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Ten Million Bumble Bees ?


hilldweller

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Is it just me or is everyone else tee'd off with the accompanyment to the football commentaries ?

Apparently Sainsburys are also selling the dreaded Vuvuzela's in Britain. Can we expect Wimbledon or the test matches to be "enhanced" by this cursed insrument. If I turn down the volume to a point where the bl---y things become bearable then I can't hear the commentary. Being of a technical bent (but not otherwise bent), I routed the TV sound through my sound system and tried to tune out the interfearence with a graphic equaliser. However when the trumpets disappeared so did the commentary.

If it's the British TV companies doing the broadcasts you would have thought they could attenuate the crowd noises a bit in favour of the commentators microphones, but I supposed they just get feeds from local TV.

If this instrument catches on It might be a blessing when I lose my hearing. Those poor souls with hearing problems that cause mid-frequency reinforcement must be hiding away from their TV.

HD

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Is it just me or is everyone else tee'd off with the accompanyment to the football commentaries ?

Apparently Sainsburys are also selling the dreaded Vuvuzela's in Britain. Can we expect Wimbledon or the test matches to be "enhanced" by this cursed insrument. If I turn down the volume to a point where the bl---y things become bearable then I can't hear the commentary. Being of a technical bent (but not otherwise bent), I routed the TV sound through my sound system and tried to tune out the interfearence with a graphic equaliser. However when the trumpets disappeared so did the commentary.

If it's the British TV companies doing the broadcasts you would have thought they could attenuate the crowd noises a bit in favour of the commentators microphones, but I supposed they just get feeds from local TV.

If this instrument catches on It might be a blessing when I lose my hearing. Those poor souls with hearing problems that cause mid-frequency reinforcement must be hiding away from their TV.

HD

I agree with you fully. What was the point of all World Cup Songs if the fans or Players cant hear them for that VERY ANNOYING NOISE..

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Is it just me or is everyone else tee'd off with the accompanyment to the football commentaries ?

Apparently Sainsburys are also selling the dreaded Vuvuzela's in Britain. Can we expect Wimbledon or the test matches to be "enhanced" by this cursed insrument. If I turn down the volume to a point where the bl---y things become bearable then I can't hear the commentary. Being of a technical bent (but not otherwise bent), I routed the TV sound through my sound system and tried to tune out the interfearence with a graphic equaliser. However when the trumpets disappeared so did the commentary.

If it's the British TV companies doing the broadcasts you would have thought they could attenuate the crowd noises a bit in favour of the commentators microphones, but I supposed they just get feeds from local TV.

If this instrument catches on It might be a blessing when I lose my hearing. Those poor souls with hearing problems that cause mid-frequency reinforcement must be hiding away from their TV.

HD

Couldn't agree with you more hilldweller, and it's funny you should mention it.

I am not really interested in football and only really watch the World Cup, - at least it is only once every 4 years.

I had told my wife "TV will be rubbish for the next month" and that "There is no way I am going to watch 3 old has beens that can't string an intelligent sentence together discussing for 3 hours a match that only lasted one and half." and neither would I watch "A load of celebrity commentators talking out of their a*** that have only been sent to cover the World Cup as a "freebie" holiday at the licence payers expense."

But I did add that "I may watch the odd match"

The first opportunity came on Friday night with the very first match France v Uruguay. A match that no English Francophile would want to miss.

Well I watched the first 15 minutes or so and then turned it off.

I couldn't stand the monotonous, endless drone of those bloody horns!

I don't think I will be watching any more matches unless the sound is turned off.

And as for the commentary, I don't bother with it anyway. Why do I need someone to tell me in an overly excited manner what I can perfectly well see for myself?

It is television NOT radio

I don't like being treated like some sort of idiot (like in those programmes that say "coming up next" and then tell you what is about to happen in the next 10 minutes of viewing) and I don't like listening to some self opinionated pillock from the BBC.

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I'm told the TV companies have asked the organisers to ban the horns, but were told 'it's part of the South African football culture' so no ban. My interest is a similar level to Dave's, but I shan't be watching another match, unless it's with the sound off!

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I'm told the TV companies have asked the organisers to ban the horns, but were told 'it's part of the South African football culture' so no ban. My interest is a similar level to Dave's, but I shan't be watching another match, unless it's with the sound off!

Well, that's 4 of us that can't stand the noise of those horns.

There is a device that gives out very high frequencies which teenagers can hear and dislike intensely, but older people, with the drop off in high frequenct response, can't detect. It has been used to prevent gangs of teenagers congregating in certain places.

Perhaps these horns do exactly the same thing to an older generation.

