Topic: Movie Sound Theory

[Ceric]

I'm watching Harry Potter Deathly Hallows and yet again this is a movie sound movie.  I know their are a lot of movie buffs on here but, does anyone know a good article that explains the current sound philosophy for movies?


I find it very annoying.  I'm watching a movie have it at a good level to hear the peoples voices then something thats not talking happens and it blast my speakers.  Who thought this was a good sound philosophy?  Where did come from?  Who was the first to use?  Most importantly Why.... Whyyy??

[Stogi]

I'm guessing you have a home theater system.

Home theater systems use the center channel almost exclusively for speech. That is why when something loud happens, it seems much louder since all the speakers are being used rather than one. In order to remedy this situation, I suggest messing around with the presets until you notice the speech being significantly louder or better yet, going through each speaker and customizing the output level yourself. For instance, out of a possible 10, a good movie setup would have the right and left speakers at 5, the center at 10, the back speakers at 7-8, and the sub at 4-6 (depending on how big it is). If you have a 7.1 system, put the side speakers on the same level as the back speakers.

That should solve your problem.

[Ceric]

I'll have to try that but, why is the theatre much the same?

[Stogi]

I don't understand. Can you rephrase your question?

[Ceric]

In the movie theatre's it can get that way with sound as well where the speech is soft but the effects are loud.

[Stogi]

Well that's the ebb and flow of the movie. Sometimes it is suppose to be soft and sometimes it is suppose to be very loud, similar to an orchestra crescendo.

[BranDonk Kong]

I hate it, there are a lot of movies that are like this. I typically watch using just my TV speakers, and often have to rewind and turn up the volume to hear a line or two, then turn it back down. When I use my surround speakers, it's not an issue, but I don't use them when everyone is home, since I typically watch movies pretty late. Sometimes I'll use my 360's surround headphones though, that works pretty well.

[Stogi]

Most new (or new-ish) TV's have a setting that adjusts the sound to keep it from fluctuating. They also have it for the brightness as well.