# Who decides sound volume in movies



## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

My husband is a big Godzilla fan. I've come to appreciate them as well, if only for the comedy aspect (after destroying the city, Godzilla saves the world!!!)

So after waiting with high hopes for the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie, it was almost unwatchable. Every time the music took over, it was about 6 times as loud as the talking parts. We were constantly riding the volume in order not to damage our ears. 

This seems to be a normal thing now. I appreciate the music, but generally the talking should be reasonably in the same volume zone as the music. I mean, I could say the music is too loud, but equally say the talking is too quiet. 

So who is to blame for this? And how do we get them to stop doing it?


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## Polkasound (Jun 17, 2021)

I run the audio outputs of my DVD player through a compressor and squash the crap out of the music and sound effects so that I can hear the dialogue better.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

Polkasound said:


> I run the audio outputs of my DVD player through a compressor and squash the crap out of the music and sound effects so that I can hear the dialogue better.


I was thinking about doing that. I think I have an old compressor hanging around gathering dust somewhere.


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## storyteller (Jun 17, 2021)

I’m pretty sure that position reports directly to Lucifer himself. There seemed to be an M&A with Hell, Inc. somewhere around 10 years or so ago, specifically to commandeer that particular role with their agenda.


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## Rasoul Morteza (Jun 17, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> My husband is a big Godzilla fan. I've come to appreciate them as well, if only for the comedy aspect (after destroying the city, Godzilla saves the world!!!)
> 
> So after waiting with high hopes for the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie, it was almost unwatchable. Every time the music took over, it was about 6 times as loud as the talking parts. We were constantly riding the volume in order not to damage our ears.
> 
> ...


What was your playback system?


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

storyteller said:


> I’m pretty sure that position reports directly to Lucifer himself. There seemed to be an M&A with Hell, Inc. somewhere around 10 years or so ago, specifically to commandeer that particular role with their agenda.


I laugh, but I think it is true.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

Rasoul Morteza said:


> What was your playback system?


Unfortunately, just the TV. It is a Sony Bravia though. My husband has bought a few different surround sound systems over the years, but they never seem to last much more than a year or two.


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## Wunderhorn (Jun 17, 2021)

Maybe you should consider going the surround sound route again. The reason why I say it is that most receivers/processors have distinct settings for movie sound which sends the dialogue distinctively to the center speaker. You also would have in most cases the option to calibrate your system. In this case just place the center speaker above the loudness level of the others and you are golden.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

Wunderhorn said:


> Maybe you should consider going the surround sound route again. The reason why I say it is that most receivers/processors have distinct settings for movie sound which sends the dialogue distinctively to the center speaker. You also would have in most cases the option to calibrate your system. In this case just place the center speaker above the loudness level of the others and you are golden.


Well, my husband was looking at them again. Maybe it is time to see if they've gotten better.


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## alcorey (Jun 17, 2021)

I used a compressor way back before surround - it worked to a degree but really wasn't the answer I was hoping for. Now I have a Marantz SR8015 (their latest) running a 5.4.2 Atmos system and when I run a well mixed Atmos movie it's absolutely a knockout - but so many of the movies and series are mixed poorly and I have had to adjust my calibration way out of whack to have a "fair" all around listening experience. I have 2 sets of calibrations and switch between them depending on what I'm watching - but it's not the answer either.
It really sucks! I have even experienced Major series that have had extreme changes in mixing from one episode to the next - like "the engineer went on vacation for 2 weeks and you get what you get until he comes back". Really bad..... and then some guy decides he'll put the dialog in the two fronts instead of the center....really??????........And don't get me started on whispered conversations
All I can say is HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP


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## Sunny Schramm (Jun 17, 2021)

