Podcasts are now so much quieter than songs

[namida21]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Pixel 7

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

Podcasts sound are now so much lower than songs. This has been happening for a month. Listen to any NPR podcast with any song for comparison. It applies to other podcasts too. I have to turn the volume up for it to play at the same level of a song. This is not right. Thanks for looking into this.

[Dessi]

Hi there @namida21,

Thanks for reaching out!

It's possible that the podcasts are uploaded this way, so can you try enabling/disabling Normalize volume in the app settings to see if that makes a difference? If the issue persists, it'd be great if you can make a screen recording, so that we can have a closer look and compare. If the file is too large to attach, you can upload it to Google Drive (make sure to allow general access to the file) or as an unlisted YouTube video.

Let us know how it goes.

[mau_monares]

Hi everyone, so, it's been a few weeks since I noticed this issue with Spotify, specially with playlists like Daily Drive, everytime I'm listening to a song and there's a podcast in the queue or playing next, the volume goes too low when the podcast starts, and I have to close and restart the app so the volume can be normal again.

I researched about this issue but no one seems to have reported it yet, I read something about disabling the "Normalize volume" and "Enable hardware acceleration" options but none of them have helped.

I have also tested on my phone but it works fine there so I think this is a desktop issue.

[Brightside1]

Spotify is my app of choice to listen to podcasts but the sound quality on several podcasts across your platform is so bad that I struggle to hear what the podcaster is saying. To clarify, the volume is too quiet, especially when compared to the volume for music on Spotify.

Example podcasts: The Newest Olympian, FiveThirtyEight Politics, and Until Saturday.

These podcasts are part of large podcast networks or have huge backers (e.g. Disney and the NYT).

Either adjust the volume of podcasts automatically or give podcasters the tools they need to make their episodes audible. Or give listeners the tools to increase the volume of shows.

Spotify might want to blame the podcasts for having poor audio quality but when it happens across shows with large backers, it becomes Spotify’s problem to solve.

[ygingras]

I have the same problem, almost all podcasts are 20% to 30% quieter than any songs, with normalize volume enabled. Some podcasts, like the World Anvil series are too quiet to listen to without headphones.

[ygingras]

The "Normalize volume" setting should do something to make the podcasts roughly as loud as songs, but it doesn't. Enabling this option still leaves the podcasts 20% to 30% quieter than songs.

[missholphin]

I thought I was the only one! It’s insanely annoying, when I’m switching from a song to a podcast I have to turn the volume up, and then I get deafened when I switch back to songs. It seems to have only changed recently. Please change it back!

[Alenjak7]

Some posts say podcasts are too quiet; this is not that. I'm reporting a bug.

When I begin my session listening to podcasts, their sound is fine. But when I switch to podcasts after listening to music, they are significantly quieter. I know this to be the case because when I completely close the app and re-enter directly to the podcast (without changing the volume), the volume is back to clearly louder and back to normal.

I noticed this on mobile and haven't tested it on desktop.

[yurimy]

Spotify; get your act together. Make podcats loud like they were before and while you are at it, add the damn New Episodes tab to the desktop app. I am this close to moving away to a different podcast app. 

[rwli]

I used to have Audio Normalization ON and at “Normal” and it worked fine but in the last couple months podcasts became extremely quiet compared to music and I would have to crank up the volume in my car close to max to hear them. I had to turn Audio Normalization OFF for the podcasts to get back to the previous, usable volume range, but music is still very much louder. It would be great if this was reverted back to the way it was.

[lelatar]

Same problem here, I paid attention to it for like 2 or 3 weeks now. 

[Yordan]

Hey folks,

Thanks for the reports.

Just to confirm, do you notice this after listening to music first, like @Alenjak7 mentioned? Does restarting the app bring the sound back to normal? It's worth checking if the issue occurs on another device (your PC for example) or the Web Player as well.

A short screen recording which captures the app's behavior in action along with the information below would be greatly appreciated, as it would help us investigate further:

• the version of Spotify you're running
• whether Volume Normalization is switched ON or OFF.

Keep us posted.

[ygingras]

Here's with volume normalization enabled (quiet-podcasts-repro-1-small.mp4) and with normalization disabled (quiet-podcasts-repro-2-small.mp4).

Both are from a fresh start of the app with the latest version available on Google Play. The one with normalization enabled shows a more dramatic drop of volume when we transition to the podcast, but the other one also shows a noticeable drop. Playing with the environment volume level changes how loud the play stream is, but the podcasts are still quieter than songs by roughly the same margin.

Samsung Galaxy S10e, Android 12.

[MihailY]

Hey @ygingras,

Thanks for your reply and for taking the time to record the videos, we really appreciate it.

Is it possible to run another test and see if there's any difference in the volume level when the podcast episode is the first thing you play after closing and reopening the app and when it's played after a music track? We're trying to find out if 

Also, do you remember when this first started happening or was it always like that? Can you check if you get the same behavior in the web player as @Yordan suggested above?

Cheers,

[ygingras]

I'm not sure if the problem was always there, but I'm confident I noticed it in mid-June.

When the podcast plays first, it seems like normalization puts the songs that follows  at a lower volume that closely match the podcast. If normalization is off, then the song that follows the podcast seems louder.

The problem does not seem to be present on the Web player. The song and podcasts used in the videos above seem to be roughly the same volume, no matter in what order I listen to them.

[MihailY]

Hey @ygingras,

Thanks for the additional videos.

Everyone else in the thread, can you please check as well? To summarize, we'd need the following info:

1. Is there any difference in the volume if you start the podcast first thing when you open the app or after a music track?
2. Is the difference between the podcast and music volume smaller when Normalize volume is toggled on/off?
3. The models, OS versions and Spotify versions of the devices this occurs on.
4. A few examples of podcasts where you've noticed this.
5. If possible, a short video of the issue.

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[Orion5]

I just found this thread because I was having the same issue and after a little bit of experimenting I can say for certain that podcasts are quieter when a normal song is played before it. I'm using the desktop app on Windows 10 and as of today the app is up to date (I can't find the version number). I also have Normalize Volume turned on.

When I play a normal song before Trash Taste Podcast, the podcast is very quiet. If I go from Trash Taste and play JapanesePod101 for even just one or two seconds and switch back to Trash Taste, Trash Taste is now at normal volume.

I hope this helps, I'll stay posted and check back later.

[MihailY]

Hey @Orion5,

Thanks for posting!

You can use the steps in this guide to find your app version.

Can you also check if you get the same behavior when Normalize volume is toggled off?

Cheers,

[namida21]

Hello, delayed reply, just seeing this. I don't believe it's the podcast. I tried toggling volume normalization off, and tested with a few podcast to song combinations. It sounds better when it's off, which doesn't make sense of course. I've always had normalization on and noticed the issue a couple of months ago like another user said here. Will keep that setting off for now. FWIW my sequence is as follows:

1. Play Daily Drive playlist
2. Search for NPR News Now and add to top of the queue after the Daily Drive intro
3. Then I move 3-4 songs ahead to have it play after
4. After those songs play Up First podcast plays

That's my routine on most days of the week. Thanks.

[ygingras]

That's also how I listen to podcasts most of the time. I start a long
"driving" playlist, I then queue a few podcasts, and then I move them
deeper in the queue so I have about two or three songs in between each
podcasts.