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The Kitchen Table

The sound in movies and DVDs...rant!

18 years ago

What's with the sound in them? Why all the emphasis on sound effects and so little on the conversations the characters are having? No wonder writers go on strike; their stories are never heard.

It seems to me that if we viewers are supposed to relate to the characters, then we should be able to hear what's going on with them. Even if it's raining, thundering, lightning, or aliens are coming and blasting their way in, or beasts are on the rampage, or guns of all types are blazing away, or bombs are going off...even if people are walking on rocks, or concrete, or marble floors or just tapping a pencil on a desk...we viewers should be able to hear what the characters are saying to one another so we can relate to them.

We just got a flat screen TV and have watched DVDs and tonight DH and DD (who is 28) watched a movie on AMC and even she couldn't hear the characters. She messed with the audio set-ups and still couldn't get the sound to adjust enough to hear what the heck was going on.

What say you all?

Leslie/KS

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Comments (10)

dorothy_oahu
18 years ago
I haven't been to a movie theater in years because it is too LOUD! I put on the closed captioning so we can turn the sound down and know what they are saying. We keep the remote control in hand to turn it up or down as needed.
nola_in_aus
18 years ago
My DH and I are always saying the same thing Leslie,
it's either background noise or music so loud you cant
hear the conversation and it's not hearing problems because
we have played old movies and the sound is okay,we can
actually hear the dialogue.
Is there anyway we can get through to these movie makers????
Nola
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kathy_
18 years ago
I noticed this on a few tv shows too. I thought it was my hearing, but I went back and turned up the sound and it was still garbled. You just made me feel better - thanks.
bigack
18 years ago
I totally agree, you can't hear the talking because of the darn music! I'm going to start emailing the networks, it's so irritating. You don't have to have music EVERYWHERE, and don't even get me started on restaurant music!
pawsitive_gw
18 years ago
Don't get ME started on tvs in the grocery store!! There is one in produce and every checkout counter has one. Grrrr. Who's idea was THAT? Oh, I forgot, the one at the bank, too.
gadgets
18 years ago
Background music that doesn't stay in the background is in my top ten of pet peeves. And as Nola said, it's not my hearing because older movies/shows are okay.

Shirley
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
I have a DVR - and I don't know how many times I back a show up so I can hear what they said. ER is one of the worst shows for me.

Sometimes I turn on the closed captioning to finally understand what they said.
minnie_tx
18 years ago
I VCR taped a TV production of the movie "Persuasion" I could hardly hear the conversations when I played it back. I bought the DVD and it was the same way. I thought it was the tape
caflowerluver
18 years ago
DH and I thought it was that our hearing was going. I hate that! We keep rewinding and playing it again to try and understand what they are saying. I hate mumblers too. Speak the lines clearly darn it! And don't get me started on how LOUD movie theaters are now. Even my 24 YO son found it painful. Finally someone went and complained so they turned it down.
Clare
sue_va
18 years ago
Haven't been to a movie for several years, so I can't comment on that.

Background sound on TV is ridiculously loud! And, is everyone speaking faster now? Even newscasters where background sound isn't the problem, it seems to be they are speed-talking. Is it just me?

Also on TV shows, where they sometimes put the dialogue on the screen, it comes and goes so fast you don't have time to read it.

Maybe we all should start emailing the sponsors?

Sue

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