Why we all need subtitles now

[Ed Gordon]

The problems with sound are worse than we might imagine. It is not just an issue in movies and theatres; it has become pervasive in all media and venues.

Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult to Understand (And Three Ways to Fix It)

[Graham Ritchie]

Thanks for that link Ed

Years ago we were with a group of people that were lucky enough to visit Peter Jackson amazing high tech mixing studio. The sound engineers gave us a sample from one of "The Lord Of The Rings". It was loud, someone asked why do you have it so loud? the answer came back, its what Peter Jackson wants. My wife Yvonne was with me, and said I have had enough of this, and left to a nearby lounge with a roaring log fire.

While she was sitting there on her own, she was approached by somebody I don't no who, but this person stopped to talk to her, she did not hold back in her thoughts of her experience in the mixing studio. Anyway her honestly seem to hit this person, who I was told later smiled at her honest comments. This person who ever he was, then invited her to a VIP tour of the facility, something none of us could go any where near.

When I came out later on she told me all about this encounter, and how much she enjoyed the look around and being introduced to the folk working in those areas no one else was allowed to go.

So there you have it Yvonne must have hit a cord with this person about her views of her sound mixing ordeal

[Osi Osgood]

the only time I ran into terrible sound at the theater was when I saw 'Armeggedon", the sound mix was so over choked up, it was a completely overwhelming experience. Now, having watched it at home, having the audio lowered a bit, it is more enjoyable. There are only a few actors that I really get annoyed with, but one that always gets me is Jean Reno. I like his choice of roles, but he can be really hard to track. I wouldn't be surprised if he is just as unintelligible in his native French.

[Dominique De Bast]

I wouldn't be surprised if he is just as unintelligible in his native French.

Not at all. He's perfectly intelligible in French

[Joerg Polzfusz]

I wonder if there’s really a problem with the „downmix“ from 5.1 to stereo on some devices. The rear left channel probably simply gets fed to the left speaker together with the front left sound. Same for the right channels and the right speaker. But what about the front center (that is mainly used for speech in most movies)? When you play it 1:1 through the left and the right speaker, it will become too loud compared to the other channels. And when you play it 50% through the left and 50% through the right, it will be too weak. (That’s when doing this based on the decibels as the decibels are a logarithmic scale.)

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Jean Reno….his native French.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Reno

[Dominique De Bast]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Reno

I don't know if the parents spoke more Spanish or French at home, but he does speak French without accent (I watched a serie in Spanish, with french subtitles, of course, on Netflix and he appeared in it, so he can definitly speak Spanish as well). Nobody has never said that Jean Reno is not intelligible when he speaks French