It reminds me of a scene from the 1940 Laurel & Hardy film "Saps at Sea" where the boys work in a factory which makes and tests car horns (the sort with a rubber bulb to squeeze as would be fitted to an old Model T Ford). Eventually the noise drives Ollie mad and he has to be taken to the doctors who diagnoses his mental breakdown as "hornitus"

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Well, that's 4 of us that can't stand the noise of those horns.

At work almost all the casual conversation these days seems to be about the football world cup.

Practically everyone I have spoken to thinks the same.

The constant sound of those horns is ruining their enjoyment of watching the match.

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I'd like to run a comparison between the Vuvuzela and its oh-so-English forerunner. The RATTLE. The scarfe and the rattle were the last things we picked up before walking out the door on a Saturday afternoon, compared to the Vuvuzela, it was a veritable weapon! And if it's decibels we're comparing, I would back 10,000 rattles against 10 million bumble bees anyday. The difference being, you could never sustain the noise the rattle made, it was only good for short bursts or the wrist, arm and shoulder soon became as limp as jelly. Anyway, they banned the rattle and the Vuvuzela will never find it's way onto English terraces, thank heaven.

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I'd like to run a comparison between the Vuvuzela and its oh-so-English forerunner. The RATTLE. The scarfe and the rattle were the last things we picked up before walking out the door on a Saturday afternoon, compared to the Vuvuzela, it was a veritable weapon! And if it's decibels we're comparing, I would back 10,000 rattles against 10 million bumble bees anyday. The difference being, you could never sustain the noise the rattle made, it was only good for short bursts or the wrist, arm and shoulder soon became as limp as jelly. Anyway, they banned the rattle and the Vuvuzela will never find it's way onto English terraces, thank heaven.

Sadly according to this mornings radio Sainsburys are selling the Vuvuzelas at a rate of one every two seconds.

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Sadly according to this mornings radio Sainsburys are selling the Vuvuzelas at a rate of one every two seconds.

I here the BBC are considering a commentary only feed via the "Red Button" to cut out this noise.

Not being a football fan, won't this be strange and lack atmosphere, just a video feed and commentary?

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I'd like to run a comparison between the Vuvuzela and its oh-so-English forerunner. The RATTLE. The scarfe and the rattle were the last things we picked up before walking out the door on a Saturday afternoon, compared to the Vuvuzela, it was a veritable weapon! And if it's decibels we're comparing, I would back 10,000 rattles against 10 million bumble bees anyday. The difference being, you could never sustain the noise the rattle made, it was only good for short bursts or the wrist, arm and shoulder soon became as limp as jelly. Anyway, they banned the rattle and the Vuvuzela will never find it's way onto English terraces, thank heaven.

I didn't realise the rattle had been banned.

When I was younger I am sure some kids made their own rattles in woodwork lessons at school.

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I here the BBC are considering a commentary only feed via the "Red Button" to cut out this noise.

Not being a football fan, won't this be strange and lack atmosphere, just a video feed and commentary?

I don't suppose it will be any more boring than listening to a commentary on a 3 day cricket match on the radio. <_<

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I here the BBC are considering a commentary only feed via the "Red Button" to cut out this noise.

Not being a football fan, won't this be strange and lack atmosphere, just a video feed and commentary?

So if they can cut out the crowd noise altogether, why don't they merely adjust the balance between the commentary mic and the "live" crowd noise.

They could turn it down a bit instead of cutting it altogether.

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So if they can cut out the crowd noise altogether, why don't they merely adjust the balance between the commentary mic and the "live" crowd noise.

They could turn it down a bit instead of cutting it altogether.

Seems common sense to me vox, on quite easily done.

However, the broadcasting companies seem to be totally incapable of normalising the sound volumes anyway.

The news is always quieter than the programmes and the adverts on commercial TV are louder than anything else.

To maintain a normal volume level requires constant readjustment of the volume control.

Now, - if their sound engineers did their job properly.....

Perhaps on second thoughts it's too much to ask that they could merely adjust 2 sliders on a mixing desk to solve the problem of the horns.

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Did anyone else notice,-

In last nights South Africa match, once it became obvious that South Africa were going to lose all those horns suddenly fell silent.

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Seems common sense to me vox, on quite easily done.

However, the broadcasting companies seem to be totally incapable of normalising the sound volumes anyway.

The news is always quieter than the programmes and the adverts on commercial TV are louder than anything else.

This complaint comes up from time to time and we are always fobbed off by the broadcasters.

The argument they use to "prove" that adverts are not "Louder" than the programs is in fact a con.

