Gents, Please Make the Bombcast Louder

I am unsure if this is the best place to ask for this but here we go.

I always listen to the podcast and since the first one I believe I requested in its comments to make it louder because the sound really is too low. I'm now at my parent's place and just listened to the latest one and the sound was so incredibly low I could not hear it at all sometimes (using headphones).

I know that I don't see a lot of people complaining about it too, but here, take this as proof, I just adjusted Winamp's equalizer to boost everything possible, +12db in the main tune too, and it still was too low, in this screenshot I show that even like that, the windows mixer would show it as very low sound (the green bar there is a volume sensor), it's not a particular part of the podcast that is low, throughout it all it is that low.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6752/soundistoolow.png

Please, make it louder, it's very easy to tune down the volume on players, but it's practically impossible to make it go louder than I tried on this screenshot.

No offense, but something must be wrong with your ears because it's plenty loud enough for me at just 40 volume on Windows. I'll go lower than that if I use headphones.

Huh, that's odd. I've got my volume set as low as I possible can without muting it and the bombcast comes in perfectly clear.

What are you talking about? Did you even look at that screenshot? It is 1/20th of the max volume on the PC, windows sounds are about 10 times louder than the podcast with all those boosts turned on. And it wasn't in just one PC, I've had this problem in multiple computers plus on the DS's Moonshell, which I then use 150% of the volume to make it sound reasonable on headphones.

Yes... something is not right with your set-up.  At 75% the volume is just fine for me over headphones.  There are times though where sometimes they won't speak up enough to where it'll just sound like mumbling but those moments are few.

That screenshot proves nothing.  Show me what it looks like as a waveform.

You need better ears, or cleaner ones....there are kits at pharmacies that can reduce accumulated earwax, and there are also people who can do it for you. I don't remember who but my sister went somewhere for that. Worked great!

Have you tried using something other than Winamp? Maybe try iTunes since that's what I use.

It seems to be of average loudness, and probably louder because those fuckers yell so much.

It's not Giant Bomb's fault you have wax build-up. 
 
Dirty bastard.

Alright, digging up a bit I noticed the windows 7 mixer does volume separately for each app running, as it turns out the volume of Winamp was on half here. Still, I ran some tests on the mp3 to check the volume, and its volume is still below average.

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
This is an open-source mp3 analyzer/normalizer for the volume.
I had it to analyze the Giantbomb's Bombcast's volume and then a normal song volume and then the Gamespot's Hotspot's volume. Here are the results.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3184/analyzed.png

And even though the difference is not that big there, like I said on the first post is still true. It's much easier to turn a volume down, than to make it go above the limit. I've tried to listen to this podcast in a bus in a big city (using headphones) and I couldn't understand it. I'd much rather have to turn the volume down because it is too loud instead.

@beej I believe it's more the onboard sound card's fault. These headphones work great on the DS. Maybe modern sound cards are lower on porpoise? I don't know, because this PC is really new.

It's definitely quieter than most other things, and so are all of their videos. I agree, they should just start recording everything a bit louder if possible. If not possible, then it's not a huge issue.

Yeah, the volume is fine. But if you want a cheap solution that doesn't require you to try new speakers or sound card you could change the volume with MP3Gain. It embeds higher volume in the mp3 file, I've used it to equalize some of my older ripped music.

I'd prefer if it was louder seeing as I have the same problem as the OP. Living in a busy city means podcast enjoyment can sometimes be diminished.

I've checked the levels on PROFESSIONAL AUDIO levels and they are low. The music intros and stuff are fine but the voices need to be raised at least a good 6 or so DB. Average -db level should be about -12. I think it's at about -20. I need to raise the volume when I listen to the audio part of the bombcast on my home setup, however all music is good unless it was improperly mixed or ripped.
 

" I've checked the levels on PROFESSIONAL AUDIO levels and they are low. The music intros and stuff are fine but the voices need to be raised at least a good 6 or so DB. Average -db level should be about -12. I think it's at about -20. I need to raise the volume when I listen to the audio part of the bombcast on my home setup, however all music is good unless it was improperly mixed or ripped.  "

They can't make it louder, it already lets my laptop explode if somebody yells.
And we all know there is yelling in the bombcast!

" It's definitely quieter than most other things, and so are all of their videos. I agree, they should just start recording everything a bit louder if possible. If not possible, then it's not a huge issue. "

" @Subject2Change said:

" I've checked the levels on PROFESSIONAL AUDIO levels and they are low. The music intros and stuff are fine but the voices need to be raised at least a good 6 or so DB. Average -db level should be about -12. I think it's at about -20. I need to raise the volume when I listen to the audio part of the bombcast on my home setup, however all music is good unless it was improperly mixed or ripped.  "

What does "PROFESSIONAL AUDIO" mean exactly? Do you mean you're comparing it to a modern CD? If so, those are slammed to shit. "

" @JJWeatherman said:

" It's definitely quieter than most other things, and so are all of their videos. I agree, they should just start recording everything a bit louder if possible. If not possible, then it's not a huge issue. "

Yep, I noticed it as well how everything on Giantbomb is a bit quieter than everything else I listen to or watch. It is a minor issue because when going back and forth between GB media stuff and other things, I constantly have to re-adjust the volume on my speakers. "

get a hearing aid.

sometimes the voices get drowned out by engine noise when driving. Compress that shit Death Magnetic style.

