Films on TV, very loud music, quiet dialogue
Discussion
Does this bother anyone else? We like watching films but that pleasure can be seriously reduced by having to keep turning the volume up and down so that we can hear the dialogue without having the loud 'music' bits ream our ears.
I don't think there's a cure for this, unless the people who convert films to be shown on tv either as broadcast or dvd could be persuaded to do something about it?
I don't think there's a cure for this, unless the people who convert films to be shown on tv either as broadcast or dvd could be persuaded to do something about it?
its not just you...gets on my tits as well!
its the same with TV as well, you're watching a nice quiet drama , then you nearly get your ear drums burst when it comes to the adverts!
i've seen several points of view type progams where this has been mentioned, and every time the TV lot deny there is a problem.
its the same with TV as well, you're watching a nice quiet drama , then you nearly get your ear drums burst when it comes to the adverts!
i've seen several points of view type progams where this has been mentioned, and every time the TV lot deny there is a problem.
Two things here;
In the case of films, IMHO, its bad practise when making the transfer to DVD, or in some cases just poor sound editing.
For adverts being louder than the program material - this is deliberate I'm afraid. Ad companies competing for your attention. They know most people take a pee/make a drink in the adverts so they make sure you can hear it even if yo can't see it. Plus other psychological stuff about subconcious penetration if you're senses are alerted i.e. in reaching for the volume control your focus is totally on the content of their advert - in a negative way of course, but then that's part of their black arts.
Both extremely infuriating though its the bad audio levels in films that annoy me the most, mainly because its lazy.
In the case of films, IMHO, its bad practise when making the transfer to DVD, or in some cases just poor sound editing.
For adverts being louder than the program material - this is deliberate I'm afraid. Ad companies competing for your attention. They know most people take a pee/make a drink in the adverts so they make sure you can hear it even if yo can't see it. Plus other psychological stuff about subconcious penetration if you're senses are alerted i.e. in reaching for the volume control your focus is totally on the content of their advert - in a negative way of course, but then that's part of their black arts.
Both extremely infuriating though its the bad audio levels in films that annoy me the most, mainly because its lazy.
s 
) showing their forthcoming programmes are getting very bad.neil.b said:
For adverts being louder than the program material - this is deliberate I'm afraid. Ad companies competing for your attention.
Yes, infuriating. I just turn the sound off or channel-hop for a few minutes.
And then when they've finished the ads, they spend another 2 minutes banging on about their other programmes - and then when that's over, bloody Stella or Peugeot have another go as they've 'sponsored' the next programme.
Programme break anyone?
I'm sure this has something to do with the treatment of dialogue within the overall sound mix of many films, certainly historically.
Obviously it varies but you often find, particularly when auditioning a soundtrack using reasonable quality AV kit, how 'stunted' is the soundtrack, as if it's almost musted within the mix.
This doesn't seem to happen on CGI productions where there is no non-studio based miking but witness even the best action productions, like the last Star Wars episode and even within such holy realms, there exist moments of almost analogue tape style DBX compression.
Like paint swirls on a brand new Bentley, this remains one of life's unfathomable irritations.
Obviously it varies but you often find, particularly when auditioning a soundtrack using reasonable quality AV kit, how 'stunted' is the soundtrack, as if it's almost musted within the mix.
This doesn't seem to happen on CGI productions where there is no non-studio based miking but witness even the best action productions, like the last Star Wars episode and even within such holy realms, there exist moments of almost analogue tape style DBX compression.
Like paint swirls on a brand new Bentley, this remains one of life's unfathomable irritations.
neil.b said:
Two things here;
In the case of films, IMHO, its bad practise when making the transfer to DVD, or in some cases just poor sound editing.
For adverts being louder than the program material - this is deliberate I'm afraid. Ad companies competing for your attention. They know most people take a pee/make a drink in the adverts so they make sure you can hear it even if yo can't see it. Plus other psychological stuff about subconcious penetration if you're senses are alerted i.e. in reaching for the volume control your focus is totally on the content of their advert - in a negative way of course, but then that's part of their black arts.
Both extremely infuriating though its the bad audio levels in films that annoy me the most, mainly because its lazy.
Yes it annoys the tits off me too re films.
Now i noticed something with the advert volume last week. It was on a digital channel where the signal kept breaking up, except when the ads came on the signal was perfect, not one pixel block or black out, clearly the signal strength was being boosted during the ad break. Proof that the broadcaster are doing it, if proof were needed.
xm5er said:
Now i noticed something with the advert volume last week. It was on a digital channel where the signal kept breaking up, except when the ads came on the signal was perfect, not one pixel block or black out, clearly the signal strength was being boosted during the ad break. Proof that the broadcaster are doing it, if proof were needed.
