Music too loud in TV and films

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

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Joined
26 Nov 2010
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Thorne Yorkshire
So called "background" music is ridiculously loud on just about every tv show or film. Drowns out the dialogue. Background music? Nah, it is foreground these days. Pain in the ****!

I sit with the remote, finger on the volume control, repeatedly adjusting the volume to minimise the intrusion of stupidly aggressive loud music in every tv show or movie I watch.
The audio settings in TVs don't cut it. I've tried the settings on 3 or 4 televisions. No joy there.

Googling the issue suggests I should get a 5.1 sound setup and fiddle with the settings on that may help. I don't want to have multiple speakers around my tv or lounge but if that's what it takes then I will. Although I'd much prefer to have the audio just coming from my tv speakers.

Any good solutions anyone?
 
Soundbar then might be a good option. If I had my way I'd eliminate the music completely, 100% then, if need be, re-apply it in tiny increments if need be. I doubt any electronic wizardry could do that properly though.

Any recommendations for soundbars to help with this then? I'd like to try a decent soundbar if it could prove effective. . Anyone got any make/model that they know can help reduce the "background " music please?
 
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Freakbro said:
It's not so much about reducing the background music, more enhancing the clarity of the dialogue.

The main criteria for which one is your budget, here's a range from entry level to high end.

www.whathifi.com

Best soundbars 2024: options for every need, recommended by our experts

The smartest, most compact, and very best TV soundbars to take your home cinema sound to the next level
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Wow. Some of those prices :) I had no idea they could go that high :).

I'm guessing soundbars are mainly aimed at giving high quality sound and higher volume rather than filtering dialogue though.

For me, the clarity of the dialogue is not a problem. I hear it fine. Voices are not a problem. (Hearing was tested 3 years ago and I had good hearing then).
It's the volume of the music and sound effects that just makes me jump out of my chair. So blooming loud. Then, maybe I've got sensitive hearing or some sort of obscure OCD thing about sound effects and blaring music. Then again, I could be just a grumpy old man. My Mrs agrees with the latter.

I'll have a look at getting a soundbar around the £200 mark. Find out if it helps. Maybe spend more if results are encouraging.
 
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Gray2233 said:
If going for a soundbar for speech clarity I'd make sure it's a 3.0 as a minimum. The center channel really helps in that regard.
Click to expand...

After a bit of googling as well then it looks like I'll want a 3.0. I don't want satellites, sub woofers or booming bass or any music enhancements for that matter. Music is in fact an unwanted side-effect/irritation of watching tv as far as I'm concerned. Just want clear dialogue.

Would a Sonos beam gen 1 do the job. They seem fairly cheap in the second hand market. Something like that? Any suggestions welcomed please.
 
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andy said:
Will be checking back here to see how you get on because been having the exact same issues. To hear conversations I end up with the other sounds far too loud . It seems especially more noticeable when watching things on nowtv unless I'm imagining it
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Ordered myself a Sonos Beam Gen 1 soundbar (second hand).. Hope it works well. I'm looking forward to watching tv without angrily shouting "FFS!" when the music comes on and quickly reaching for the volume control. :).

I'll update with my findings
 
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The Sonos Beam Gen 1 arrived today. Only watched 1 episode of Hatton Gardens job on an ITV catch-up streaming channel. So can't really say I've given it a real chance. Early days yet.

With Night Mode (Night Mode says it increases quiet sections and lowers louder sections of the audio) and with Dialogue Mode switched on.
It does have an effect. It reduces the music levels a bit and the dialogue is a bit more up front. But far from what I was hoping for.
I still found myself using the remote to lower volume during music sections. Some of the music was still ear splitting aggravating.

Haven't played with bass and treble settings yet.

Underwhelmed, so far but like I say, early days. However I suspect the Sonos Beam may not be the Nirvana I am searching for.
Reading a good book instead just might be the answer :).
 
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I've watched another tv streaming program. The Sonos Beam does not sufficiently reduce the music content by any appreciable amount. I'm still having to adjust the volume frequently to get rid of the ghastly over-pronounced music and ridiculously loud, supposedly atmospheric, sound effects. Maybe a 5.0 with the ability to reduce all channels except the centre (vocal channel?) would be better.

Who are these people who mix sound on tv shows? Sound mixers. Are they so blooming self indulgent in their task that they feel the need to oversaturate audio with music and sound effects?

I wrote to the BBC two or three years ago with my concern about audio mixing levels. BBC replied that this is one of the commonest complaints they get from viewers. They offered no solution and no interest in resolving it.

Hangin's too good for some folk :)
 
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Another brief update:

Currently trying a Zvox AV157 soundbar. It is designed for the precise purpose of aiding dialogue clarity over the music. 12 levels of voice enhancement/music suppression. Can be had for £160 new or around half that price in the used market.
Only tried it for a couple of hours so far. Seems to be doing a half decent job for what I want. Extreme voice enhancement makes the dialogue sound a bit tinny but I'd rather have Tinny voices than exploding music. Still playing with the settings to see how good I can get it.
 
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