Every AV-Receiver and most DVD- and BluRay-Player have a "Night Mode" or "Dynamic Mode". Thats exactly what "you" need if you do not own a real 5.1 or higher Surround-Setup (for what these mixes were made for) or you can not go loud in your apartment. These modes compress the sound - more silent parts will come up and loud parts come down in volume. At the same time you´ll loose some clarity/transparency in sound because the resolution will be limited - so I would not recommend that. There are standards in mixing for loudness, etc. - after I configured the sound and settings of my home cinema components I never touch it again and never have problems with "too" loud or too silent scenes. It takes some time and tweaking - but thats normal and the same with TVs today - just buying, put it on a tv-desk and power it up is not how it works today  You have to study all the possibilities and features...or get a specialist who do it for you.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

Sunny Schramm said:


> Every AV-Receiver and most DVD- and BluRay-Player have a "Night Mode" or "Dynamic Mode". Thats exactly what "you" need if you do not own a real 5.1 or higher Surround-Setup (for what these mixes were made for) or you can not go loud in your apartment. These modes compress the sound - more silent parts will come up and loud parts come down in volume. At the same time you´ll loose some clarity/transparency in sound because the resolution will be limited - so I would not recommend that. There are standards in mixing for loudness, etc. - after I configured the sound and settings of my home cinema components I never touch it again and never have problems with "too" loud or too silent scenes. It takes some time and tweaking - but thats normal and the same with TVs today - just buying, put it on a tv-desk and power it up is not how it works today  You have to study all the possibilities and features...or get a specialist who do it for you.


That kind of sucks actually. 

We've had this issue watching movies on FX. Movies will be quiet, but then the commercials come in at 3 times the volume. Fortunately, you can mute commercials.


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## Wunderhorn (Jun 17, 2021)

My experience is different. The better the system you have the more calibration you have to do because these movies and some music is never mixed to sound best on high-end equipment because they cater to what most people _would_ likely be using.
Of course, a really good mix will sound stellar on a high-end system, but average mixes reveal their shortcomings quickly.
Also - I listen to a lot more music than I watch movies - different recordings will really reveal their individual characters. So much so, that you end up not putting certain pieces together into a playlist anymore because they sound so different from each other and you end up choosing something else to maintain a certain consistency in the overall sound...

Case in point, the HZ in Prague concert. Huge production, you can hear it. Great. But mixed for the masses so it still sounds good on grandma's Bose sound bar. In terms of the mix I have never heard such a sonic mud fight (admittedly on a high level) like that before (5.1 version as I don't have Atmos).
When I put that on, my sound system turned to me with a frown: "Really, you think I don't have enough horsepower to drive this thing myself, it has to be already cranked so much in the mix? Who do you think I am...?"


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jun 17, 2021)

Sunny Schramm said:


> just buying, put it on a tv-desk and power it up is not how it works today  You have to study all the possibilities and features...or get a specialist who do it for you.


Not sure if serious


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## José Herring (Jun 17, 2021)

I'm in the opposite camp. After seeing so many movies the dialog is so boring and predictable I just want the actors to shut up so I can hear the music. I mean seriously nobody even does the "I'll be back" one liners any more or the Yippee Ki Yay M'f*&er. I mean that was dialog worth hearing. When I saw Interstellar and couldn't hear a word of dialog in most of the movie and it didn't make a damn bit of difference. Let the visual and the music carry film like John Woo style.

In a movie like Gozilla vs. King Kong the originals didn't have much dialog and though I haven't seen this particular version I can't imagine the dialog contributed much to the monsters trying to kill each other.


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## dflood (Jun 17, 2021)

It’s gotten to where I just leave the captioning on full time. It’s 2021. Why the hell can’t we have simple independent volume controls for dialogue, score, and sound effects?


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I'm in the opposite camp. After seeing so many movies the dialog is so boring and predictable I just want the actors to shut up so I can hear the music. I mean seriously nobody even does the "I'll be back" one liners any more or the Yippee Ki Yay M'f*&er. I mean that was dialog worth hearing. When I saw Interstellar and couldn't hear a word of dialog in most of the movie and it didn't make a damn bit of difference. Let the visual and the music carry film like John Woo style.
> 
> In a movie like Gozilla vs. King Kong the originals didn't have much dialog and though I haven't seen this particular version I can't imagine the dialog contributed much to the monsters trying to kill each other.