They present an advert's audio file which peaks at 0db and also show that the audio of the program also peaks at 0db.

In effect saying that they are as loud as each other.

It's actually compression and expansion that they are using.

If the audio on the adverts is highly compressed, then although it doesn't peak at more than 0 db, neither does anything fall much below it. Thus making the overall volume louder because the peaks and troughs are leveled out.

They're just making the science fit their case.

Here are a couple of screen shots, both of the same audio clip.

First one is the natural recorded sound just normalised to 0db

Same file but I've simply compressed it at about 4:1 above minus10db then normalised to 0db

As you can see, the peaks in the second shot have been brought down relatively, so as to make less contrast between them and the "quieter" parts. Therefore when the file is normalised to 0db, the whole thing appears louder.

Adverts will probably be compressed at an even higher ratio than this one, and also expanded at the lower end. Probably to the extent that the wave appears as a solid tube at 0db.

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This complaint comes up from time to time and we are always fobbed off by the broadcasters.

The argument they use to "prove" that adverts are not "Louder" than the programs is in fact a con.

They present an advert's audio file which peaks at 0db and also show that the audio of the program also peaks at 0db.

In effect saying that they are as loud as each other.

It's actually compression and expansion that they are using.

If the audio on the adverts is highly compressed, then although it doesn't peak at more than 0 db, neither does anything fall much below it. Thus making the overall volume louder because the peaks and troughs are leveled out.

They're just making the science fit their case.

Here are a couple of screen shots, both of the same audio clip.

First one is the natural recorded sound just normalised to 0db

Same file but I've simply compressed it at about 4:1 above minus10db then normalised to 0db

As you can see, the peaks in the second shot have been brought down relatively, so as to make less contrast between them and the "quieter" parts. Therefore when the file is normalised to 0db, the whole thing appears louder.

Adverts will probably be compressed at an even higher ratio than this one, and also expanded at the lower end. Probably to the extent that the wave appears as a solid tube at 0db.

Yes, I get that, and it would hardly be any bother at all to put it right would it.

I strongly suspect that the broadcasters are getting higher advertising revenue by deliberately leaving the adverts over loud and so are not prepared to adjust the volumes and so they then have to try and fob us off with a load of rubbish and lies about levels.

It's not just the broadcasters who do it though is it.

Why is the sound on a DVD recording always lower than on a broadcast programme?

Why do some commercial CD's (not ones that have been knocked off on a computer CD writer) have volume levels on different tracks which are not normalised?

I don't think either of these problems would take much effort to solve.

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Sadly according to this mornings radio Sainsburys are selling the Vuvuzelas at a rate of one every two seconds.

I've just got a VuVuzela app for my iphone, great for winding people up at work

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I've just got a VuVuzela app for my iphone, great for winding people up at work

Don't try and wind me up with it as I'm likely to shove it where I'd like to shove the real VuVuzelas in a place where the Sun don't shine. :o

Why didn't you get a nice iRaq to stand your iPhone on instead. lol

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So, the 2010 World Cup so far, -

France were beaten early on

USA came in late and ended up on top

We were left to face the Germans.

To me that sounds more like a history of the Second World war than a football competition! lol

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So, the 2010 World Cup so far, -

France were beaten early on

USA came in late and ended up on top

We were left to face the Germans.

To me that sounds more like a history of the Second World war than a football competition! lol

It gets worse,-

Italy quickly fell back

Japan came on strong

Still more like the war!

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It gets worse,-

Italy quickly fell back

Japan came on strong

Still more like the war!

Think the comparison ended when Germany beat us 4-1 (should have been 4-2) in that quarter final

This years final is

Spain, a neutral country during the war, having already been devastated in the 1930's by the Spanish Civil War

v

Holland, a country which spent 4 long years under Nazi occupation.

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I've just got a VuVuzela app for my iphone, great for winding people up at work

Just came across this.

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Just came across this.

The vuvuzeula is one of those really annoying instruments that gets on your nerves and you really hate the sound of.

It's that long continuous drone that does it.

Those repeated semibreves which have been tied across many, many bars of music.

I rate the vuvuzeula the new worst instrument ever, removing the bagpipes from this previous unenviable title.

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Just came across this.

Someone's been creative, as I remember the original said banjo, (or was it accordion?) not vuvuzela. Nice bit of updating, and so applicable!

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Someone's been creative, as I remember the original said banjo, (or was it accordion?) not vuvuzela. Nice bit of updating, and so applicable!

No I'm OK with banjo and accordion, they sound OK if played properly

It's bagpipes and Vuvuzuelas that annoy me.

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