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  1. #1

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    When watching old movies on the internet I set the volume loud enough to hear the dialogue, then when the music comes in or there are sound effects like trains, planes, car crashes, etc. the volume is way too loud. This is especially irritating at night when trying to keep the volume low. Does anyone know of a solution for this? It seems someone could make money inventing a device to solve this problem. What is the cause of it? I don't think there was such a dramatic contrast in sound volume at theaters. It's exagerrated online.

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  3. #2

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    I hear ya zephyrregent! Got the same issues. I keep the remote handy with finger on the volume/mute buttons. Will be watching this for any solutions.

  4. #3

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    Thanks! I am checking it out on Google. I listen to the movies on my home stereo so the solutions for TVs don't work. Stay Tuned!

  5. #4

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    If you are listening in Stereo, yes you will have louder SFX and Music cues. The dialogue (mono) is being split between L-R, the Music and SFX were most likely mixed in stereo or panned L-R.

    Do yourself a favor and get a receiver that is 5.1 Dolby or better capable. You will need a Center channel speaker as well. No need to hook up the L-R surrounds (usually placed above and behind the listening area) or subwoofer. You can do that later.

    Now you will able to control the Center and L-R stereo information separately. Generally speaking, the Center channel has dialogue.

    I was a post production Sound Mixer (re-recording) in Hollywood for 10+ years. The above advice is very simplified. And the buy in is pretty inexpensive.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by SierraTango
    If you are listening in Stereo, yes you will have louder SFX and Music cues. The dialogue (mono) is being split between L-R, the Music and SFX were most likely mixed in stereo or panned L-R.

    Do yourself a favor and get a receiver that is 5.1 Dolby or better capable. You will need a Center channel speaker as well. No need to hook up the L-R surrounds (usually placed above and behind the listening area) or subwoofer. You can do that later.

    Now you will able to control the Center and L-R stereo information separately. Generally speaking, the Center channel has dialogue.

    I was a post production Sound Mixer (re-recording) in Hollywood for 10+ years. The above advice is very simplified. And the buy in is pretty inexpensive.

    Any non-stereo options or fixes ? I enjoy foreign films, and find most of those ( British esp. ? ) have low dialogue levels. I can't see a five speaker - subwoofer etc etc arrangement in a small living room, so ???

    Thx.

  7. #6

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    I purchased a “smart T.V.” that had inconsistent volume, I bought an audio compressor (dbx 266xs) and that solved the problem.I think since I ran it as a “limiter” I could have purchased a limiter for less money, but at the time I didn’t know what was called for.


  8. #7

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    I turned on closed captions years ago. I turn down when loud parts happen and don’t turn it back up.

  9. #8

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    Are you watching on a TV or a computer?

    LG TVs used to have a feature that would raise the center channel level prior to the two-channel downmix. If memory serves, it was marked as "dialogue clarity" in the audio setup menu. This caused quite a stir in the royalty collection department of our organization, since the theory was that an extra charge for accessing a third channel of the multichannel bitstream was appropriate.

    It's been a long while since I tested products for the Cosmodemonic Codec Company, but my guess is that since patents have expired, many products may incorporate a similar feature. (maybe even soundbars that can be easily added to an existing system).

  10. #9

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    music mixed up
    too loud is a problem for me
    too
    not particularly ‘old movies on the internet’ more the new movies and
    TV shows

    I believe this is caused by psychological effects in the people doing the final mix

    ie when you’ve heard the dialogue in a scene many many times
    you can easily fool yourself that it’s loud enough for the first time listener ,
    when it’s in fact way too quiet relative
    to the music and fx ....

    Sorry I don’t have a fix for you
    I wish I did !

  11. #10

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    There seems to be a fashion for mumbled speech and over-loud background music these days. We watch TV with the subtitles on whenever it gets too bad.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by gionnio
    Are you watching on a TV or a computer?

    LG TVs used to have a feature that would raise the center channel level prior to the two-channel downmix. If memory serves, it was marked as "dialogue clarity" in the audio setup menu. This caused quite a stir in the royalty collection department of our organization, since the theory was that an extra charge for accessing a third channel of the multichannel bitstream was appropriate.

    It's been a long while since I tested products for the Cosmodemonic Codec Company, but my guess is that since patents have expired, many products may incorporate a similar feature. (maybe even soundbars that can be easily added to an existing system).
    A soundbar was going to be my other recommendation. Some soundbars specifically target dialogue clarity. Other soundbar products are going after the gaming crowd for loud subwoofer performance for sound effects, etc, so be sure to go for the right product. The soundbar option is even less investment than my original 5.1 receiver and center channel option.

    We have a medium size living room with a 5.1 set up. Not super high end equipment, but it works nicely.

    Someone mentioned the psychological effects of the people mixing the media. Oh the stories I could tell. In my experience as a union re-recording mixer, the dialogue guy was the senior and highest paid member of the crew. It is a very tough and demanding job. Many times the post supervision tasks are shoved off on junior associate producers (AP's) who are looking to impress the higher ups with big effects and music cues. By the time the boss comes in for the final mix check, they are usually on to other projects, give it a quick listen, and approve.

    That's showbiz!!

  13. #12

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    Home Theaters have been around for 30 years. Just sayin.

  14. #13

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    Look in the system settings for your TV - many of them have a setting that enhances the clarity of dialogue as well as separate EQ for the overall mix.

    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    There seems to be a fashion for mumbled speech and over-loud background music these days. We watch TV with the subtitles on whenever it gets too bad.
    +1

    I think a lot of newer material is mixed with the expectation that the viewer has a 5.1 or 7.1 system turned up so that explosions are loud and dialog only slightly less so.

    I watch with CC on most of the time because I keep volume very low - I am not trying to recreate the theatre experience at home.


    SJ

  15. #14

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    I hate cc. If I want to actually watch the movie/whatever, the cc is a distraction. If I'm reading the dialogue I can't actually SEE what the actors are doing. This is not a solution for me. And, yes, I hate foreign movies with cc.

  16. #15

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    I can understand that modern movies are mixed for theaters and state of the art sound effects and may have problems when viewed on a computer. However, old movies on the internet from the 30's to the 50's have the same problem. One application suggests using the built in compressor but I don't watch movies on apps, just on the internet such as YouTube, Ok.ru and Archive.org.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    There seems to be a fashion for mumbled speech and over-loud background music these days. We watch TV with the subtitles on whenever it gets too bad.
    I notice this much more on shows and movies produced by Amazon or Netflix, less so on "regular" movies that they simply stream. I've always thought there is something goin on in the production process for these streaming services that buries and muddies the dialogue. Maybe it's more low-budget?

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I notice this much more on shows and movies produced by Amazon or Netflix, less so on "regular" movies that they simply stream. I've always thought there is something goin on in the production process for these streaming services that buries and muddies the dialogue. Maybe it's more low-budget?
    No I do think it’s deliberate ....
    (deliberate and wrong !)

    a nice compressor would help

    my telly doesn’t have one (Samsung)
    my soundbar doesn’t have one
    (panasonic)

    they’ve of course both got umpteen ‘sport’ ‘cinema’ ‘speech’ settings etc

    but these are just different preset EQ settings of course

    ie not what we need ....

  19. #18

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    Is there no inventor out there who will rescue us all from this dilemna? It's a common problem and there would probably be a good market for it. We used to hook up "blab off" switches to TVs back in the '60's and '70's to get rid of irritants like constant Ed Barbarian commercials and All Night Movie blabber (my dog Major is not for sale). It's only sound science, it's not jazz theory!

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I notice this much more on shows and movies produced by Amazon or Netflix, less so on "regular" movies that they simply stream. I've always thought there is something goin on in the production process for these streaming services that buries and muddies the dialogue. Maybe it's more low-budget?
    I don’t know, even the BBC seems to be guilty of it these days.

  21. #20

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    ( ' No affiliation w/ any sb's mentioned ' etc etc )

    .........
    maybe

    ' Tastes Great ' vs ' Less Filling '........... ( ? )

  22. #21

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    Just happened to stumble across this: see if your TV has a "night mode"

    How to Deal With Movies That Bounce From Too Quiet to Too Loud

  23. #22

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    I watch my series and movies at night too, from a computer and wearing headphones. That does help keeping the sound down but I also installed a DSP plugin ("Hear", for Mac but I suppose MSWin must allow similar plugins). I rarely need to change to a different profile.

    All those X.Y home theater schemes are nice but I don't see how they can help if you use headphones... (And FWIW, with the tiny amount of spatialisation I configured via DSP I'm getting an amazingly realistic stereo image via my entry-level Grado phones, background noises from the soundtrack often fool me.)

  24. #23

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    Dump the Dolby. My son gave me a center speaker he no longer wanted, and I reinstalled a receiver with Dolby to use it. Immediately the loudness issue arose. Bypassing the Dolby returned things to normal, and everything stayed at an acceptable volume, near enough to whatever I set. Even without rear speakers, the Dolby system vastly increases volume differences. To me, it's not worth having.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgosnell
    Bypassing the Dolby returned things to normal
    Hmmm, would that also be why I have been wearing ear plugs in cinemas for the past 15-20 years?
    Dolby does aim to provide a more realistic experience, and it's not incorrect that certain sounds need to be LOUD for that. That's somewhat OK in a theater, much less at home.

    BTW: there's a small Norvegian recording company (2L) who produce on BR discs in 5+1 format. I have one or 2 of their discs and even with just my 2 floorstanders and 2 shelf speakers as the satellites (all Klipsch) the experience is indeed very nice. Of course you want to turn all theatre DSP stuff off on the amp when listening to that.