I wouldn't have thought signal strength governs volume with digital? It's either there ot ir isn't, surely?
simpo two said:
Now i noticed something with the advert volume last week. It was on a digital channel where the signal kept breaking up, except when the ads came on the signal was perfect, not one pixel block or black out, clearly the signal strength was being boosted during the ad break. Proof that the broadcaster are doing it, if proof were needed.
I wouldn't have thought signal strength governs volume with digital? It's either there ot ir isn't, surely?
Me neither, but it was very odd how when the program itself was almost unwatchable, the ads were perfect. I'm sure someone will be along to explain my rectal verbosity but just passing on an observation.
It's even more annoying on flights...
Just come back from holiday in Cuba, flying with Virgin. We always take our own earphones (the ones that pop in your ear) as you don't stand a chance of hearing anything with the freebies which sit over your ear.
The upshot being that everyone cranks their films up to the max so they can hear the dialog and you can't get any sleep because the loud bits fill the cabin.
A letter to the airline is in the offing.
Just come back from holiday in Cuba, flying with Virgin. We always take our own earphones (the ones that pop in your ear) as you don't stand a chance of hearing anything with the freebies which sit over your ear.
The upshot being that everyone cranks their films up to the max so they can hear the dialog and you can't get any sleep because the loud bits fill the cabin.
A letter to the airline is in the offing.
derestrictor said:
I'm sure this has something to do with the treatment of dialogue within the overall sound mix of many films, certainly historically.
There's an obvious cost implication to using ADR (Automate Dialogue Replacement or Additional Dialogue Recording, depenging on who you ask). Most resonable budget films will have 95% of their production sound replaced in the editing suite this way. I guess when its bad, either they didn't have the money to undertake the process ot it suffered from "it'll do" attitude. Many television productions cannot afford it. I'd also imagine that the proliferation of bigger (i resisted saying better) speakers used for front L & R, whereas similar epic leaps of decibels are not seen in the centre speakers, only compound the problem.
xm5er said:
Now i noticed something with the advert volume last week. It was on a digital channel where the signal kept breaking up, except when the ads came on the signal was perfect, not one pixel block or black out, clearly the signal strength was being boosted during the ad break. Proof that the broadcaster are doing it, if proof were needed.
I wouldn't have thought signal strength governs volume with digital? It's either there ot ir isn't, surely?
Me neither, but it was very odd how when the program itself was almost unwatchable, the ads were perfect. I'm sure someone will be along to explain my rectal verbosity but just passing on an observation.
The audio is an analogue signal which is encoded digitally before being transmitted - so if you have crap signal strength you will get a blocky picture. If you’re getting intermittent blocky picture problems it’s either due to a fault in the transmitter, digital stream errors or a faulty tuner in your receiver.
simpo two said:
For adverts being louder than the program material - this is deliberate I'm afraid. Ad companies competing for your attention.
Yes, infuriating. I just turn the sound off or channel-hop for a few minutes.
We've taken to simply switching the sound off for the ads now too.Yes, we noticed it too but now have a 32" Phillips widescreen TV with automatic volume control function.
Speech is at normal volume but anything louder is adjusted downward automatically, it works well.
The other option is connect the TV to your stereo and use the equaliser on that to reduce volume at different frequencies.
Even though our TV has AVC, I now favour using our stereo as sound can be tailored far better and it sounds like you're sitting in the cinema
Speech is at normal volume but anything louder is adjusted downward automatically, it works well.
The other option is connect the TV to your stereo and use the equaliser on that to reduce volume at different frequencies.
Even though our TV has AVC, I now favour using our stereo as sound can be tailored far better and it sounds like you're sitting in the cinema
yes, we find the same! We spent hundreds on a Sony home cinema system, but we still get the same as some of you describe - adverts are the biggest pain, they ARE LOUDER, I don't care what they say to dissuade us otherwise - if I need to turn the volume down when these infernal ads come on, then they are too loud!
Also, not all DVD movies are the same regarding the sound, some sound nigh on perfect, a very happy medium between special effects sounds, music and voices (off the top of my head, 2 stand out as perfect, I Robot and Master and Commander), but some, they seem to save all the loudness for explosions and music, with speech barely audible (no matter how you fiddle with all the settings!)
Also, not all DVD movies are the same regarding the sound, some sound nigh on perfect, a very happy medium between special effects sounds, music and voices (off the top of my head, 2 stand out as perfect, I Robot and Master and Commander), but some, they seem to save all the loudness for explosions and music, with speech barely audible (no matter how you fiddle with all the settings!)
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff