French dubs aren't dumb.

It's funny how for the mainstream things only get better and better for video, but audio gets the shaft. And I am guilty of this too. I am admittedly kind of a videophile but not an audiophile. Like I have decent headphones and I play FLAC music from my Jellyfin server, but if I am watching something on a TV that's only using TV speakers it doesn't bother me.

But the good audio setups are available, of course. So I also get that it would be a shame to master the audio to target crappy little TV and phone speakers. Maybe a range of good dynamic range compression settings needs to be standard on everything.

Yeah I can't hear the dialogue, but when those two characters kissed I could hear everything happening in their mouthes and that's what's really important.

Two characters kiss in deep space 9 and it sounds like a kiss irl. Two characters kiss in superman (2025) (or almost any modern media) and I'm listening to a 30+ second close-up of the actors trying to wetly suck the other's lips into their mouth. Why??

This is good for the source audio itself for complicated reasons, but why tf isn't stable sound more standardized?? It's just a compressor!! Just send the values for the compressor in the metadata!!

Because cinema is supposed to be immersive, it's supposed to take the audience into the action, it's supposed to make you feel like you're there. Dynamics play an important part of this.

It's not enough to acknowledge that there has been an explosion or a monster has screeched, it's important that the viewer feels in danger, like the monster can actually harm the viewer. To get that adrenaline pumping.

Ofc when your levels are ridiculously exaggerated and you stretch over to the volume control all the time, then the immersion is broken because instead of watching the film you're too busy riding the fader.

Center speaker is matched to stereo front, rear are intentionally under powered… as someone who appreciates good sound - the mixing on most every movie is fucked (and some TV - HBO looking at you). It’s not a set-up issue.

Interviews with sound mixing techs indicate this is because everything is optimized to theatres and then only slightly remixed.

For the basic consumer we would much rather have audible dialogue than ear shattering gun shots…

Hadn't it happen to me in a while and the last week we watched KPop Demon Hunters and that was annoying. Holy shit it was so bad.

That should be optional. I don't wish to be "immersed". I just wanna see the story. Sure, make the "extreme" experience a possibility for those with a taste for the subtle things in the art or whatever, but don't push it onto all of us.

Because ANYTIME there are sounds that are way louder than dialogues, of course I'm gonna reach for the remote, because holy shit.

Plus, that idea of dynamic range is what allows ads to be so damn loud compared to everything else.

My GF and I watched it last week and had the same issue.

Well, it's now cinema is supposed to be.

Ideally they could make two mixes, one for serious viewing and good systems and another for bringe watching or bad speakers. But since that would cost more money and isn't done, a good dynamic mix is preferable because you can always throw a compressor and some limiting to a dynamic mix, but you can't recover information after it's lost. And as a film and series enjoyer I don't want my experience to be nerfed.

As for ads, I have no idea? I haven't watched an ad since I got internet many years ago. Idk how you're getting your media, maybe get an adblocker or use torrents?

Huh, I don't think I remember having audio issues while watching KPOP Demon Hunters with my mom, and usually we both will complain about that kinda stuff when watching anime/YT/playing games. Sorry bout that for y'all.

No idea why anyone thinks the kissing audio needs to be so pronounced. Drives me up the wall. Watching a tender scene, only to be ripped out of the moment by kissing audio that was recorded by having toddlers eating fettuccine alfredo for the first time.

Or--and hear me out here, Mr. Nolan--maybe have the important dialogue take place once the characters are off the speedboat.

(I assume that wasn't actually important dialogue, but I'll never know.)

Tbh if you only have the budget for one mix, it should be the mainstream one for 90% of viewers. If the producers wanna be artsy, go ahead, include an artsy mix with the BluRay or something.

Imagine if they did something as extreme as they do to movies with music. You basically only hear the bass and the lyrics are incomprehensible unless you have an expensive sound system? Sheesh.

By the way, normal people like me don't even know what a compressor is. To me, even the hassle of having a speaker outside of my TV isn't worth it. Most people are like this.

Tbf before that standard it was ROUGH. You'd have advertisers that would absolutely CRANK the volume on their sound, even distorting it, just to make it the loudest thing on earth. You could literally be somewhere in the house and just hear "mnmmmmnmnmnm....BIG BOBS CARPET EMPORIUM TWO DAYS ONLY" like it was some kind of stadium speaker system, like the neighbors hearing it was gonna help the ad reach more people.

Because DS9's tagline is "To wetly suck what no one has sucked before."

What you need is dynamic range compression. You can get a browser extension to apply it to everything you watch in a browser. VLC also has a setting for it, but I think they call it something else.

If you're using an app or a smart tv, then sucks to be you I guess.

Do u know where that setting is in vlc?

Those slurping noises are definitely something else

Lol no, if you only have budget for one mix it should be the one that preserves the most information, if "90%" of the viewers don't care about the art form they are watching then they don't have the right to ruin it for the people who do care.

As for music there's the opposite problem, there's a problem in the music industry where most modern music is an incomprehensible mess thanks to the loudness wars, where modern music has zero dynamics, high distortion, lack of tangibility and overall boring.

If you listen to a 70s or early 80s recording you will notice that together with greater dynamics, you have better sound quality, definition and tangibility, than modern trash. Independently of what system you listen it on.

But a good mix will translate well no matter what system you have, it will sound good either on a 10000 dollars HiFi system or on some cheap pair of computer speakers.

Seriously tho, personally I don't understand people who can tolerate watching anything with on a TVs built in speaker, I rather watch 480p with good sound than 4k on a TV speaker, but that's me.

If I can't afford a reasonable pair of speakers then a 20 bucks pair of wired headphones can have excellent sound quality. So there's really no reason to defend a nerfed mix.

With this, I'm not saying that some modern shows don't exaggerate and that their levels are past ridiculous.