Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
28 FA L L 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y concerts, it will be the music. Although it does get a little less cut-and-dry for concert films, as the music can end up being pushed down relative to how the music is played in narrative shows. (This is detailed in the new A/85 under "Edge Cases," along with narrative filmmaking that contains little to no dialogue, such as the film All Is Lost or the animated feature Flow.) Once the home viewer sets their volume to a level that is comfortable for the anchor element, other elements can be appropriately louder or quieter, and it won't disturb the viewer as long as the anchor remains consistent. A few years back, I was mixing a cinematic sci-fi show that would originally air on Hulu. It was around the time of the Disney acquisition, and we were originally sent the Disney+ -27 LKFS dialogue-anchored spec to mix to. Great, we said. Once we had mixed four episodes and started delivering, Hulu said, "Hang on, our spec is -24 Full Program." To which I said, "Yeah, that's a huge mistake, especially for a show like this." Back-and-forth we went, and our showrunner got involved once he realized how much quieter it would make the dialogue. In the end, we convinced Hulu to let us deliver using the -27 dialogue-gated spec. A while later on, Marc Fishman experienced the same thing with HBO on The Last of Us, as did Ron Bartlett while doing the nearfield mixes for Dune. Theatrical nearfield mixes are interesting because we often have to deliver multiple versions for multiple platforms with disparate specs. For the nearfield mix of Dune, the adjustment to Full Program Loudness for HBO Max pushed the dialogue considerably lower than the Netflix version. This delta can sometimes be in excess of 10 dB depending on the type of content you're mixing. (In my opinion, Dune is almost the poster child for maximum dynamic range.) For high-concept episodics like The Last of Us, this can mean the dialogue level between episodes can shift by a similar 6-10 dB. Again, Full Program Loudness for anything other than commercials was never the intent of A/85. Marc and Ron had voiced concerns to WB about all this, and Kim Waugh scheduled a meeting with Tony Pilkington and Miles DelHoyo to discuss ways in which their loudness spec for streaming could be updated to provide a better experience for their customers. Ron and I had just mixed together, and he knew that I'd have something to say on the matter, so he asked me along. In that meeting, we explained the importance of dialogue as the anchor element; how this is the underpinning of A/85 and the CALM Act, and how it indeed also underpins how we mix. HBO listened. We had a very constructive conversation, and they updated their delivery spec as a result. This shift away from anchor-based measurement results in a mix that meets the spec on paper but sacrifices significant dynamic potential and forces the re-recording mixers to meet a "budget" of loudness across the entire program. It also uniformly causes significant jumps in loudness at commercial breaks or between episodes, depending on whether or not a particular episode is very quiet or action-packed. It also creates inconsistency between episodes, which can become particularly evident when binge-watching. We set our sights on addressing this. I joined the CAS ITSC (Industry Technical Standards Committee) after that meeting, and I succeeded Marc as Chair of the committee the following year. It quickly became clear to us that it made sense to combine the work I was doing with the AES, with the CAS committee, and with the ATSC, since we all seemed to be pulling in the same direction and identifying the same problems. So we wrote to the ATSC to ask them to consider updating A/85 based on lessons learned over the years. The ATSC agreed and I represented CAS on the ATSC Sound Group (S42) meetings, chaired by the aforementioned Jim Starzynski, and we began crafting the update that would hopefully clarify, streamline, and remove all ambiguity from the concepts that underline A/85 and the CALM legislation. During this period, it happened that the California legislature enacted SB576, which mandates that all streaming platforms available in California mitigate loud commercials by following the same standards as North American broadcasters via the CALM Act and A/85. This essentially means all streamers in the U.S. will be obliged to follow the same rules as broadcast TV, as they aren't going to want to master everything once for California and then again for the other 49 states (similar to emissions standards). Illinois has already passed a similar bill. We see this as a very welcome development as it offers an opportunity to align streaming and "legacy" broadcast standards … and hopefully, an opportunity to do it correctly. ATSC S42 tried to move through the update in time for it to be approved ahead of the July 1 deadline for this law to take effect, and it passed on July 8 (so close!). The new version is in effect, actionable, and enforceable, and is available at https://www.atsc.org/atsc - d o c u m e n t s / a 8 5 - t e c h n i q u e s - f o r -establishing-and-maintaining-audio -loudness-for-digital-television/ One of the things Scott Kramer and I pushed for is Annex M, which appears at the end of the document, and is a handy, single-page table that essentially says, "If you're making this, do this." Hopefully, the simplicity of this goes some way to clearing up the misinterpretations of how to implement loudness measurements. The web page for A/85 now also contains a direct link to this quick reference table. The ITSC is in the process of doing outreach to all broadcast and streaming