Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)
Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)
/Film spoke with several Oscar-winning sound designers, editors, and mixers to learn why it has become tougher to understand what characters are saying.
This is a particularly important topic for myself on the spectrum, as I've had a lot of difficulties trying to follow what's going on in the cinema. I'd have subtitles on all the time if that was possible.
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That's a brilliant article.
Assuming facts are accurate, and there's not much missing info, it explains so much about why I've consistently hated the sound on streaming services. Even with my full home theater setup instead of just stereo, there's flaws that stand out compared to dvd or bluray.
Take the opening scene of evil dead. Well, I can't recall if it's 1 or 2 that has this particular scene. But it's when the swing is banging against the cabin. On DVD the sound is balanced roughly right; the banging isn't out of line with the dialogue, no need to mess with volume. But streaming? Again, I can't even remember what service it was on, but that banging was absurdly loud compared to the dialogue, and so were the effects. It was a horrible experience to a movie I've seen literally hundreds of times over the years.
When that happens, it's usually because the sound being broadcast doesn't match your tv's sound setup. The easiest thing to do is to switch it to mono. You don't get the nice stereo effects, but at least you can hear everything without being blasted out of your seat.
Or, if you can afford it and have the space, get a 5.1 surround system (or better). Most movies and series are mastered in surround and besides being a more immersive experience in general, dialogue is primary played by a designated speaker (center speaker) and most sound systems allow you to boost the output to said speaker, making dialogue stand out a bit more against the music/noise.
Double this.
Or for a quick fix, use an equaliser to boost the 200-4000Hz frequencies. Put a slight suppression on anything higher and a lot of the music will be quieter.