Dialogues in films quiet, action & music loud: what to do?
With some films, it happens that the dialogues can hardly be understood at normal volume. If you turn up the volume, your ears will explode because the action and music are much louder. Why is that? Can you do something about it?
Also, the commercial breaks on TV are sometimes much louder than the actual show. In many cases you can do something about it.
Contents
Loud action, quiet conversations: Automatic volume adjustment for dialogues
The volume differences are caused by the dynamic range of a soundtrack. Behind that is the difference between the loudest and quietest sound. Filmmakers want to mix the sound as realistically as possible. An action explosion happens to be a lot louder than dialogue. The problem with quiet dialogues and loud action scenes only rarely occurs on normal TV, since TV broadcasters regulate the difference in dynamic range in advance. However, this is often not the case with DVD and Blu-ray films or when streaming via Netflix and Co.
If the difference in volume bothers you or you don’t want to wake your children or roommates on movie night, you can reduce the dynamic range. This prevents dialogue from being heard much too quietly compared to scenes with action and music:
- With some TVs you can fix what is supposed to be a feature. In the TV settings, look for an option like “dynamic range compression‘, ‘Dialog Enhancement’, ‘Speech Emphasis’ or a ‘night mode“.
- The option can also be found in some DVD and Bluray players. thereby become quiet parts played louder and loud passages quieter did.
- If you look at an AV receiver, you will usually find an option like “Dynamic range control“, “Adaptive DRC‘ or ‘Dynamic Volume’. Choose a suitable level here.
- If you use a 5.1 home cinema system, it often helps the center louder to deliver.
- Also make sure that the Subwoofer not too loud is set. This may also be causing the uncomfortable volume.
- Also the Placement of the speakers affects the sound quality. So you may be able to alleviate the problem by positioning the boxes a little differently. A free app for Android or iOS and the mobile phone microphone can help you with this. Otherwise you will find lots of tips here for correct speaker positioning.
If you can’t find the right volume and still don’t want to spoil your movie enjoyment, you can help with an accessory like the “HDSX TV Sound Optimizer”. The device is set up between the TV and an external sound system and automatically optimizes the sound.
Match the volume of noise and voices in movies
Note that you can change the sound with the appropriate setting of course falsified. Music and noises are often an important stylistic element. Movies may not sound the way the director intended, and you may miss out on a piece of the movie experience. If you are not disturbing or waking someone up with the loud noises, you could also try to listen to the to get used to volume differences. After all, you only experience the film as intended by the filmmakers and as originally made for the cinema.
Don’t want to miss any more news about technology, games and pop culture? No current tests and guides? Then follow us
Facebook
or Twitter.