You need bits and pieces to understand some of what is going on. Bit of a spoiler, but there's only one Kong-Godzilla fight. The big fight they actually work together to destroy Hong Kong. I mean the other monster in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's destruction is just a usual side effect.


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## NekujaK (Jun 18, 2021)

I find myself watching more and more movies, especially big blockbusters and action films, with subtitles turned on simply because the music, and sound effects, are mixed so friggin loud. And it's two different problems...

1. The music dwarfs the dialog so you need to strain to understand what the actors are saying. Adjusting the overall playback volume isn't a remedy. EQ can help, cutting the lows and boosting in the 1-3K range, but it's not ideal.

2. Dialog can be heard just fine during "normal" secenes, but when the action starts, everything is 10 times louder, so you need to ride the volume to keep everything balanced. Compression can help here, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

I think I first noticed this problem with the Pirates of the Caribbean films, but the absolute worst is the Dark Knight trilogy. Not only does the music constantly overpower the dialog, but the low end is excessive. I once ran the soundtrack thru Ozone's Tonal Balance just to verify what I was hearing, and the music is completely off the charts in the low end. I love HZ's scores, especially Dark Night, but let's not forget movies are about narrative.


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## el-bo (Jun 18, 2021)

Who decides sound volume in movies​


dzilizzi said:


> Who decides sound volume in movies?​


This guy:


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## GtrString (Jun 18, 2021)

I would say it's the mix and master engineers, but movies are collaborative efforts, so editors and directors may have been active in that dialogue.

Some movies sound like they are mixed like rock music, like many of the Marvel films. Makes sense here, because the actual writing isn't very good (/at least in a literary sense), so you may want to shade it down with music to boost the overall performance/ result of the scene in the production. But there could be all kinds of ideas active.

Some may have other references. I think of the movie dialogue like vocals in a mix - where you want it to sit, depends on the style and genre you are going for.


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## Dietz (Jun 18, 2021)

Ironically, in the parts of the world where we see and hear these movies in their dubbed versions, the dialogue is almost always far too loud.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jun 18, 2021)

I don't know who makes these decisions. But these people are clearly out of their minds.

The music often kills the dialogue (to make things worse, there seems to be a general trend of actors mumbling, murmuring and croaking through all their lines - what's up with that shit, anyway?! ) and SFX are 1500% louder than anything else. It's ridiculous. Some movies you literally can't watch in the evening without pissing off your neighbors. I've seriously started thinking of ways how I could best compress the audio so I don't have to put up with this nonsense anymore.


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## darkogav (Jun 18, 2021)

I have same issues as OP. I guess a lot of media companies expect the home consumer to own a surround sound system. I don't. I just use the captioning as well.


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## rrichard63 (Jun 18, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> Movies will be quiet, but then the commercials come in at 3 times the volume.


This is supposed to be illegal in the U.S., but I imagine that the networks and streaming services are always a step or two ahead of the regulators and know how to comply with the spec on a loudness meter without actually reducing the impact of the commercials by very much. I also think that some budget networks just ignore the law and get away with it.


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## youngpokie (Jun 18, 2021)

Wunderhorn said:


> Maybe you should consider going the surround sound route again. The reason why I say it is that most receivers/processors have distinct settings for movie sound which sends the dialogue distinctively to the center speaker. You also would have in most cases the option to calibrate your system. In this case just place the center speaker above the loudness level of the others and you are golden.


I have a yamaha AV receiver that I really like and yes I can boost channel levels individually, such as the dialog in center speaker, which is great for Netflix and Prime Video. 

But nothing seems to work on HBO MAX - often I don't even get surround, just 2.1 stereo and it's the worst offender in my experience when it comes to music overwhelming dialog.


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## shapednoise (Jun 23, 2021)

Polkasound said:


> I run the audio outputs of my DVD player through a compressor and squash the crap out of the music and sound effects so that I can hear the dialogue better.


can't ya just turn up the centre chan?


