GB video volume keeps decreasing, soon to be inaudible.

Hey...So this may just be me, but it seems like GB's audio has gotten quieter and quieter over the years, for all videos.

I think I posted about this a few years back (I can't find the thread anymore), but I recently noticed it becoming even worse.

To put this in perspective, in my home theater setup that is hooked up to my PC, the digital volume meter ranges from 0-80. All PC audio content is reasonable at 25. All content from my game consoles is reasonable at 25. All content from movies or TV is reasonable at 25. Except Giant Bomb content specifically. I have to pump it up to 25 to clearly hear anyone speak, or game audio. This is true for both videos on demand and live content.

This is even more in contrast with the podcasts. As another example, if I'm listening to the Giant Bombcast or the Beastcast in my car, (which digital volume meter ranges from 0-60), I can listen to it at 20, just like all other audio. However, when I'm streaming unprofessional fridays on the drive home (audio only), I have to pump it up to closer to 45-50 to hear anyone. This last UPF I had to max out my car's volume to hear Brad Miur. Again, this is in comparison to the standard podcasts or any other audio content, so it's not like I'm randomly losing my hearing.

I recognize that Drew and Jason may be trying to deal with the great loudness war in reverse, but I'm starting to worry that this is becoming an issue that I eventually won't be able to fix by pumping the volume up. Especially if I switch to some other content out there afterwards and have to rush to turn the volume back down to normal levels.

Is this just me? If not, is there anyway we could petition the great powers of @drewbert and @unastrike to reconsider the levels they're using? (Am I going mad?)

I don't have to change headphone or speaker volume at all.

I've also noticed that the videos are mad quiet.

Depending on which office has posted a video, I tend to just change the video player volume control to either half- or full-volume - GBeast videos seem to be a bit hotter than GBCorp videos.

Once in a while (usually live streams like UPF), I do need to up the volume on my desktop speaker by a 1/8 turn.

It would be pretty great if volume levels could be standardized between the two offices, but both scenarios I mentioned above have been okay for me within the normal realm of volume adjustments on my speakers & the video player. It's a bummer that it's maxing out your equipment's volume adjustment.

Yeah, I have always had to crank up the volume when watching content. I have scared myself a lot by watching or playing something right after a Quick Look...
Not sure if it has gotten even quieter, but there is a difference between GBwest and GBeast.
Rarely get to watch live because of my location, so I'm not sure if it usually is low on those.

Is this a good time to bring up the game audio being too quiet? I can never hear the game audio ever...and it's like discomforting. It used to be great, but now I can't hear shit.

One thing that's definitely way too quiet is the ident at the start of GBwest videos. I mean, compare GBwest's this and this to GBeast's this and this. The 'quick look' sting is so much quieter on GBwest videos and is also much quieter than the audio in the quick look itself. It always bugs me, and it's been like this for ages now.

With reaffirmation above in mind, would @drewbert, @unastrike, or @vinny be able to provide info on this?

Yeah, every time I watch a GB video I have to crank my volume all the way up.

East side stuff, and Patrick's content back when he was one the site all had reasonable audio levels, but, yeah, the west coast office seem to be fighting the loudness war in their own odd way. I have to boost the volume by 20dB in order for their stuff to sound alright on my setup.

It's gotten silly lately.

GB's videos have always seemed way quite to me when compared to pretty much anything else out there. I dunno, GB and audio have never had a great relationship.

Yeah I find for the most part game audio is low from both offices. It's weird when in quick look when they talk about the games music being good but I can barely hear it.

Yep +1 on this, the audio seems to have been getting quieter over the years for sure. Recently it has become bad enough where I'm having to manually adjust in-game audio if I want to play a game while watching GB content.

I do not experience this problem.

Adding my name to this list. I vaguely recall having my volume at like 60/100 when watching videos. Now it needs to be 80/100 to hear anything. And the audio for the sting at the beginning? Literally inaudible. (For reference my volume is at 30-40/100 for watching pretty much anything else.)

The inconsistent audio volume is a little annoying. I have to put my headphones on the lowest volume possible then slowly raise it to a comfortable level with every video. Would be nice if there was some way all the videos could have similar volume levels. For the most part, the audio is pretty low.

I too have noticed that the GB West videos are super quiet, especially in relation to GB East. Also, the actual game audio in relation to voice audio seems really low as well, I often struggle to hear anything at all from the games as of late.

GB West has always, always had super quiet video compared to pretty much every other website on the internet. I always thought Vinny just liked to make sure the audio wasn't red-lining, but that myth was debunked when he went to NY and it didn't change, followed by the GB East content actually being at a reasonable volume level.

I never have a problem with hearing them talking, it's always game audio that seems way too low. Sometimes you can barely make out that the sound is even on.

Due to my setup I usually turn my headphones to 6% audio for everything, for GBwest content I have to sometimes crank it past 26%. For any other content I could clearly hear it from my headphones across the room. I really wish this was addressed by staff, but it has been like this for so long that it might be some elaborate form of trolling.

Just chiming in to say that I definitely hear it too. I always have to turn my speakers up to hear GB videos with the video's volume slider on full. Not a big deal but if it gets much worse it'll be an issue.

I watch on a laptop with good speakers, but GB videos all require me to max out my volume (and still require a quiet room).

Then if I go to play a song afterwards, it's too loud and I go "aah!" So yes, it's noticeably quiet.

I've mentioned it to all of them before, but no change has come. The overall volume decreased once they set up their new studio at CBSi, especially for anything done on the main set. Nothing ever improved, and it is kind of insane that none of them have checked the volume levels on videos in the last three years.

I'd say Giant Bomb videos are roughly 15-20 percent lower than the rest of the internet's video content.

