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cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/nonpolitical_comics/p/1657114/mr-lovenstein-volume
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Ok, I’ll try to keep this in mind
Subtitles can save you a lot of headaches.
Our TV has a shit sound distribution so it is literally like in the meme and our solution became to always have subtitles on even now that we live in a place with soundproof walls and no longer have to mind neighbors.
By default I enable Loudness Equalization, which makes soft sounds louder and loud sounds softer.
I don't care about the dynamic range if you can't understand what they are saying.
And this is why I, a genius, watch my content with subtitles. So I can keep the volume at a perpetually low level whilst still understanding what is being said even when it isn’t in a language I speak.
FYI this is one of the main differences between the Hollywood and German soundtracks.
Here it's mixed far better to listen in stereo while in surround cinematic you need to turn the front speaker up, if you have that system. And it doesn't translate well to stereo.
Wouldn't that be a question of studio sound versus scene sound? The original sound is usually recorded with a boom mic, resulting in a wider dynamic range, whereas the German voiceover can be recorded in a studio, without interference and the speakers much closer to the mic.
The alternative would be to give each actor a lapel mic which would then have to be edited out of the video and would also be infeasible in some situations.
Hollywood mixes are just awful, have been for decades now. You can go to the theater and have quiet voices and blown-out eardrums from a race scene.
I have a middle-to-upper-end 5.1 setup and have to fiddle with it like hell to keep the voices audible without ruining the action scenes.
And just forget about watching a Christopher Nolan film
Tenet was unwatchable without subtitles.
I haven't watched it yet. Kinda want to, I have a low bar for video enjoyment. Maybe I'll throw it on my phone and wait for a no-network time, but i'll make sure i have subs for it :)
Watch Memento first. Its his better, non linear, film.
Scene:
Next scene, more of the same
They mix shit for 7.1 and to hell with everyone else
This wasn't a thing a couple of decades ago. To this day I can still watch movies from the eighties just fine, but need subtitles for anything made within the last 10 years.
Old movies feel much worse for me, voices barely audible but sfx blow my ears out. But I also have sound from headphones, maybe that just works better with the newer mixes.
I'm sorry but, the 80s were more than a couple of decades ago. 1986 was 40 years ago.
Also 20 years ago this was still an issue. Plasma screen TVs were becoming accessible to consumers and surround sound was taking off in the home video space. TV was mixed for surround cinematic but not everyone had a surround setup yet. They had to write laws that said the tv commercials couldn't be louder than the main content of the channel (though these laws were largely unenforced).
Please stop reminding me how old I am.
Depending on how far back you go a lot of those movies were only recorded in stereo and sometimes even mono. So the mixing was pretty straight forward. Surround sound and pulling the bulk of voices to the center channel is a large part of this problem. Then you’re kind of at the mercy of your device as to how well it down mixes surround down to stereo. Some are pretty decent, and others are pretty terrible. Now things like DTS:X and Dolby Atmos that have 11+ channels I’d expect this issue is only worse(these still fallback to 5.1 surround if not supported).
I have a 13 speakers Atmos setup sitting in my living room and this isn’t even remotely an issue. That’s absolute overkill for people that aren’t very into home theater though. As it’s an expense for sure.
I will mention there is a rare movie (I own about 4 thousand titles) that I need to adjust the center channel volume but it’s like maybe 1:250 movies. So sometimes the mix does just suck. I don’t really watch streaming so that might be its own can of worms for audio.
Good ol dolby
Blame the sound designer. You can emulate whispering without altering the volume.
Very few media players have autobalancers.
Only of it was made for TV. This is often a problem with theatrical releases because the audio is not retuned for home viewing.
No, blame the streaming companies. Dynamic range is a known standard. All they need is:
Upsides:
Downsides:
Has anyone tried the enhanced dialogue feature on a 2021 Apple TV?
Part of it could either be that they’re not spending the time for a home release audio mix, don’t want to for purity’s sake or I’ve seen issues with trying to condense surround soundscapes down to stereo.
It all comes down to dynamic range and they should be using all of it for theatrical release and then remastering for home release.
TV shows do not get a pass. Cinephile audio engineers that think the vast majority of their listeners will have home theater setups are just plain delusional.
The way they do dynamic range in movie theaters sucks too. I have to wear earplugs because it's so loud.
This is so common and so irritating that it literally makes me not look forward to watching movies, particularly at home in a shared living space. I don't even watch many movies anymore because it's annoying watching with subtitles all the time.
This is what getting old looks like people, take note.
That thing that mildly annoys you right now? It won't go away, it will get worse, then your intolerance of thing will lead to avoiding the thing. Next thing you know, someone is asking you "Did you see the new Sooperfoob and Jerry movie? it's amazing! Best one of the franchise!" and you're going to be like... 😶
Or you could just enable something like Loudness Equalization on whatever device you are playing the content from.
The getting old part is you not searching for a solution and just complaining.
One of the main reasons i watch everything with subtitles, people used to be amused when i would watch an english movie with english subtitles, then they got apartments with poor sound proofed walls and floors, they weren't so amused anymore.