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## Trash Panda (Jun 23, 2021)

Really curious what type of setup most people who are complaining about this are using. If anything, I wish the dynamic range in modern movie mixes was MORE dynamic.


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## EgM (Jun 23, 2021)

All this noise blasting is the reason I haven’t watched or listened to anything since ‘94


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## Polkasound (Jun 23, 2021)

shapednoise said:


> can't ya just turn up the centre chan?


Sure, if I had surround, but I don't like surround.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 23, 2021)

Trash Panda said:


> Really curious what type of setup most people who are complaining about this are using. If anything, I wish the dynamic range in modern movie mixes was MORE dynamic.


It's not so much the dynamics, it's that the dialogue is at level 2 and the music/sound effects are at 12 where 10 is the max. And they play at the same time. Now I realize that in any Godzilla movie, the dialogue doesn't really matter. But it also happens in movies like the newer Star Wars ones. And the TV is less than 2 years old.


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## HDJK (Jul 8, 2021)

Could it be that your TV has some fake surround sound and reports itself that way? On Netflix, if I'm on my laptop it defaults to stereo, but on the TV (maybe because of the soundbar with fake surround capabilities) it defaults to 5.1 surround. But since it is not really surround, all the FX and music from the surrounds are overpowering the center channel, since it's all coming out of 2 speakers instead of 5, which could be the problem you describe. 
Changing to stereo in Netflix also heightens the volume quite a bit, making the difference in loudness to regular TV channels and commercials less high.


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> My husband is a big Godzilla fan. I've come to appreciate them as well, if only for the comedy aspect (after destroying the city, Godzilla saves the world!!!)
> 
> So after waiting with high hopes for the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie, it was almost unwatchable. Every time the music took over, it was about 6 times as loud as the talking parts. We were constantly riding the volume in order not to damage our ears.
> 
> ...


Seems to me to be a joint effort in stupid. I don't think we stop them. Yes, I notice it a lot and esp more with newer movies...I'm going "huh? what did he say?" And 10 mins later I'm being blasted by the "dramatic" music. And I don't even have a sound system. I wonder if I can software compress them somehow?

Side note, concerts or even just bands playing the background of some outdoor festival are worse and even less excusable...the latter are always WAY too loud for festivals and for concerts they always crank the hell out of the percussion.


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## dzilizzi (Jul 8, 2021)

HDJK said:


> Could it be that your TV has some fake surround sound and reports itself that way? On Netflix, if I'm on my laptop it defaults to stereo, but on the TV (maybe because of the soundbar with fake surround capabilities) it defaults to 5.1 surround. But since it is not really surround, all the FX and music from the surrounds are overpowering the center channel, since it's all coming out of 2 speakers instead of 5, which could be the problem you describe.
> Changing to stereo in Netflix also heightens the volume quite a bit, making the difference in loudness to regular TV channels and commercials less high.


This initially was a Blu-ray disc. I'll mention it to my husband next time. We don't usually have too much problem with Netflix.


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## dzilizzi (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Seems to me to be a joint effort in stupid. I don't think we stop them. Yes, I notice it a lot and esp more with newer movies...I'm going "huh? what did he say?" And 10 mins later I'm being blasted by the "dramatic" music. And I don't even have a sound system. I wonder if I can software compress them somehow?
> 
> Side note, concerts or even just bands playing the background of some outdoor festival are worse and even less excusable...the latter are always WAY too loud for festivals and for concerts they always crank the hell out of the percussion.


Right now is also a bad time of year for this because we usually have A/C or our evaporative cooler on (we live in the desert - they actually work well here). So the hertz that most dialogue occurs at is the same as the A/C or cooler or dishwasher. At least for me. So the volume goes up, and BAM - the music comes in.


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

You mean swamp coolers?  I didn't recall that they made much sound at all, but it's been a long time.

Honestly I think it might be partly me too. Even with sufficient volume sometimes I can't tell what the hell people are saying...unless it's trendy to do that in movies now. ("Cut! OK try again...but this time, mumble more.")


