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cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/nonpolitical_comics/p/1657114/mr-lovenstein-volume
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Blame the sound designer. You can emulate whispering without altering the volume.
Very few media players have autobalancers.
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.
Yes!
I may get a shit sound experience at home, but at least I have an opportunity for an even worse sound experience at my local theater, first.
while I agree with:
Cinephile audio engineers that think the vast majority of their listeners will have home theater setups are just plain delusional.
I disagree:
they’re not spending the time for a home release audio mix
From my recollection, mixing audio for different scenarios is just a function you can let the speakers decide how it will mix. Not adding this basic accessibility function in the 21c is just callousness.
No, blame the streaming companies. Dynamic range is a known standard. All they need is:
Upsides:
Downsides:
Ooooh! I didn't know streaming services were messing with customers this badly! Yikes!
Glad I don't use them!🏴☠️
I should really set up EasyEffects on my SteamDeck - that's the device I use to watch movies on my TV
if you're using linux slap a couple of boosting compressors on the sound using easyeffects to turn up the quiet parts
works remarkably well
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.
My gf and I have been doing this for more than 20 years.
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... 😶
What does your audio system look like for your TV?
We're expected to have separate audio systems now?...
If you're watching movies mixed for surround sound on the stereo speakers on your TV, you're gonna have a bad time
I would know, I do it all the time
I'm glad I'm no avid of movies. Wasn't enough that TV's are so locked down and spying on me, now I'd have to buy extra stuff too... Screw that noise...
Home theatre systems have been a thing for decades. Soundbars are the cheaper and simpler new alternative.
Alternatively you can just use a media player thay compresses audio. This is easier if you use a PC connected to your TV but I'm sure some TV apps allow it too.
you've had to buy 'extra stuff' for decades. The TV is only half the equation.
Its buying a DSLR camera, and being upset it didn't come with the best lens. It comes with one that works, but you arn't going to have good results.
Always has been. 🌍👨🚀🔫👨🚀
Yes. TV speakers have gotten incredibly cheap and low quality. It's audio/visual. You've invested a fair chunk into half of the experience with a TV, but ignored the other half.
"Whatcha doing housemate?"
"Rigging 5.1 surround-sound that I can't fucking afford, so that the bass and explosions absolutely rip through your walls, but at least I can hear the whispering."
Yeah fuck that. I've had surround sound before. It's not remotely the issue I'm complaining about. It's about audio volume mixing for home screens for average people who just have a TV and thin walls.
I suspect it is all a trick to teach people how to use a compressor
Older movies tended to have audio mixes where the dialogue was clear even when loud things were happening, people shouldn't need to use a compressor.
They also didn’t have much dynamic range, it’s much easier to compress the range than expand it
I have not had a great experience with compression.
A couple TVs would have the audio delayed slightly, enough that the last syllable spoken was after they closed their mouths. Most of them also did a terrible job playing from TV speakers if the audio was in the center channel and I could not set it to stereo.
Also I find the leveling or night settings make it harder to hear because while the speaking volume is raised that doesn't make it clearer. So if there is background music the same volume it is just muddled at a higher volume.
Compression is better than nothing but in no way comparable to a mix that is actually intentionally made to reduce the dynamic range. Having one mix and letting the compressor software fudge the balance is lazy and has mediocre results.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
I had such a situation years ago. I was listening to Mike Oldfields "Tubular Bells II" on headphones. For the first time. There is a sequence where the music stops, and a child is telling something. I turned up the volume to hear it, and got the last words "and nothing was ever heard of him again, except for the sound of tu-bu-lar bells", and then came BANG the promised bell...
Might want to put your link in fedi format: !nonpolitical_comics@piefed.social
The way it is now people have to search their instance in their app to subscribe.
