Does this bug you?

Dayna Wills · From: Sacramento, CA (deceased)

There's a new show on TV called "Raines" which stars Jeff Goldblum. I really like him, but this show is driving me nuts because I can't hear the dialog. Then the music or worse, the commercials come on and I have to hit the mute button. Who is mixing the sound on these shows? I have also noticed the Disney animated cartoons have lousy sound. The music overplays the voices and ya can't hear what is being sung. Is it me? Am I just deaf? Same thing with movie rentals, I gotta ride the gain. Tell me it isn't ME!

Larry Strawn · From: Golden Valley, Arizona, R.I.P.

It's not just you!! The audio mix on some of those are horrible!

Larry
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

It's not you, but this is not new, IMO. I have always noticed that the audio for commercials is set significantly higher than program audio on commercial broadcasts. Commercial broadcasting is purely about advertising revenues, not programming. The programming is just the bait to get you to watch and listen to the commercials, period. I agree it's gotten worse over the decades, which is one of many, many reasons why I virtually never watch commercial broadcasts anymore.

I suppose one could put a nonlinear amplifier that automatically lowered the gain for high signals, more or less a compressor, in the signal path.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I think there would be a market for that, Dave. The TV "mod", as it were...

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I remember that mod from the '60's, a remote device that would mute the commercials.
Turns out you had to do it manually from your chair... just like I do now.
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John Macy · From: Rockport TX/Denver CO

Cause of my work schedule, the few shows that I do watch I watch via TIVO, and can scan right through the commercials. Even in real time, you can start watching the show about 10 minutes after it starts and skip them...

Bet the advertisers love that... Smile

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Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I know what you mean Dayna, I used to hate that too but about a year ago my TV went out so I bought a new one which has a feature called "Automatic Level" which will make the shows and commercials all come out at the same volume. I really like it a lot......JH in Va.
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Barry Blackwood · Posted 12 Apr 2007 8:59 am

I have found that the 'auto-level' feature on TV sets is marginal at best. I would love for someone to please tell me why the sound effects and music is always way louder than the dialog on virtually any DVD I buy or rent? It is really annoying, to say the least.

basilh · From: United Kingdom

On many TV shows and movies the engineers are mixing with their eyes !!
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Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

The reason I have a DVR. My cable service has a box that allows me to pause any program. We play it to the commercials, put it no pause, talk about the show, get something to eat, go to the bathroom, and then fast forward pass the commercials.

The commercials are definitely louder than the tv shows. John Prine has a funny lyric about this in a song called Quit Hollering At Me.

I don't want your big French Fry
I don't want your car
I don't want to buy no soap
from no wash-up Movie Star
You are so much louder
Than the show I wanna Hear
with your sugarless gum
gee but I'm dumb
Non-alcoholic beer
It's enough to make a grown man blow up his own TV
Quit Hollerin' at Me
Quit Hollerin' at me.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

we record everything on DVDRW +R, and MEGA speed thru the commercials..

I have two SAT boxes and a cheap( I love it) Magnavox DVD recorder $98 bucks , on each SAT. box.

Whats amazing is that there are generally 4 minutes of commercials , sometimes more, on each commercial break...but with the DVD commercial zapper it takes about 5 seconds to go thru that 4 minutes.

I still watch the Caveman commercials though, I kinda like that guy and feel sorry for him, being a Caveman and all..

Andy Greatrix · From: Edmonton Alberta

I like to watch UFC and shows about car and motorcycle designing and re-building, but why do they feel they have to play heavily compressed and distorted guitars in background,constantly. It sounds like someone performing root-canal with a jackhammer. Don't they think they are interesting enough without it?

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I live in an apartment complex with a lot of old people and I keep really odd hours, so I use headphones for TV part of the time - muting commercials is mandatory. When you can listen closely, some of the music is more interesting than the shows - "CSI-Las Vegas" has some great creepy serial-killer theme tunes going. During the quiet, tension-building scenes in "Lost" they often add in the sound of a dripping faucet, just to put you more on edge - I've actually pulled off my headphones a few times and went out to the kitchen, until I caught on to them. There's a ton of stuff they add in on TV shows these days that you just can't hear unless you use phones or blast it so loud the commercials will put you out in the street. (I have a six-string wired in too, so all is not wasted).