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## rrichard63 (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> ... t's trendy to do that in movies now. ("Cut! OK try again...but this time, mumble more.")


I believe this is correct. Apparently, directors and acting coaches think that proper enunciation sounds unnatural and unrealistic. I wonder whether the same is true now in live theater.


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## gsilbers (Jul 8, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> My husband is a big Godzilla fan. I've come to appreciate them as well, if only for the comedy aspect (after destroying the city, Godzilla saves the world!!!)
> 
> So after waiting with high hopes for the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie, it was almost unwatchable. Every time the music took over, it was about 6 times as loud as the talking parts. We were constantly riding the volume in order not to damage our ears.
> 
> ...




I worked in distribution so i might now.

There is a process called "Nearfield mix" which is done for home entertainment. Which all streaming companies are under.

First the mix is done in hueg theaters with huge speakers.

Then after the mix is approved and the threatircal goes out to the door. A new team of poeple does a new mix for out television. using a small studio.

Sometimes this process is scrapped and the same theatrical team or their assistant does the near field bt just changing the loudness level.

There is no standard for this btw. The specs per each movie studio is a guesstimate between all braidcasters (who also use the near filed mix) and the streaming companies. There are several meetings a year to establish ever changing specs. When Netflix decided to do -27Lufs it was a weird one and thus, new processes and standards needed to be address. UK also had some changes between big networks etc.

For thos hans zimmer nolan movies for example, the dialoge can be very soft because in HUGE speakers in a streated room will sound good enough while in a tv youll hear nothing via those small speakers.


Another thing i rememeber from sons of anarchy was that the original mix was very difficult for me to understand . biker gang talk i coudnt understand wtf they said. But for the spanish and other languages i could understand and i remeber thinking how incredible dumb the dialogue and plot was once i really understood.
So thats my guess with these movies where the dialogue is soft or hard to really grasp the whole thing.
So in the creative aspect of it, a Godzilla movie is not exactly a thick plot so burried dialog could actually be a positive thing. In real life when complex, action stuff happens you don't really get to understand everything all the time. Having been in a couple of military coup'etat and government protest with shoot outs in my country growing up, I can attest to this. no idea what's going on. so a big monster and everyone scrambling might be that sort of vibe? just my guess.
but just think about heavy metal music and how cool it sounds but once you read the lirics it becomes so cheesy. think about all those old metallica albums etc. have you ever read the lyrics for ride the lighting!? C.H.E.E.S.Y. but man it sounds coo. 
so i think its the same concept. maybe.


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## Soundbed (Jul 8, 2021)

Didn’t read all the replies but Apple TV has a feature for this. It’s called Reduce Loud Sounds. It’s not accessible with all apps but it is with the movies app. Or via the main sound controls in the system settings I believe. It’s great.


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## dzilizzi (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> You mean swamp coolers?  I didn't recall that they made much sound at all, but it's been a long time.
> 
> Honestly I think it might be partly me too. Even with sufficient volume sometimes I can't tell what the hell people are saying...unless it's trendy to do that in movies now. ("Cut! OK try again...but this time, mumble more.")


Yup. Depends on how powerful the fan is. This one is, unfortunately, near the TV. So loud enough and competing. Plus the A/C units are right there also. And our neighbor's is just on the other side of the fence. The layout of this house wasn't planned well.


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## Kony (Jul 8, 2021)

As a tinnitus sufferer, I sometimes struggle to hear some dialogue depending on frequencies. Add to this the imbalance between dialogue and loud FX leads to having to ride the volume when watching modern productions - or using subtitles. I don't have this problem at all though with older movies and TV shows.


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

rrichard63 said:


> I believe this is correct. Apparently, directors and acting coaches think that proper enunciation sounds unnatural and unrealistic. I wonder whether the same is true now in live theater.


