Sound production is the artistic and technical aspect of broadcasting that is completely subjective. The balance of the sound elements, for example the voices (commentary), as compared to the volume levels of the sound effects and music, is subjective to the point until you cannot hear and understand what is being said.
As a sound practitioner, I express the tone of a production using equalization to adjust the bass and treble of an audio passage, however my experience guides where I ultimately make a subjective evaluation of the proper level and tone of any adjustments.
Even certain sound phrases and terminology indicates a level of subjectivity. I worked with a British producer at the BBC who said that the mix sounded “wooly.” What is my subjective understanding of wooly sound?
Who Get the Blame?
However, this subjectivity may be related to the reproduction technology or method or perhaps a medical condition such as tinnitus.
Broadcast sound is subjective because, as the sound mixer, I control the outcomes. But what if I have tinnitus or frequency-specific hearing difficulties? For example if the mixer has lost sensitivity in the higher frequencies then there is a tendency to compensate by adding high frequencies to the mix resulting in a shrill, more brittle sound to the consumer.
What if the listener has frequency-specific hearing loss? Then possibly the listener may have difficulty with speech intelligibility. Consider if the listener has cheap or improperly installed speakers or just rear-mounted speakers in the TV set? This is clearly beyond the control of the sound mixer, but who gets the blame?
As a newly minted sound mixer, I will never forget a phone call I received from an ESPN executive telling me the mix did not sound right. Perplexed by the call I asked, “What’s wrong?” After some hemming and hawing from the executive, I asked, “Is it the balance or tone or what?” After some silence, I hung up. I am sitting in a 5x8-foot audio control room, trying to mix a live show with the incessant roar of equipment cooling fans behind me and a communications network that is never silent.
There may be a chance that something doesn’t “sound right.” Well, the executive called back, and I quipped that, “It sounds fine here,” and hung up again. Needless to say, I did not work for ESPN for awhile.
Understand your own hearing abilities and do not always trust your ears.
My subjective impression was that it did sound fine where I was, and I am sure that it did not sound right to the executive listening over TV speakers. I never got the opportunity to ask the person what they were listening on, but improper speaker placement and setup was the demise of some fellow audio folks who got burned for bad sound because someone improperly set up the speaker system for Dolby Surround in the network QC room. Who got the blame?
Balance is the most difficult aspect of an audio mix to master. Overly zealous announcers and an unscripted event such as football or baseball can result in the voice being either too loud or too soft. Audio compressors help to smooth out the audio, but to me overly compressed audio is just as hideous as “bouncy” audio or burying the voice in the mix.
Surround and Immersive Sound
Audio is subjective and specific to the listener’s environment, reproduction device and physiological condition. Now factor that by two—the producer of the sound and the consumer of the sound. Sound was pretty easy when it was mono and the television cabinet (housing) was the size of a refrigerator with front-facing speakers.
Stereo was a little more complex with two speakers and the task of creating a “phantom center” for the voice. Surround sound created more problems with a dedicated center speaker for voice and five other speakers for effects and music. The other problem for surround was proper placement of the center speaker in a world where there really is no place for a center speaker. Technology helped here with the divergence of the voice into the side speakers and the introduction of soundbars.
Immersive sound ushered in a whole new set of issues with still only one center speaker plus an additional four upper speakers to generate more noise and further mask the announcers. What’s an audio person to do?
First, understand your own hearing abilities and do not always trust your ears. I have tinnitus and high-frequency hearing loss, but I do not artificially compensate for the tone of a mix to my liking. Generally, a “flat” mix will cover a lot of reproduction possibilities from poor room acoustics, improperly placed speakers and even cheap speakers.
Second, new mixing techniques can deliver better results. Consider this. The center speaker may not be just for voice. Try spreading out the sound (diverging the sound) into the left, right, left height and right height speaker; not to the point of distracting the listener, but to reinforce the sound like a phantom image.
This technique works well with immersive sound and soundbars. (See my November column on sound mixing or my book “Immersive Sound Production: A Practical Guide.”)
Finally, at home, after the show, listen to your mix. Also ask for input from your peers and non-audio types. Fred Aldous from Fox Sports used to tell me he always listened to his mother when it came to his mixing. Mama is usually right.
