There is a question I keep being asked by my post production students and also, I am seeing it coming up on the internet as well (now that I have started looking!)…..and that question is, why is the speech (dialogue) on films and TV programmes so difficult to hear!

It can be so frustrating having to keep turning up the level on the TV remote, only have to frantically scramble to turn it down when then the music or a big explosion kicks in.

Much of this has to do with loudness. I recently wrote an article about ‘Understanding Loudness and why it matters’ for the ProSoundEffects blog.

But, loudness and compression in themselves are not the only reason causing this. Here are a few more reasons, why you can’t hear the dialogue in television programmes and films.

Currently, we are in a perfect storm of variables that are causing the listening public to be unhappy with what they are hearing.

Flat panel and LED TVs.

The trend today is that televisions at home will either be wall mounted flat panels or freestanding panels, where the most important consideration is the aesthetic. TV manufacturing companies are all going for clean lines and minimal (if any) frames around them. 

This results in sound (as always) taking the backseat in priority…literally….. the speakers are mounted to the rear of the TV. Therefore, if you have a wall mounted TV your speakers are right up against the wall AND pointing the opposite direction to the listener. Even if the TV is free standing, the speakers are pointed in the wrong direction to your ears.

The audio fires straight at your wall, and as a result some of the sound will be absorbed by the wall, some will pass through the wall (This is also a reason of an increase in neighbour noise complaints) and some will be reflected…..we won’t get into the murky world of phase cancellations in this article.

Add into this mix, the bass (low frequencies) things start to get very muddy, because of low frequency wavelengths bass will start to appear to the listener as ‘omnidirectional’. This then causes it to mask (block) the mid to high frequencies. 

Add into this the fact that many TV manufacturers hype the bass (and highs) with a loudness curve to make their TV's sound 'great' (especially in display rooms), you end up with muddy unintelligible speech. 

There is a work around if your TV has a built in EQ, where you can try lowering the bass and boosting the mids, especially around 1-2kHz region.

Note : Another factor for consideration at this point, is to remember that  films are mixed in mix rooms and dubbing suites for the intention of being heard on a cinema system and not a home system.

Acting.

Acting is also a massive contributory factor in speech intelligibility. We are currently in an acting era where the ‘mumble’ or whisper is what 'acting' has become. Mumbling your way through a scene does seem like it is now a sure fire way to gain awards. This is also tied in with a degree of directors wanting 'realism', using strong regional accents which (and I am not against this) can make speech harder to understand. 

When speaking in your 'normal' voice, one tends to rush and blur words together, all part of the realism. Compare this to thespians of the past (whilst it is now easy to mock them) they made sure that the enunciated and pronounced their words almost to the point of ridiculousness. 

The Hans Zimmer effect.

This is not a slight on Hans as he is one of the greatest film composers of all time, but he has welcomed in the era of very bass heavy, loud scoring as standard. (also he does love his low B note on brass and strings). 

Once again we are adding a lot of bass to the mix. 

Also scoring is less thematic or motif driven these days and more 'sound design orchestral hybrid' in it’s stylings. Add to this a big emphasis on drone elements. Drones can be thought of a broadband noise, sitting across the frequency spectrum in many instances...again leading to speech masking. 

The score also has to fight against amazing sound effects design, which by it's very nature can either be bass heavy or mid heavy. Each element will be developed in isolation much of the time, and when it comes to the dubbing stage, their can be fights as to what gets heard over what.

(When in reality all that should matter is the dialogue!)

Formats.

There are now a number of formats available for surround sound and whilst all mixes should be checked on mono/stereo systems to ensure compatibility, this may not always be the case as mixes in formats such as Dolby Atmos are now being pushed by broadcasters. 

What can happen is that in a surround mix, where speech has been set to the centre channel and SFX etc are in the Front Left and Right channels, is that the playback system (TV) is set up in a way that only the Front Left and Right channels are coming out of the TV speakers and the centre channel is lost (with the majority of the speech). 

There is a workaround for this and that can be to try and change the channel setting (or presets) on your TV).

Apprenticeships.

Sadly, the majority of the most knowledgable sound mixers are retiring and the students coming up at the moment are finding it extremely hard to find (if at all) anyone who can take them under their wing and show them the ropes. (This is endemic in many industries). 

Add to this cost factors and many production companies will want to employ students as they are cheap. So, it is a case of take on the under experienced and hope for the best. Add into this quick turn around times and occasionally poor mixing facilities, I seen some work being mixed on a laptop, then the results will always be substandard.

At the end of the day, the cold hard reality is that sound is always, always, always an after thought in most productions. But it is the one thing which can make or break a piece of visual content....as I tell my students...You can watch a film and tolerate a film with a bad picture, but as soon as something goes with the sound...you will turn it off.

Good sound will come back one day. It is my life long mission to make that happen!!!

Peace

Neil