I think you're onto something. There has been a trend (well it's been going on so long not sure it's really a "trend" anymore) to be less "theatrical" when speaking and more natural and day to day realistic...but I never noticed many people in real life mumbling like that. Besides, listening to someone in a movie isn't the same as real life anyway, even without music, totally different acoustics...SO SPEAK TF UP ACTORS!


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## MartinH. (Jul 8, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> My husband is a big Godzilla fan. I've come to appreciate them as well, if only for the comedy aspect (after destroying the city, Godzilla saves the world!!!)


I hope you two have seen "Shin Godzilla". If not, I highly recommend it as a fairly fresh take on the same old story. It shows a much more realistic vision of how a bureaucracy struggles to deal with such a catastrophe.


And yeah, I hate all the modern sound mixes as well! Can't watch anything without subtitles anymore because I don't want to crank it so loud that I'd understand the voices well enough. Because then everything else is way too loud.


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## Kony (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> mumbling


I think Brando and others of that generation started mumbling on screen - something to do with Stella Adler method acting.


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

Slight sidetrack: I tried watching some of the old Godzilla movies...even as a kid it was obvious how bad they were, but we just watched for the fight scenes. Well...even those are mostly really lame it turns out, even for cheesy B movies. Sigh. They belong in the past with my childhood. As I recall "Godzilla 2014" was respectable (still not a great movie by any means, but not bad).


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

Kony said:


> I think Brando and others of that generation started mumbling on screen - something to do with Stella Adler method acting.


ugh - what utterly pretentious BS IMO


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## Kony (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> even as a kid it was obvious how bad they were, but we just watched for the fight scenes


Reminds me of the old Jason and the Argonauts fight scenes.


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## Kony (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> ugh - what utterly pretentious BS IMO


Agreed!


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## bill5 (Jul 8, 2021)

Kony said:


> Reminds me of the old Jason and the Argonauts fight scenes.


I thought they were much better, despite the low tech (compared to now)...I can watch those even today. Old Godzilla? Mostly not and even then just as nostalgic memories.

Ultraman though now THERE'S a classic


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## Kony (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> I thought they were much better, despite the low tech


Agreed (again)! I watched that movie over and over as a kid.


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## dzilizzi (Jul 8, 2021)

MartinH. said:


> I hope you two have seen "Shin Godzilla". If not, I highly recommend it as a fairly fresh take on the same old story. It shows a much more realistic vision of how a bureaucracy struggles to deal with such a catastrophe.
> 
> 
> And yeah, I hate all the modern sound mixes as well! Can't watch anything without subtitles anymore because I don't want to crank it so loud that I'd understand the voices well enough. Because then everything else is way too loud.


Probably have. I don't keep track of the names of the movies but he knows them all. 

Some of the real old ones are interesting in how they deal with things. Is that a subtitles only one?


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## dzilizzi (Jul 8, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Slight sidetrack: I tried watching some of the old Godzilla movies...even as a kid it was obvious how bad they were, but we just watched for the fight scenes. Well...even those are mostly really lame it turns out, even for cheesy B movies. Sigh. They belong in the past with my childhood. As I recall "Godzilla 2014" was respectable (still not a great movie by any means, but not bad).


There's the really early ones with a man in the Godzilla suit that are so bad. At least the plastic monster was more realistic. 

As kids, all I remember is the mouths moved, then the voices came out. That was always the best part.


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## jononotbono (Jul 8, 2021)

I remember the days when I used to watch films with subtitles because I’m so pig ignorant I couldn’t understand the spoken language. Now I have subtitles on every film I ever watch because I literally cannot hear what anybody is saying. Funny old world isn’t it. 😂


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## rrichard63 (Jul 8, 2021)

Kony said:


> I don't have this problem at all though with older movies and TV shows.


Yes. Movies and TV used to be filmed with dialog intelligibility as the goal. Today they are filmed with realism as the goal -- intelligibility be damned.


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## MartinH. (Jul 9, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> Is that a subtitles only one?


It's from 2016 and a lot of the movie is focused on politicicans having meetings and not knowing what the fuck they should do x]. 