Jay Fagerlie · From: Lotus, California, USA

Dayna,
I've watched that same show and the soundtrack seemed fine to me.
One thing you might do is go into your TVs menu and turn off the stereo option.
Sometimes the TV man. incorporate a 'spacial enhancer' that really messes with the stereo spread, making the L/R signals alot louder than the center channel.
If there is a 'stereo enhancer' option, try turning that off, also.
I hope that helps,
Jay

Marc Friedland · From: Fort Collins, CO

Dayna,
Yes, my wife and I like that show also. When I don't have a Friday night gig, I try to make it a point to watch the show, though I don't seem to need to record it to watch at another time.
We have also noticed that the mix on this particular show is worse than most. I'm not talking about the commonplace commercials being louder than the show, but the music and background noise on the show being too loud and some of the talking being softer and not as clear.
Perhaps Jay's solution would work, I haven't tried it.
-- Marc

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

If you have 5.1 surround sound, sometimes it helps to turn it off during certain shows. The balance between the surround tracks and the center is often bad. Switching from surround to stereo or even mono can make the program listenable again.

I like the Raines show too, but I noticed right off that it's one of the quietest shows on TV. Goldblum's voice isn't much louder than a whisper most of the time.

I always mute commercials. Too much noise.
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Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

The reason the commercials sound louder than the shows is because the signal for the commercials is compressed. They do a process called "clip and amplify" which clips off the peaks in the commercial's signal them amplifies the rest of the signal. Thus the entire signal on commercials is up where the peaks are on the non-commercial parts of the show. Therefore the total energy in the compressed signal is greater than that of the non-compressed signal. Your ear and brain average out the signals, so that the commercials SEEM louder than the show.

So, Why do they do this? Simply to please the sponsors by making their commercials more prominent.
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Ken Williams · From: Arkansas

Bugs me would be an understatement. On our cable system, CNN is unwatchable. The volume of the actual CNN broadcast is about a third lower than the other channels. If I turn the volume up to hear the broadcast and I'm not paying attention when they go to a commercial, I just about jump out of my skin when the commercial comes on. I kinda like that cat on the cartoon that jumps up and grabs the ceiling when the dog comes up behind him barking.

This may be a bit off topic but to me the mix on current movies are horrible. It's impossible to set the volume to the correct level. If we rent a movie, someone is always holding the remote in their hand. The scene will go from someone whispering where the background music is louder than the dialog, to a helicopter crash and all hell breaks loose. I know all of this is to add dynamics to the movie but goodness gracious. Not just a grumpy old man thing, I've heard several younger folks I know make the same comments.

Ken

Mark Durante · From: St. Pete Beach FL

Roy is correct of course about the compression, sometimes I wish they would use the same compression on program material but sound engineers generally feel it is undesirable. Another thing that irritates me is that "whispering" dialog, I guess it's supposed to convey a deeper meaning to what they are saying. Not

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

They spend all the money for the production,
but then run short and wing it fast in the audio post
and do it in bad control rooms with bad acoustics.
No time, don't care as long as it gets syndicated.
End of story.
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Commercials, with the blessing of the F.C.C., can be up to 30% louder than the the regular programming. As Roy said, they also use a ton of compression, which makes it seem twice as loud. Since most TV is focused towards the younger generation, the music and sound effects are equally important as the dialog. Remember, their "target audience" grew up watching video games and music videos, so most any prime-time show reflects the characteristics used in these forms of entertainment - loud sound effects, fast action, quick scene cuts, lots of "flashes" or white-outs, lots of dark (low-level) shots, and weird camara angles with lots of hand-held shots (without the "SteadiCam").

The same "jiggly" camera work (a' la' Blair Witch) is found in every new drama on TV (which makes the older stuff, like Columbo and Matlock, all the more appealing).

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

There is a legal power limit for all broadcast stations.
The compressed AD signal is set for maximum legal range,
for maximum potential customer reach.

The maximum of any program is the same,
but they have the option to use more dynamics
in the mixing of shows. For practical purposes
they don't get down to 30 db down too often,
since in most cases this becomes unheard through
other sound in the program, including the music bed.

Since most shows need to be considered for 'air broadcast'
and not only cable and theaters, they need without
fail to be within legal power range and mix accordingly.
Some better, some worse.
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