This issue has been brought up before but I think it was a long time ago. When I listen I can hear them fine although it would be nice if they made the Bombcast a little louder so I don't have to mess with the volume on my computer before and after listening.

Turn the volume up.

My only real complaint is how fucking loud the intro music is at the start when you turn the volume all the way up on your iPod. Other than that, its fine.

" My only real complaint is how fucking loud the intro music is at the start when you turn the volume all the way up on your iPod. Other than that, its fine. "

Turn up your volume when you're on the bus.

The volume on the podcast is loud enough. The videos are what could use a little volume boost.

" It's definitely quieter than most other things, and so are all of their videos. I agree, they should just start recording everything a bit louder if possible. If not possible, then it's not a huge issue. "

I hear it just fine on both my car stereo AND my Droid. 
 
Your shit is fucked up.

" Turn the volume up. "

Must be you dude, max volume on my iphone is loud enough.

I could definitely see this being a problem with a weak mp3 player on a plane or noisy bus, but it should really be fine on a computer at home.

Everything else is just too loud honestly. All my music/other podcasts are loud as fuck if I don't listen to it with the volume all the way down. Bombcast/videos I have to put it up a couple if I want to hear it while laying in bed from my computer 6 feet away.  That's totally reasonable and makes sense to me.  I've never turned my computer up past 40% volume 'cause everything is too fucking loud on the internet

Playing it on the PSPGo is too quiet also, even with full volume I can't hear it over the sound of traffic on the road. I get I'm probably the only person who would listen to it on the PSPGo, hence why I''ve never bothered to mentioned it before, but would love for it to be louder.

Also-  http://www.giantbomb.com/news/guitar-hero-reignites-loudness-wars/243/

Whenever I listen in my car I have a hard time hearing Brad.  It's some kinda of low voice plus semi mumble tone that makes it hard to hear.  But the other three never seem to have a problem being loud.  Especially Ryan.   And Vinny.  And Jeff.

I do have to turn up the podcast compared to my regular music, but it's not bad.

God forbid we'd have to physically turn knobs or adjust sliders. The horror.

There is one *very* small demographic of listeners that would benefit from an increase in volume- People (such as myself) who listen to the podcast during commute on our crappy fm transmitters. When I'm on the highway, I usually have to crank most podcasts in order to hear them, which means more annoying radio static and an obnoxious monotone *huuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm...*  Again, I'm in the minority for sure, but an increase in volume probably wouldn't be of much detriment to your average listener.

It's pretty loud, I think.  
 
Anyway I like quieter recordings better, less popping.

I just get it through iTunes and have no problem with the sound. In fact I turn it down to a bit below half within iTunes when I'm listening to the bombcast. I prefer to leave my system main sound at 100% and manage levels per program.

I've been recompressing podcasts for years now. If you listen to stuff with headphones or in a quiet environment you might not notice the dips in volume. I live on a busy, bus-filled street by an airport, so when someone talks a bit low or mumbles something, its very easy to miss.
 
Needless to say, this most certainly is not a phenomenom exclusive to the Bombcast or podcasts in general. 
 
This is the last Bombcast:

To me the music is a tad louder than the actual podcast discussions, but my notice is the volume spectrum. Sometimes they talk kinda quiet, and then a LOUD AHAHAHAHAHA from brad, and then Vinnys tone kicks in excitedly... almost blows my speakers, so I turn it down.. then they start quiet talking again! It's like 5.1 with 2 speakers giving me the same effect as the volume difference watching movies.
 
...just a minor gripe though, hoping at least they've seen this topic. I'm happy to have something to listen to period besides music once in awhile.

I've personally never had any problem, to be honest... I listen to the bombcast at volume 5 or 6 (out of 30) on my mp3 player (meaning, with headphones) and on 10 (out of 30) on my stereo (no headphones).

I have absolutely no trouble hearing the podcast. Something is wrong with your computer or your ears.

Dudes, this is not about not finding the volume knob.
 
It's a fact that all Giantbomb media is slightly but noticeably quiter than other media in general. Whenever I decide to watch a quicklook or listen to the Bombcast, I have to turn up the volume and when I'm switching back to other stuff I have to turn it down again.
 
It's only a very very minor issue and I can live with it but it defiinitely exists.

" Dudes, this is not about not finding the volume knob.  It's a fact that all Giantbomb media is noticeably quiter than other media in general. Whenever I decide to watch a quicklook or listen to the Bombcast, I have to turn up the volume and when I'm switching back I have to turn it down again.  It's a minor issue though. But it exists. "