For as long as I've been watching videos at GB, which is a while, their levels have felt low, especially relative to other internet content. Maybe I've just gotten used to it but it's not much of an issue anymore, I just keep it on full blast through my headphones/laptop speakers.

Game audio is perfect for me. Maybe it's just me, but I really dislike it when game audio is very loud and I have to concentrate pretty hard on the conversation to hear the Giantbomb guys over whatever game they're playing.

I think the Quick Looks from GBEast have the perfect loudness, I can actually watch them without problems on my phone but for the GBCorp ones, I sometimes cannot watch them as I cannot raise the volume any more, I have to wait to get into a PC.

I have always had the problem of thinking game audio was way too low on Quick Looks. I've always hoped they would boost game audio more so I don't absolutely need headphones for an optimal viewing experience.

I doubt anything will change but I can dream.

Yes the volume is low, GBeast is perfect in comparison.

Yeah, when watching the GBwest content, I had to turn The Witcher 2 down to 1/10 volume in game.

Their levels have been low since even 2008-2009 when compared to any other website. It's always been a pain, and I really feel for people whose audio setups are such that even 100% is too quiet because of it.

GB-produced content is markedly quieter than any and all game trailers they post to the site. This holds true for both coasts.

Seems to have gotten worse with the E3 coverage. The room I watch their stuff in has an AC unit which doesn't help and I have to turn the TV up to 95% when watching their stuff where as games I play at like 45%.... It's really frustrating.

What's hilarious (?) about the volume these last few days has been the huge difference in volume between the couch segments of the evening shows and the break music. The break music is incredibly loud compared to the segment volume. I'm turning my volume down as far as it can go and then have to crank it back up when the next segment starts.

I fear Giant Bomb's war against Audio Quality will never end.

Agreed. I'm watching the E3 press conference videos and I have to crank up the volume to hear them. Then when I move on to the next video the waiting music at the start scares the crap out of me by how loud it is.

Hmmm, I don't know. I switch devices, and systems too much every year. For this e3, they kept the conference feeds too low. I get that they are talking over them, but to talk over something there needs to be something to talk over.

WHAT?

I'm sorry I couldn't help it. For real though, some content has been mad quiet.

This only happens to me with Live Shows. Audio is always super low for those. I keep my volume around 35, but for GB live shows, I always need to punch it up to around 60 or 70.

There are devices that actively give a clear visual monitor, external from computers and tablets and phones, of the outgoing/combined incoming audio level. Like a 19" 1U piece of rack with a ton of LEDs from green to yellow to red, indicating when you're good. Radio and TV have or had had these. It's a must-have in live situations so that you'll ensure that you're mixing to the proper level for broadcast.

The old broadcasting rules of mix to -20db with peaks at -10db at most ever do not apply since this place deals with headphones, earplugs, computer speakers, monitor speakers and the fact that TV speakers have changed a bunch since, but do aim for never ever passing the digital zero in peaks with compression active everrrrrrrrrrrr. You'll need to to test it and make sure it does the job, ask people to get loud with their mics like they were people with heart and soul left in their bodies, reacting to TLG, FF7Remake, Shenmue 3 announcements. Just avoid the lengthy A/C noise artefact-rich compression tails. Then it'll be all fine.

(Game audio, game music is often inaudible like a mutha in quicklooks, can definitely afford to pump it up. Don't be afraid to set up slight ducking compression)

I got in trouble with my neighbor thanks to this. I had to crank the audio up uncomfortably high to hear the conversation during the E3 show and didn't realize my subwoofer was rattling the floorboards.

Yup, it's pretty darned quiet. It's gotten to the point where I have to plug in headphones to watch GB vids, even if I'd rather use my sound system. Otherwise I have the same issue as @edgecrusher

Personally I haven't noticed anything with the video volume, but maybe I just haven't been paying attention. The Beastcast, on the other hand, I have noticed as being pretty quiet. I constantly find myself turning the volume in my car up a bunch between listening to the Bombcast and Beastcast

Maybe those of you having problems need to recalibrate your audio setup. For me, the audio levels are fine, whether watching on a tablet, TV or computer. Yes, GB's videos are quieter than average and the volume varies between videos, but all are in the normal range of levels I hear from other sources and are well within the range of my devices' volume settings.

I'm sitting here listening to the day 2 stream, and if I walk away from my table I can't hear a damn thing.

Seems like day 3 is way better, so I don't know what the hell causes this on their end. I don't have huge external speakers for my laptop, but they need to take some responsibility. Just listen to the difference between day 2 and day 3.

@prestige: I thought that at first as well, however I've done calibration on my home theater setup, and the audio volume difference can easily be heard on other devices when comparing GB content of today to GB content of 2 years ago. (or Current GB content to anything else at all).

Yes. It is quiet. I avoid listening to GB content and other content at the same time because even videogames at their low-low-lowest still overpower the Bomb Crew if they speak too softly. GBeast content is better about this, but GB as a whole is quieter than the entire rest of the internet.

I always have to increase my volume when watching GB videos, I just thought it was their way of keeping audio safe so it doesn't clip or something

I'm bumping this because the MGS videos are basically inaudible for me if I'm not listening in a quiet place. Why did we never get a staff response to this? With nearly 50 responses I don't understand how this can't be acknowledged as an actual issue.

@silver-streak: In the old "How to make a TNT" video Vinny addresses this issue directly. Because of the way they have to run multiple audio sources, they simply cant boost the audio unless they get more compressors. Its at 45:25.

Anyone have any extensions or anything they use to bump up volume on GB videos? I'm definitely in the "I have to turn their stuff up way loud" camp. Hardly a scientific measure but lately I'll have a video on my second monitor while playing GTA and I have to turn the game audio down to like 20% to be able to hear the full volume GB stuff at the same time.