Too much NOISE in films!

[bullethead]

I spend a lot of time on the bus, and it amazes how clearly and from what distance I can hear somebody else's earphones/earbuds. These people either do not realize or do not care that they are damaging their ears by playing things at such a volume. And film theatres crank it up to keep up with our gradual defeaning of ourselves.

Part of the problem is that most ear buds suck ass at keeping out ambient noise. I had a pair of "athletic" ear buds that looped over the ears and had the actual ear bud jut close to the ear canal and the damn things never really gave me good volume because half ear bud stuck out of my ear and I could hear tons of environmental noise. After getting some JVC in-ear buds, I had to reduce the volume on all my stuff to avoid blowing my ears out, so the type of ear bud used is a major factor in determining how much volume is used, along with the volume of the song. I've noticed that a lot of OST tracks tend to have really low volume, which means I'm either constantly skipping them or having to adjust volume on a song by song basis.

 

[Yminale]

I think the problem is that most movies are designed for multiple speaker/surround sound systems (usually 5.1). In a 5.1 system, the center speaker is solely for dialogue and you can adjust the center speaker independently of the other speakers. When you down-mix it to stereo, the dialogue track seems to blend in one with the ambient sound.

 

[sidious618]

I haven't had any trouble.

Neither have I. Sometimes when I watch live TV the music is too loud and you can't hear the dialogue but that's relatively rare as well.

 

[Indysolo]

Dynamic range is important.

Neil

 

[Warped9]

I spend a lot of time on the bus, and it amazes how clearly and from what distance I can hear somebody else's earphones/earbuds. These people either do not realize or do not care that they are damaging their ears by playing things at such a volume. And film theatres crank it up to keep up with our gradual defeaning of ourselves.

Part of the problem is that most ear buds suck ass at keeping out ambient noise. I had a pair of "athletic" ear buds that looped over the ears and had the actual ear bud jut close to the ear canal and the damn things never really gave me good volume because half ear bud stuck out of my ear and I could hear tons of environmental noise. After getting some JVC in-ear buds, I had to reduce the volume on all my stuff to avoid blowing my ears out, so the type of ear bud used is a major factor in determining how much volume is used, along with the volume of the song. I've noticed that a lot of OST tracks tend to have really low volume, which means I'm either constantly skipping them or having to adjust volume on a song by song basis.

Actually I wonder if most earbuds are supposed to allow for ambient noise. It is a lot safer in a world of constant distractions like noise (traffic) and other people trying to get your attention. I for one don't mind it because it allows me to still be aware of what's going on around me without having to focus too much. If the volume is too loud then I find it unpleasant and it's damaging to your hearing.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

I've shied away from commercial Hollywood movies for several years now, and this sort of audio nonsense is one reason. There is a big arse difference between dynamic range and clarity, and just increasing the volume. I want to watch a movie to be entertained not deafened, and it has nothing to do with age or fuddy-duddiness. It's to do with sound engineers comparing dick sizes.

It happened with CDs where everyone started making the stupid things louder, and wound up forgetting the point of CDs in the first place.

It happens on TV, where the arsehole broadcasters try to scare the shit out of you for every commercial break. I am so lucky to have the BBC here without ads, but if I am watching commercial television, you can bet I change channel or mute the sound for the ads.

And it happens on DVDs and in cinemas as well. That isn't going to stop until people stop thinking bigger is better...

[yt]v=19CvEO3Riy0[/yt]

 

[Rii]

Isn't too great a dynamic range one of the things the OP is complaining about?

 

[Hermiod]

My PlayStation 3, my DVD player and my TV have dynamic range compression options which do a good job of automatically adjusting the volume to prevent sudden loudness like this. (Though, obviously, you should probably only use one device at a time to do this)

Something went wrong somewhere along the line with The Dark Knight's audio, sadly. It does suffer from sudden changes in volume and then there are strange issues during the chase with the Tumbler through the tunnels and when the hospital explodes.

Skip to about 5:40 to hear what I mean:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRG1tWQN6e8[/yt]

 

[Warped9]

Isn't too great a dynamic range one of the things the OP is complaining about?

Partly. The range from one end of the scale to the other can be too great, much greater than it needs to be.

 

[Rii]

Isn't too great a dynamic range one of the things the OP is complaining about?

Partly. The range from one end of the scale to the other can be too great, much greater than it needs to be.

I often find that action scenes in the cinema are louder than I'd like, but not intolerably so. Of course I don't generally bother with the cinema except for SFX-heavy or otherwise visually outstanding films - not that there's much of the latter from Hollywood - so it's a problem I encounter with some regularity.

 

[propita]

I was trying to watch The Prestige a couple of nights ago, and this is a film that I wouldn't normally have associated with loud or intrusive music, but I couldn't understand about half of what was being said. The rest of the time I missed a great deal because the actors seemed to mumble their lines rather than speak clearly.

One of the reasons I tend to just leave on the closed captioning. Sometimes, usually on the best lines, the dialogue is just too difficult to hear for the background sound.

And I usually have excellent hearing, even at my age. I didn't blast music through headphones when I was younger.

 

[Wynterhawk]

I was trying to watch The Prestige a couple of nights ago, and this is a film that I wouldn't normally have associated with loud or intrusive music, but I couldn't understand about half of what was being said. The rest of the time I missed a great deal because the actors seemed to mumble their lines rather than speak clearly.

One of the reasons I tend to just leave on the closed captioning. Sometimes, usually on the best lines, the dialogue is just too difficult to hear for the background sound.

And I usually have excellent hearing, even at my age. I didn't blast music through headphones when I was younger.

Heh, even when I'm watching something like The Big Bang Theory, I always leave the CC on. I guess I just prefer reading to listening although my hearing is fine.

 

[Hermiod]

^I too use the subtitles when watching films and TV shows. It helps me comprehend the dialogue much more easily.

 

[David cgc]

Isn't too great a dynamic range one of the things the OP is complaining about?

Partly. The range from one end of the scale to the other can be too great, much greater than it needs to be.

Yeah, like when that asshole Beethoven starts off with one flute, and then suddenly there are, like, eighty horns and every stringed instrument ever invented by man going at once.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I think the problem is that most movies are designed for multiple speaker/surround sound systems (usually 5.1).

I would say other than horror films Hollywood movies are _NOT_ designed for surround sound by the director. The sound designers create sound effects and do premixes but the sound re-recording mixer chooses panning placement (within 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound) mixing for the cinema and later doing a near-field mix for home theater (Blu-ray/DVD).

Volume and sound mixing are seperate issues.

I agree. Odd how so many people just disregard the sound and expect it to always be good. It is an art and there are subtleties. As a professional sound mixer myself I can attest to this. There are 3 components to any soundtrack: dialogue, music, sound effects. There are specifications for mixing to a certain volume level set by the society of Motion Picture & Television engineers (SMPTE) which I believe is usually 85db of a reference tone. Without getting into too much technical detail I can tell you that the optimum place for seating in an auditorium cinema is between the 2nd and 3rd surround speaker on the wall. That is the distance the re-recording sound mixer is sitting at when mixing the sound for a Hollywood movie. Yes films have gotten much more aggressive surround sound mixes which is the actual point of this thread. Some people feel the mix is too dense and complain. Some people like a complex very dense sound mix. When in 5.1 surround a very dense mix adds a lot to the experience. When all those tracks are competing in 2-channel stereo it turns a little mushy and hard to comprehend. See this about the Star Trek XI film and the surround sound mixes for the theatrical release and the Blu-ray/DVD home video release. http://trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3513363&postcount=103 TV episodic series like "Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles" have really high end surround sound mixes for television. The bar for competition has just been set higher ever since Dolby Digital 5.1 started being broadcast for episodic television around 2000. It's not just feature films that have gotten a lot more dense as far as soundtracks. And miniseries like 'Band of Brothers' and 'The Pacific' are really feature film level surround sound mixes.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, it's even worse when all you have is Mono, and yes, people do still have TVs that are Mono.

 

[Trekker4747]

You damn kids get off of my lawn!

Kind of what I was thinking of saying.

Well, it's even worse when all you have is Mono, and yes, people do still have TVs that are Mono.

There's still people who have to buy adaptors and such to hook up their VCRs to those TVs still using those forked-pronged conectors, what's your point?

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, it's even worse when all you have is Mono, and yes, people do still have TVs that are Mono.

There's still people who have to buy adaptors and such to hook up their VCRs to those TVs still using those forked-pronged conectors, what's your point?

Guess I should of been clearer. I was replying to Jefferies who made a remark about all sound channels competing with 2-channel stereo, in that it sounds even worse when all you have is Mono. I've had to deal with that for many years, and Stereo TV is kind of a luxury to me as I've just gotten one with stereo channels.

 

[Warped9]

You damn kids get off of my lawn!

Kind of what I was thinking of saying.

Except that it's not just older people complaining about this issue.

 

[RandyS]

I know how you feel Warped. When I saw Attack of the Clones at the theater back in 2002, the damn thing was SO loud that I could literally hear (and feel) a sort of static sound in my right ear, which turned into a ringing, and by the time I got home, a migraine headache (which I suffer from chronically to begin with). It was not until I got the DVD a year later, and I was able to follow the movie clearly. I didn't have that sound problem on my TV. Still don't.