There’s something called dynamic range, which is essentially the difference between the loudest and quietest sounds. With a low dynamic range explosions and whispers are just as loud as each other.
There has been a recent trend for filmmakers to want a high dynamic range. This makes explosions, car crashes, and gunshots feel extra impactful. The problem is that that means other things become more quiet by comparison. Those “other things” include dialogue.
This leads to people not in a movie theatre or with a home audio setup that costs more than my car not being able to hear a goddamned word.
This. They really need to start including both low dynamic range AND high dynamic range audio options in home/streaming releases of movies, and TV should exclusively be LDR if they can’t simulcast the the different audio signals.
HDR audio sounds amazing and is totally worth it when you have the right audio equipment, so it shouldn’t stop existing entirely, but it’s bullshit that people that don’t have that equipment get an even worse experience than LDR as a result.
They already give you the option of choosing between stereo or 5.1, I don’t see why a low dynamic audio mix would be any different on the technical side.
Then again, a new mix would cost more money.
How recent is that trend ? Because I definitely agree that modern movies’ mixing usually sucks ass for a non-theater setup, but I recently watched some 70’s James bond movie and it was actually much worse than what I’m used to. Like, if I setup the TV volume so the gunshots/explosion and the musics didn’t blow up my eardrums, dialogues were basically unintelligible 80% of the time
They are EQ for 5.1 and the voice goes into the center channel. In a proper system the center channel is bigger than the satellites so you get clear dialog, but if you try to output 5.1 into two channels everything is squeezed together
Every damn time! As someone who is not a video editor or sound engineer, isn’t it pretty easy to equalize all the sound?
It is and they used to.
There’s something called dynamic range, which is essentially the difference between the loudest and quietest sounds. With a low dynamic range explosions and whispers are just as loud as each other.
There has been a recent trend for filmmakers to want a high dynamic range. This makes explosions, car crashes, and gunshots feel extra impactful. The problem is that that means other things become more quiet by comparison. Those “other things” include dialogue.
This leads to people not in a movie theatre or with a home audio setup that costs more than my car not being able to hear a goddamned word.
I fucking hate modern movies.
This. They really need to start including both low dynamic range AND high dynamic range audio options in home/streaming releases of movies, and TV should exclusively be LDR if they can’t simulcast the the different audio signals.
HDR audio sounds amazing and is totally worth it when you have the right audio equipment, so it shouldn’t stop existing entirely, but it’s bullshit that people that don’t have that equipment get an even worse experience than LDR as a result.
They already give you the option of choosing between stereo or 5.1, I don’t see why a low dynamic audio mix would be any different on the technical side.
Then again, a new mix would cost more money.
But the ✨art✨!
Generic MCU Movie #4195643
I learned something today! yaaaay!
How recent is that trend ? Because I definitely agree that modern movies’ mixing usually sucks ass for a non-theater setup, but I recently watched some 70’s James bond movie and it was actually much worse than what I’m used to. Like, if I setup the TV volume so the gunshots/explosion and the musics didn’t blow up my eardrums, dialogues were basically unintelligible 80% of the time
Not only the eight audio equipment, I want to be able to watch something and not wake up the neighbors up/downstairs!
I know Christopher Nolan is the worst for it, for a few reasons, apparently the IMAX cameras cause it, too. So, however long they’ve been around
On Windows, right click the sound icon, go into sound options, playback, double click on your default playback device, and go to the Enhancements tab.
LOUDNESS EQUALIZATION
is fucking awesome and more people should be aware of it. It’s baked into Windows 10!
Does that work if using VLC?
Edit - For W10, right click the sound icon and choose Open Sound Settings
Under Choose Your Output Device, click Device Properties
On the right side of the screen, click Additional Device Properties
You’ll find the enhancements tab there
If you are running that VLC on Windows, yes!
It is a setting on the sound device, which VLC uses.
vlc has a compressor which is what “loudness equalization” uses.
Indeed! Like the other poster says, it’s ALL THE SOUNDS.
Turn it off for games and music*, but I turn it on for EVERYTHING else. It makes things bearable to watch! IT’S MAGIC
They are EQ for 5.1 and the voice goes into the center channel. In a proper system the center channel is bigger than the satellites so you get clear dialog, but if you try to output 5.1 into two channels everything is squeezed together
Even with a 5.1.2 setup new movies and series sound equalization sucks