More than likely, it is not something that a network can control.
Start looking to see if the spots that are "louder" are an
advertisement for your local business and not a national spot. I
would suspect the louder ones are local spots. they are inserted
at the head end of your cable system. It is known as a "local
avail" where a tone(s) is/are sent out on an audio channel that
is not broadcast on the cable system (the tones are DTMF = Dual
Tone Multi Frequency). Those tones tell the playback machine/deck
to roll and the equipment to cut into the satellite feed and send
out the local spot. Another set of tones tells the system to
return back to the net feed, too. So those local ads are made and
recorded by the local cable co. The playback decks also have
their own audio levels. So by the time this makes it into your
TV, the audio level *may* changed by the time you hear it. :^)
That being said, the entire audio path from the network broadcast
operations has both compression and limiting on the audio. The
spots themselves sometimes also have limiting and compression, it
sort helps create the "wall of sound." So when you switch from
just a voice or dialog, and go to full orchestration, voices and
other stuff, it has the apparent feel of being louder. Okay, I've
probably lost a bunch of you by now, unless, of course, you're
the ones who see my name and or email addy and just delete
anyway. :^)
Matt Murray
I've been in the cable biz for 30 years so I understand what you
said
although I never got into those aspects of the system directly. However,
I'm
not on cable; I use Dish-Network. I only get what SPEED sends me. The
commercial "volume", real or perceived, has been very annoying lately to
the point I reach for the remote often.
Bruce
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