Music Drowns Out Dialogue In Tv and Films

[Baldbloke]

Hi folks,

I guess this has been asked many times.

I watch mainly Netflix or Amazon prime video through my LG tv with audio through its in built speakers. I'm not much bothered about quality of sound. I'm more interested in the clarity of dialogue.

As the title suggests, I'm sick and tired of music drowning out dialogue. My missus is sick and tired of me adjusting volume when that noisy, loud bl**dy music kicks in. It's nearly every single program theses days.

I've tried the tv graphic equaliser settings. Preset "clearvoice setting. Even tried a couple 2.1 of sound bars.
Result is very disappointing. Negligible.

Lots of websearched answers suggest 5.1 sound system e.t.c but none seem to promise sufficient results. Buying the equipment and trying it just to be disappointed could become quite expensive.

Perhaps if I were to build a mini pc to specifically handle sound only then maybe I could get rid of that invasive, overused blooming music. What do you think? Feasible?

Has anyone actually achieved what I'm trying to do?

 

[Baldbloke]

I've given up with the tv settings. They have very little effect when trying to reduce or eliminate music in tv programs.
I'm thinking perhaps a pc with a decent sound card to filter out music might be worth a try.

 

[Baldbloke]

Hacks me off too. There seems to be a generation of sound engineers who think "nightclub full of drunks" mode is appropriate.

So true.

I have never been able to even watch David Attenborough Blue Planet 2 because of the music volume.. I tried but gave up after a few minutes. The music is so loud and irritating.

 

[Baldbloke]

While it does seem to be the way with the production of a lot of stuff these days probably like me most of your hearing range is fine but there is some attenuation of a frequency or frequencies in the human voice range

I tend to use my PC and AE-5 soundcard a lot for watching anything I can as the SB Connect software has a range of options which fix pretty much anything for me.

I had my hearing tested 12 months ago. It's good. No issues there despite being 60 years young.

The SB Connect software... Does it work well? Does it offer good options to hear speech clearly? I'd happily get myself a sound card if it could eliminate or reduce the night club effect.

 

[Baldbloke]

I have an LG tv but with a sound bar. Restricting the dynamic range/dynamic compression on the sound bar helped a lot. I don’t know if the tv can do something similar.

The tv is probably fairly average in terms of sound. It's ok. It has a graphic equaliser but it still doesn't reduce the music by much. I've tried 2 or 3 televisions. Same results.

I've also tried a couple of sound bars. Admittedly only 2.1.

I may have to try a 5.1 or better soundbar. I'm not interested in quality. Just clarity of voice.