Shin Godzilla (2016) - IMDb


Shin Godzilla: Directed by Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi. With Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Ren Ôsugi. Japan is plunged into chaos upon the appearance of a giant monster.




www.imdb.com




We watched the German Dub if I remember correctly, because that was the only version available on Amazon Prime Germany. If there had been a subtitled version with the original audio, we would have watched that. I can't stand German Dubs of movies. I'm not sure if an English dub exists, the DVD/Bluray releases don't seem to have one. I love the sound of Japanese, so it wouldn't cross my mind to watch movies or anime from Japan with as a dubbed version.




jononotbono said:


> I remember the days when I used to watch films with subtitles because I’m so pig ignorant I couldn’t understand the spoken language. Now I have subtitles on every film I ever watch because I literally cannot hear what anybody is saying. Funny old world isn’t it. 😂


I'm German and it was always hard for me to understand dialog in English movies without subtitles, but I thought it's because I'm not a native speaker. It's actually a bit of a relief to hear native English speakers are struggling the same way.


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## iMovieShout (Jul 9, 2021)

That would be down to a mix of the film's director, editor and the dub stage engineer, possibly the music supervisor. Ultimately its normally the dub stage and the editor that have the final say. The trouble is that it may wel have sounded just right / great on the dub stage (where they would have a full Dolby stage or Atmos stage setup - ie. full on surround sound), but it may sound terrible at the local village cinema where they have a basic surround setup, and it will be different again on streaming / TV services. Ordinarily they would produce a variety of mixes to cater for the different environments.


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## bill5 (Jul 9, 2021)

rrichard63 said:


> Yes. Movies and TV used to be filmed with dialog intelligibility as the goal. Today they are filmed with realism as the goal -- intelligibility be damned.


Which doesn't make sense, because I talk to people all the time and rarely find myself going "what did he just say?" I do know a "mumbler" but he is very much the exception. To him I just nod and agree.


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## timprebble (Jul 11, 2021)

I saw a musician complaining about this on Twitter the other day, and slagging off the rerecording mixers like they were morons and what was needed was a pro music engineer to do the mix, lol. I checked who the rerecording mixers and mix facility for the film he was complaining about & the exact same team had also worked on some Coen Brothers films which sound EXCELLENT.

My theory: Rerecording mixers do not have autonomy over what they do, they are directed by a director (and for blockbusters, producers act like directors) and I suspect some of these directors have serious hearing loss.

But a second theory: if you've ever sat on a dub stage while they mix loud action scenes, you soon realise how fast your ears get tired. Now imagine these blockbuster films that have 60 minute action scenes which takes days and weeks of mixing... Now add endless late VFX updates so those last days of final mix are all nighters (100 hour weeks are not uncommon, for weeks on end)

It is all far from ideal, but I believe it is mainly a genre based issue. A bit like how if you eat McDonalds you shouldn't be surprised to find it is fatty salty crap. And how if you play a recent "EDM" song it will similarly have its dynamic slammed.

Anyone have issues hearing DX on a Coen Brothers film? They have the advantage of not having buildings exploding and monsters destroying things, right beside an actor who is acting to bluescreen etc...


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## Pappaus (Jul 11, 2021)

what a great thread! I have this problem all the time with the volume at home. I don’t remember it being a problem at the theatres so I wonder if the sound is mixed for cinema sound systems and no one bothers to adjust when the streaming media is prepared.


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## Trash Panda (Jul 11, 2021)

Pappaus said:


> what a great thread! I have this problem all the time with the volume at home. I don’t remember it being a problem at the theatres so I wonder if the sound is mixed for cinema sound systems and no one bothers to adjust when the streaming media is prepared.


I don't think the creators can predict if someone streaming/watching a Bluray is going to be doing so on a home theater system, sound bar, or built in TV speakers. I think the folks who handle the sound processing on the hardware the media is played through should be the ones held responsible if it can't handle translating a 5.1+ mix to stereo and still be audible. Now if the media creator offers a stereo mix and it sucks on sound bars and TV speakers, sure, blame them.


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