on sound in film

[acroyear]

Renewable Music: Oscar rant obligato:

I do listen closely to sound editing and mixing, however, and find, as a composer, that the sound design is often the most interesting, subtle, and complex part of a film. As far as I'm concern, last year presented some classic examples of mainstream sound design done both very well and very poorly, particularly in the mix. But my ideas of what works or doesn't in a sound track seem to go against the grain: Inception took both sound Oscars this year, but boy, I thought it had a dog's breakfast of a mix.

I'm probably getting old, but increasingly I'm finding the sound levels in films to be overwhelming. If the original mix is muddy and indistinct (or filled with uninteresting elements), adding more volume (and more subwoofer) to the room is not going to help it.

Comments

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I've complained a few times in the last few years about the volume being too damn loud in the theater in general. And it always seems like the previews are painfully loud. The balance on Tron was hideous and it was hard to hear the dialog at times.

[silvrwillow.livejournal.com]

Yes. This is what I've said for a long time. And the sound overall - does it HAVE to be so loud? No, no it doesn't.

[kmusser]

Some theaters are better than others about this too, we found the Silver Spring theater to play everything obnoxiously loud and eventually stopped going. Fortunately the one in Frederick plays stuff at more reasonable volume levels.

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

There's a reason you see me bring earplugs to every movie we see, dear.

[dacuteturtle.livejournal.com]

In general, I think that sound mixing has trended downward. What those old sound mixers were able to do with foley artists and razor blades was truly and utterly phenomenal. I bow before their artistry.

Today, we have the obligatory bass whooshes because ... well ... they HAVE to be there to justify the expensive subwoofer systems.