Guest Commentary: SB 576 puts streaming audio processing under the spotlight

WATERFORD, Ireland — California’s SB 576, set to take effect in July 2026, extends loudness regulation beyond traditional broadcast into the streaming domain. Similar to the federal CALM Act for broadcast television, passed in 2010, SB 576 mandates that streaming platforms serving California residents must ensure commercial audio levels do not exceed those of accompanying content. While the law technically applies only within California, the state’s outsized influence on the media and tech industries (many of the major platforms are headquartered there) means it is likely to set a de facto national standard. State Senator Thomas Umberg introduced the bill after his legislative director, Zach Keller, told him that loud ads were causing problems for him and his wife when they were watching streaming video. They would set the volume to a suitably low level to allow their baby daughter to sleep, only to have her awakened by a loud ad.

Although a U.S. state legislation, SB 576’s reach extends beyond California-based operations. Any content provider whose audience includes California residents should ensure compliance, regardless of their physical location. While ad insertion platforms will normalize their commercial inventory to -14 LUFS, content creators face a critical workflow decision: allow the platform to apply basic normalization or maintain control through professional audio processing.

Standard DAW loudness normalization operates on file-level averaging — a blunt instrument that can mask significant loudness variations within longer-form content. A 30-minute podcast with widely varying segment levels may technically pass loudness compliance measurement while delivering an inconsistent listener experience. This averaging approach mirrors other areas of life — including a billionaire CEO’s salary in a calculation of average company remuneration will likely yield equally skewed results!

The broadcast processing advantage

Professional top-end broadcast-grade audio processors employ sophisticated loudness measurement windows — in the case of the Orban Optimod, typically 10 seconds of continuous analysis rather than simple file averaging. This methodology, along with many other (often proprietary) techniques to “sweeten” and refine the audio, was developed over decades and considers many factors in human psychoacoustic perception rather than purely mathematical averages.

Systems like Orban Optimod, long established in radio and television transmission chains, apply this intelligent processing approach. The technology ensures not just regulatory compliance, but consistent, engaging audio that maintains listener attention across varying playback environments. These techniques, however, are rarely applied to podcasts (whether audio or video) or other on-demand content, especially if the publisher doesn’t have a broadcast background.

Audyllic’s platform, first developed in 2021, adapts and integrates Optimod’s broadcast processing algorithms into file-based workflows. The system processes audio faster than real time while supporting multiple formats beyond standard WAV files — a critical requirement for modern multiformat distribution.

An application called the SmartWatch Folder extends this capability into automated production workflows. Supporting both audio-only and MP4 video files, the system monitors designated input folders and processes files automatically according to preset parameters.

Workflow integration

The Watch Folder architecture offers several production-focused features:

• Video audio processing: MP4 files undergo audio extraction, processing through Optimod algorithms, and seamless reintegration — typically at 6X real-time speed
• Format flexibility: Multiple input and output formats, including MP3 generation from source material
• Preprocessing options: Configurable noise reduction, echo suppression and acoustic treatment
• Loudness targeting: Multiple standard options, including BS.1770 LUFS and RMS normalization
• File management: Configurable handling of source files with options to preserve, delete, or overwrite originals
• Naming conventions: Automated suffix generation for processed file identification.

Deployment options include cloud-based processing or on-premises installation using client-hosted Orban Optimod-PCn1600 instances, providing flexibility for facilities with existing broadcast infrastructure investment.

While SB 576 compliance represents a regulatory requirement, professional audio processing delivers measurable competitive benefits. Edison Research data consistently show that podcast consumption in mobile environments, such as automobiles, aircraft and public transit, lags broadcast radio’s automotive dominance. While not proven, it makes sense that this disparity correlates directly with audio processing quality.

Broadcast-grade processing enhances intelligibility in high-noise environments by maintaining consistent loudness, optimizing spectral balance and controlling dynamic range. These same techniques that make broadcast radio effective in vehicles apply equally to on-demand content, yet remain underutilized in the streaming sector.

With SB 576’s July 2026 effective date approaching, content providers serving California audiences should evaluate their audio processing workflows now. The combination of regulatory compliance requirements and competitive audio quality considerations makes this transition point an opportunity to implement broadcast-standard processing across streaming operations.

For facilities already operating Optimod PCn1600 software in transmission chains, Audyllic’s architecture provides workflow integration without requiring separate processing units. Organizations new to broadcast-grade processing can initially deploy cloud-based solutions, with migration paths to on-premises infrastructure as operations scale.

The author is the technical director of Audyllic and has more than 40 years of radio experience.

This story originally appeared in the March/April 2026 edition of RedTech Magazine. You can read or download it for free here.

You can access all past RedTech publications, for free, here.

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