Marc Wielage Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Just to vent a little bit... Am I the only person noticing that the sound quality on local news has been completely going to hell over the last couple of years? For at least the last week, KNBC Channel 4 news (the NBC O&O here in LA) has had some kind of a weird mix problem where every time they go to a bumper, the music only comes out of the left channel. Dialog (anchors) are in both -- phantom center channel -- as you would expect. Commercials are fine. Taped segments are fine. Bumpers go to hell. I also notice quite a few news studios that have such horrific acoustics, they sound for all the world like a tile bathroom. WNBC Channel 4 sounds like that, I think because of the large glass desk in front of the anchors and a glass wall behind them. If anything, I think WNBC is even worse than KNBC. The Insider (the syndicated show following Entertainment Tonight) is similar, just an echoey, hollow-sounding mess, with all kinds of slap echo and crap. (And I've checked both off-air HD reception and DirecTV -- identical in terms of bad sound quality.) I have no idea how we've gotten to the point where they think shooting in a cavernous, poorly-treated warehouse will yield good sound -- no matter how much they try to camouflage it with bright sets and glitzy graphics. Does nobody who work on these shows care about dialogue clarity anymore? Are they deaf, indifferent, or just ignorant? This befuddles me, because this is not a subtle problem -- I can hear this on crap TV speakers, headphones, even computer speakers. I think the problem boils down to bad decisions, not enough experience, a lack of care, and lack of good people who actually know what they're doing. Vent mode off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atheisticmystic Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Marc, I know it doesn't meet the news level of professional expectation, but the "MSN 2-minute Investment Tips" have me down at the moment (I recorded them last month). They put the clips out with both the boom and the lav tracks playing together, comb-filtering and all. It's almost like there is a tacit, or unconscious degradation of sound quality across the media. Nobody gives a shit. You hit it right on the money Marc: lack of care. Sorry to trod on your vent Obi-Wan, Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blas Kisic Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 For the past three years or so, NBC and Telemundo have just one TD per news broadcast. Cameras are on robotic pedestals, all controlled from the same console, by one person. They proudly boast that one person can handle video and sound by him/herself from a single workstation. What makes you think they'd be interested in good camerawork or sound? BK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Tirrell Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 For the past three years or so, NBC and Telemundo have just one TD per news broadcast. Cameras are on robotic pedestals, all controlled from the same console, by one person. They proudly boast that one person can handle video and sound by him/herself from a single workstation. What makes you think they'd be interested in good camerawork or sound? BK Its worse than that I have seen some regional cable and local broadcast shops where everything from switching to camera controls to audio and graphics were being run by 1 person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Maloney Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Here in in Chicago they get the crew down to 1 TD. You have to have more than person to have a Union. Sad Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Automation, automation, and automation. One to two man crews with terrible metering and monitoring. Beautiful Calrec board with 5.1 surround monitoring run by nobody in an empty room. That's the CBS affiliate I used to work for part time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 but it is in HD... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadoStefanov Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 local news as any other corporate business is there for profit. here in vegas they don't have sound people, in the studio or in the field. Somebody told me that a news editor in the local fox makes minimum wage.... no wonder quality sucks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 " no wonder quality sucks... " but it is in HD... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadoStefanov Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 " no wonder quality sucks... " but it is in HD... i love you man... (: but the white balance is constantly off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 The NBC network news could be the exception. Very good audio and picture quality especially the HD feed that I get. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael McQueen Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 one of my local news stations gets really bad phasing when 2 anchors are chatting at the desk. and its usually bad mic placement with sloppy mounting. always give me news buddies shit for it. that and their giant ass lavaliere mics with cables ran over the shoulder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Yeah, pitiful. On another sad note: many of the B'cast audio console manufacturers.. SSL, Wheatstone, ect., state in there magazine ads, along with all the sophisticated routing and mixing options, "easy to operate by users of all skill levels". Guess that includes unpaid interns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfisk Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Automation, automation, and automation. One to two man crews with terrible metering and monitoring. Beautiful Calrec board with 5.1 surround monitoring run by nobody in an empty room. That's the CBS affiliate I used to work for part time. Yup. A high school buddy of mine from Illinois works at one of the local news stations, when last time I was back there I noticed the studios where smaller and the audio was terrible, so much so that even my parents were complaining. Everything was distorted. I had to turn it off. I mentioned it to my friend and he said they laid off all the technical staff save for one person, and it's all "automated" now. They just can't afford (at least in the smaller markets) to pay the people to be there. People are getting their news from online sources these days, and viewership is dropping. I told him with the type of quality they are putting out, nobody will be watching at all. I don't even watch the news in general any more, for other reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Duffy Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 "The Insider" is recorded at CBS studios in LA. I was just there last night observing in the control room during a taping of a new sitcom. All the studios have Yamaha 4000 consoles and decent mic kit. Nothing automated going on there, but I did notice that a lot of the audio staff are around retirement age. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Am I the only person noticing that the sound quality on local news has been completely going to hell over the last couple of years? I don't think it's been only the last couple of years... The studios I've worked in have bashed the quality of newscasts for as long as I can remember. I even have presets on my compressors and filters and convolution reverbs to mash audio up to mimic the news when I mix films But I do think it's a generality to say "all news audio sucks". I have worked with and seen news that has exceptional quality as stated above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myke2241 Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 This is happening because the audience no longer gives a Ship!! if people complained enough we mite see networks providing more QC. but when we have teenagers listening to their music on youtube. TD's now think that is standard quality. i just saw a segment for "trend" (what a joke) on NBC LA where to the report pulled a tech crunch clip from online. claimed he interviewed the guy and then proceeded to cover up the tech crunch logo with a oversize NBC LA banner! so if we are at the point where we lie about our sources and will let social media be acceptable standard for reporting the news. we mite as well let the crew from Entertainment Tonight just report it for us! we have had insanely bad calls like the one we saw with Green Bay this last weekend happening to audio for years now. Audio's replacement techs are a joke since audio is only one of the 10 things these guys have been hired to do. I would consider most of the local news casters here in LA to no longer be true professionals in respect to their trade. we are just one social media report away from public access! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted September 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 The NBC network news could be the exception. Very good audio and picture quality especially the HD feed that I get. Yes, I would say all three major American networks generally still do very high quality reporting and interviews. And I've said for years that I consider 60 Minutes to be the gold standard in terms of picture and sound quality, as well as editing. On the local level, the stuff goes to hell. I think the only local station that seems to give a damn -- surprisingly -- is KTLA, Channel 5. Their stuff generally looks and sounds a lot better than the network O&O's, for reasons I'm not quite sure of. I agree with Mychal above that it's appalling, the number of times local stations will slug in a YouTube video for stock footage or some kind of background material. Awful, awful stuff. Not all the shows are awful -- Entertainment Tonight still sounds OK in the main room, but not the cutaways in smaller greenscreen rooms and some of the voiceovers. It's the inconsistency and lack of attention to detail that bothers me. That, plus the fact that these problems are solvable, even at a modest cost. And for local stations to spend a couple of hundred grand on horribly-reflective studios with glass-top tables, surrounded by hard walls... it just sounds awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myke2241 Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 i dont know if you LA folk have noticed this but i bugs me a ton! CBS local news uses a whoosh for their transitions between stories when they dont cut back the anchors. There is nothing wrong with that expect they use the same whoosh to announce breaking news. from a sound design stand point it pulls what i call the little boy who cried wolf. unless you are paying attention you dont care about the cue. NBC LA uses a swoosh that is clearly a bad sounding Mp3 being played too loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted September 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Yes, the "whoosh" sound effects on graphics transitions are way, way overdone these days. I think MSNBC, ESPN, and CNN do this a lot as well, to the point of being distracting. Mychal, check out KNBC local news and see if you notice that "bumper music in left channel only" thing I've been hearing. Incompetence like this makes me crazy, because it's clear nobody is listening at the station. BTW, in case The Senator is listening, I did make a point of sending an email to the station about it. My fear is that there is no chief engineer there anymore, and they're all robots, unable to read emails... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 I did make a point of sending an email to the station about it. My fear is that there is no chief engineer there anymore, and they're all robots, unable to read emails... Possibly so. But IIRC, even engineering emails have to be saved in the station's public file, and available for review at license renewal time. (Not that the FCC will care unless exposed body parts are involved...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefilosa Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 check out KNBC local news and see if you notice that "bumper music in left channel only" thing I've been hearing Head out of alignment on the cart machine ? ? ? ) MF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmassey Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Erics, you are spot on. When working for TODAY SHOW, they now send a stereo ambience mic along with the two main channels of audio from a location for the stereo mix back in NYC...quite nicely done there. Never seen the audio booth as I am always out here in the hinterlands. If the anchor is in the field for NIGHTLY NEWS, a Yamaha DM2000 board is used, stereo ambience mics, plant mics for other ambience and they use everything available. 60 MIN has indeed been doing audio the right way for a very long time...save for a few exceptions they don't panic if the Schoeps or whatever boom mic comes out for interviews. They have a fellow in NYC whose job is to fix, juggle, adjust, whatever the audio once the piece is cut, before it gets to the director and the control room where they can do other things before it goes to air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 " And for local stations to spend a couple of hundred grand on horribly-reflective studios with glass-top tables, surrounded by hard walls... " ... that look soooooo good in HD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephensharrod Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 People usually mute the news anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.