movies/tv Movies that are TOO LOUD?

[Clover Heart 978]

I'm not quite sure if this is a problem with mixing or if it's done intentionally or what, but there seem to be an increasing number of films (particularly for home release) that have this problem: The dialogue is really, really quiet, so you have to turn it way up to hear anything, but then all the sound effects are ear-rapingly loud.

 

I can get that they want to make the sound effects loud if loud things are happening, like explosions. But I shouldn't have to put my ear up to the speaker just to hear people speaking and at the same time, cover my ears any time anyone does something. It's freaking annoying. There's no reason the audio should have to literally hurt my ears.

 

And if subtitles are an option, I'll use those and just keep the volume down. However, it's not always an option. My partner likes to watch movies with me a lot of the time, and we'll watch English-language films. He wants to hear the original intent of the actors, but he can't speak English, so we have to have the subtitles in Japanese. So in those cases, that basically does away with subtitles for me.

 

Is there a reason for this? It seems like they don't redo the audio for home release, because it sounds like the audio is intended for a theatre. Which I guess is fine if you're rich and have a home theatre system or surround system. But if you're poor like me and have a dinky TV and live in an apartment where you have to consider your neighbors with whom you share a wall, it's a really exasperating experience. Maybe there are audio settings on the DVDs to fix this? I don't know.

 

Does anyone else have this problem?

[Game Twinkle 43]

I have this problem all the time!! I have to jumble with the remote to hear dialogue but then turn it down on an action sequence. I last had this issue with a blu ray copy of the lord of the rings trilogy.

[Midnight Dragon 264]

It may just be a sound issue. My mom's old TV had this problem, and using better speakers helped.

[Tigerpop198 696]

Anything with the THX intro at the start. That sound gave me nightmares when I was young.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfg9DVwOd9w

[Scootalove 10,684]

I've run into that problem when I watched Batman & Robin on DVD, always had to turn up the volume to listen to the music and dialogue.

[Commander Fresh 36]

Anything with the THX intro at the start. That sound gave me nightmares when I was young.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfg9DVwOd9w

Damn, I was just about to say that! What is it with you people and ruining my dreams and ambitions?

 

I'd have to agree though, anything that's been "digitally mastered for optimal video and audio performance" by THX is too damn loud!

 

THX HQ: "Hey, how do we make this sound better?"

"Make it louder?" 

5 STARS A+ 4 STARS OSCAR

[Judgement 445]

That's what I hate about movies. Some companies just cheap out and record the audio from the original, but then it doesn't work out because like you said, there is multiple speakers in a theatre. This is also like listening to some music with ear buds, except with one ear bud out. You may only be able to enjoy half of the song. I think that multiple speakers would fix it, but you said that you don't have the money for that. You could get really tiny surround sound speakers for pretty cheap. I hate when Multiple layers of sound get merged down into one monotone layer too. It is mediocre that they get away with that. It may not be fixable depending on how the music is separated from the dialogue (or if it is separated at all).

Edited January 17, 2014 by Judgement

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

Yeah, this happens to me every so often as well. It's pretty annoying to say the least.