@MrLovenstein Welcome to my personal hell every time I watch a freaking movie...

@MrLovenstein Enable subtitles. Problem solved.

@MrLovenstein very comforting to know I am not alone in experiencing this. I have to watch everything with subtitles or it's just a constant monologue from me to my husband saying, "what did he just say?"

@MrLovenstein it's so weird. If you watch a show from the 80s they sound great.

Protip: if you have 5.1 speakers, add 2 or 3 dB to the center channel. That's where most of the dialogue is, and it makes a huge difference!

Last boost: My life with new hearing aids...

@MrLovenstein

@MrLovenstein
VLC has a great volume normalizer you can turn on that turns things up when they're quiet, and limits them when they explode, making this problem disappear. Ruins the dynamic effect the movie is going for, but honestly, the dynamic effect they're going for ruins it for me.

@MrLovenstein Every time!

@MrLovenstein my brother studied sound engineering and this seems to be how they teach those students sound is supposed to be. He turns things up so loud I find it physically painful at the high points.

To him this is peak sound design?? 🤷‍♀️

@MrLovenstein

Depending on your TV speakers and on your ears, getting a good soundbar or other external speaker setup can help. That can make the dialogue less muddled and easier to make out at lower volumes.

@MrLovenstein Meanwhile, some other characters are having a perfectly legible conversation in a nightclub.

@MrLovenstein
Reminds me of this scene in Mega Man 8 at 2:03 in this video: https://youtu.be/iqTWJ0ioRIg

@MrLovenstein I read or heard this has a lot to do with the huge multichannel sound sets they mix moves for now. When that finally gets dropped down to a home setup or *gasp* stereo sound it gets all muddled and mixed together..

Not sure how true that is but it made sense to me.

#themoreyouknow

Exactly the situation that gave me tinnitus for life. In a movie theatre. I took out my earplugs to hear the whispering and then..... @MrLovenstein

@MrLovenstein The trend for excessively wide dynamic range and the decline of quality mastering for home releases have collided to create the worst possible audio experience.

@MrLovenstein 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The most notorious example for me is Spanish cinema, it’s like they’re rapid-fire whispering, then suddenly they burst out screaming. No middle ground. And just what the hell are film sound editors and mixers in Spain smoking, to think that this is the proper way to mix a film’s audio?

@MrLovenstein So true. Fuck you #youtube. You're at least as bad as the worst TV show for audio balance.