

With the CALM Act already in place on the US side and the CRTC finalizing regulations for Canada to be implemented this fall, this meeting will help equip you with an understanding of the international standards, recommended practices, the difference and interaction between audio loudness and dynamic range, the various applicable terms/acronyms, how
to assess compliance, the effect on the consumer and the technologies available for monitoring, processing and controlling loudness to ensure compliance.

Our presenters include Ron Lynch from Technicolor, Ken Hunold from Dolby Labs, Scott Norcross from the Communications Research Centreand Jackson Weigman from Evertz.

THIS MONTH”S MEETING IS SPONSORED BY

PRESENTATIONS

Scott Norcross, Senior Research Engineer, Communications Research Centre,
Ottawa

The presentation will give an overview of the creation of ITU-R BS.1770 and various
activities that led to the adoption of it. Also differences between the ATSC and EBU
recommended practices will also be discussed, as well as potential regulations from the
CRTC in Canada as well as the CALM act in the US.

Kenneth Hunold, Broadcast Applications Engineer, Dolby Laboratories, Inc., New
York

The presentation will show loudness variation data on several programming networks and
describe strategies for programmers and distribution partners to manage the loudness of
the content before delivery. These strategies can be employed cooperatively by
producers, distributor, and stations to maintain consistent program loudness.

Because many methods of traditional loudness processing end up reducing the dynamic
range of the content, some examples of the interaction between traditional loudness and
dynamic range will be demonstrated. Before-an-after charts will be presented, along with
some listening examples.

Ron Lynch – Engineering Manager at Technicolor

This presentation will cover the new terms/acronyms, audio measurements from local
OTA (over the air) and re-distributed broadcasts to assess our overall achievements in
meeting compliance requirements.

There appears to be little standardization in the design of the consumer products that
receive these signals and for the home viewer the ability to understand and manage the
audio metadata arriving at their entertainment systems is not always consistent nor user
friendly. Considerations for end user interfaces will be examined.

Jackson Wiegman, Evertz Product Manager - Multiviewer Systems and Intelli
Technology

This presentation will give an overview of loudness monitoring and processing
technologies that are available to broadcasters and MVPD’s to ensure that they are
compliant with existing regulations, and also how they can utilize loudness monitoring
and processing to provide a better experience to their viewers.

BIOS

Ken Hunold

Kenneth Hunold is a Broadcast Applications Engineer for Dolby Laboratories, Inc., based
in their New York office. He works with broadcast and cable network engineers and
production personnel as they transition to high definition television with 5.1-channel
audio. He also works with Dolby’s motion picture clients on audio mastering and
presentation for film and digital cinema.

Before joining Dolby in 1999, he was with the ABC Television Network in a variety of
engineering positions for 25 years. Most of that time was spent “on the road” for ABC
Sports, and in ABC’s Engineering Laboratory. He helped design ABC’s Advanced TV
Laboratory and evaluated the tools and systems for ABC’s launch of HDTV in 1998. He
has worked on many major television events and received an Emmy Award as a video
engineer for his work on the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

He is a member of SMPTE, AES, and SBE. He is a former SMPTE Governor for the
New York Region and a former New York Section Chair. He is a member of the ATSC
study group that drafted ATSC Recommended Practice A/85 for television loudness and
has contributed to NABA and WBU-ISOG processes. He is currently Chair of the AES
New York Section and is certified by the SBE as a Senior Engineer for both Radio and
Television.

Jackson Wiegman

Jackson Wiegman joined Evertz in 2007, and is currently the Product Manager for
Multiviewer Systems and Intelli Technology. He is responsible for Evertz’ signal
visualization and monitoring, as well as audio loudness and lip sync product lines.
Jackson previously held the role of Product Specialist for Modular Products. Since
joining Evertz, Jackson has been a specialist in audio technologies and has presented at
SMPTE and AES conferences as well as held meetings on various loudness, lip sync
measurement and correction topics. Jackson holds a Bachelor of Engineering Physics and
Management from McMaster University.

Scott Norcross

Scott Norcross received his B.Sc. in Physics from McGill University in Montreal. He
received his M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Waterloo, under the supervision of
Professors John Vanderkooy and Stanley Lipshitz, after which he taught audio
technology in the physics department at American University in Washington D.C. for one
year. He then joined the acoustics group at the National Research Council (NRC) of
Canada in Ottawa, working on acoustical measurement systems with Dr. John S. Bradley.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Professor
Martin Bouchard, where his topic was inverse-filtering for rooms and loudspeakers. He is
currently a Senior Research Engineer in the Advanced Audio Systems group at the
Communications Research Centre in Ottawa, working in various field of audio such as
loudness, subjective/objective quality and multichannel systems. He is currently active in
the ITU-R Working Party 6C group on Programme Production and Quality Assessment
and the ATSC S6-3 group on loudness.

Ron Lynch

Ron Lynch is Engineering Manager at Technicolor’s Toronto based post production
facility. He oversees the design and installation of audio / video systems at Technicolor
and works with IT staff on the ever growing data management requirements for picture
and sound deliverables. He works with audio post staff and clients to assure optimum
production and distribution of broadcast and film sound tracks.

In a previous life, Ron ran Dektek Audio Technologies, an audio engineering company. And
prior to that he was vice president and general manager at Manta Electronics Group,
specializing in audio and video systems sales and engineering.

Ron received an Electronics Technologist diploma from Ryerson and is an active member
of SMPTE and the AES. He has served as the Toronto AES section chairman twice and
has filled numerous positions as a committee