Films on TV, blaringly loud music, quiet dialogue, any cures

[johnelliott]

All in the title really. We live in a semi-detached house, and want to be able to hear the words without upsetting our neighbours with the ridiculously loud music that film makers punctuate their produce with.

I'm fed up of watching films with one hand on the remote

John

 

[matt]

Surround sound... Sounds like a bizarre solution; however, it allows you to adjust the volume of each channel.

Alternatively... you can turn it up so loud you can't hear the neighhours complaining.

 

[CHJ]

John, check that your 'telly does not have a stereo 'spacial sound' enhancement option set, this can enhance the music? at the expense of the dialogue.

Also with adverts, although I believe it is in the code of practice that sound levels should not be increased to give emphasis. I think it is possible to cheat and use a DC offset to raise the threshold for normal transmission but give it the full peak analogue for the commercials which make them sound louder without raising the total transmission output level.

 

[Woody Alan]

John

There was a period of time when some films were particularly bad at this, the worst example being jurassic park II . I don't know for sure what the answer in your case will be because I don't know what TV you are using. As somebody suggested if you have a surround sound setup you can adjust the centre speaker volume to boost dialogue and suppress sound effects. Voice frequency is around the lower middle of the general spectrum and if your TV speakers are "wooly" at this frequency, (and your ears too ) it's an unfortunate effect. In general though the films have tended to be mixed this way for dramatic effect in the cinema.

Cheers Alan

 

[Losos]

Chas. IMHO the TV advertisers are definately using this, and possibly other 'technical' cheats to enhance the 'message'

It's got to the point with me now that I always try to mute the advert, whatever it is, so the advertiser has lost a viewer, shouldn't think he cares less about this 'tho 'cos of the millions of zombies who continue to watch :wink:

 

[OLD]

I vote for surround sound it also gives more base it can work when the source is not in dolby and provides different effects to work in your room

 

[Mcluma]

I had this on a brand new TV, and opted for the surround sound, and this completely solved the problem. Some TV are more suseptical to this problem then others

 

[tim]

John

As the others have said. I have a basic Bose system that has a Movie Equalisation setting which enhances voice and reduces music etc. I'm sure that'll be the same on other systems.


Cheers

Tim

 

[Neomorph]

As the guys have said already... go for a 5.1 surround system. You can leave out the .1 (the woofer that the neighbours hate) and boost the center channel while diminishing left and right slightly. This has the benefit that you hear the dialogue a lot clearer. Also make sure you get a decent center speaker - it makes all the difference when listening to the dialogue in an "action" or busy sequence with lots of music and sound efects going off around you.

One question though... what source are you having probs with. I know that Sky One sometime really screw up the surround signal and it shows up the effect you are describing. SciFi Channel is another one who sometimes broadcast crappy signals.

There was one film on SciFi (I can't remember it as I turned it off in disgust) that had the background sound effects louder than the dialogue and it was awful. You would have been better lipreading than listening (or trying to) to the dilogue. I've got a top of the range decoder and it's annoying to say the least when this happens.

 

[MixedHerbs]

I would suggest you try moving the TV. And keep trying. HiFi fanatics have this problem all the time. They think their stereo is awfull and they really must buy that speaker cable that costs £1,000 per metre to fix the sound. However, they do not realise that the room's accoustics are to blame a lot of the time. In some places, the bass shakes the joists, in others, it sounds pathetic.

Regards, Peter.

 

[Neomorph]

I would suggest you try moving the TV. And keep trying. HiFi fanatics have this problem all the time. They think their stereo is awfull and they really must buy that speaker cable that costs £1,000 per metre to fix the sound. However, they do not realise that the room's accoustics are to blame a lot of the time. In some places, the bass shakes the joists, in others, it sounds pathetic.

Regards, Peter.

Oops... forgot that one... John's speakers are in his telly aren't then. As I haven't used my last two TV's speakers I totally forgot!

The bass comment is very accurate... when figuring out where to site a subwoofer you move it around the room to find the right place where it will generate the right effect. Put it in the wrong place and you may as well throw it out the window. Moving furniture around can greatly affect accoustics too.

The speaker cable comment was funny. It reminded me about how I had a friend who thought his really expensive speaker cable was uber... so I had him come over and give me his impression on two cable types I had. I first tried my old proper speaker cable (the thick oxygen free stuff) and had him listen... then I kicked him out of the room and replaced it with mains cable (my "new upgraed cable" ) and hid it and then asked his advice again. "Oh that new cable is definately better than your old cable" he said... When I told him what it was his comment was "well your old cable must be crap then" and walked out. :?

 

[johnelliott]

I would suggest you try moving the TV. And keep trying. HiFi fanatics have this problem all the time. They think their stereo is awfull and they really must buy that speaker cable that costs £1,000 per metre to fix the sound. However, they do not realise that the room's accoustics are to blame a lot of the time. In some places, the bass shakes the joists, in others, it sounds pathetic.

Regards, Peter.

I'm sure that your advice is well intentioned, but I don't think you understand my problem, which is- not the quality of the sound but the relative loudness of the music which isn't very important, to the speech, which is.

John

 

[MixedHerbs]

Perhaps my reference to hifi was mis-placed. However, my point was that, by moving the TV, you could perhaps use the room's accoustics to reduce the annoying frequencies, or even increase the relative loudness of the speech.

Anyway, I wish you luck in your quest.

Regards, Peter.