why was the volume in James Bond movie too low?

sito

why was the volume in James Bond movie too low?

why didn't the producer record the dialogue at normal volume level ? I had to strain my hearing to listen to what everyone was saying in both movies?

Is there a purpose for lowering the volume?

Thunderpussy

I've read alot lately about sound editors pumping up the volume on special effects sounds,gunfire,explosions etc.Drowning out dialogue.

Gothic ZM

I've never had this problem.... Ever....

Napoleon Plural

Oh I've had this problem with every Bond film since Die Another Day.

I won't be seeing the next Bond film at Odeon Leicester Square in London, a shame as it does have a certain atmosphere. I attribute it to that venue, but maybe it's the same elsewhere. I had to strain to hear the dialogue, though once I heard it I wondered if it was worth the effort...

zig zag

Yeah I've experianced this,not only with bond but many others aswell,and why do they film in the dark these days,it bloody daft.Any way just got a PS3 so hope I can see and hear more in future on bluray

j.blades

Gothic ZM wrote:

I've never had this problem.... Ever....

me neither. this does sound a bit odd to me though, ?:)

Napoleon Plural

I have to confirm (for me) that having watched QoS on DVD I struggle to hear the dialogue introducing Greene on the dock and also with Mathis on the plane. Only about half way thru the film does it settle down. Also the music during the opening car chase seems low in the mix.

Loeffelholz

Everything sounded fine to me...but then again, this tends to buttress my theory about the famous DSOAPP Edition^TM of QoS, vs the much better version that the luckier among us had the opportunity to enjoy...perhaps poor sound is one of the giveaways... B-)

TonyDP

There's an unfortunate tendency in most high profile home video releases these days to ramp up the sound effects at the expense of the dialog. Since most newer releases are mastered with a home theater setup in mind, the problem is further exacerbated when watching a movie through a TV's speakers which are usually weaker. In cases like this, see if the DVD has a mono soundtrack as that will usually work better thru a TV's speakers. Also, most DVD players have an "enhanced dialog" setting that gives higher priority to the dialog track while dialing back the music and sound effects.

While I didn't find QoS particularly problematic, the 5.1 surround sound remixes on the older movies like TB are really unbalanced (especially the new BluRay versions) and I often find myself just switching back to the original mono mixes just to make out the dialog.

Even if you have a surround sound system, you still need to tweak it to the dynamics of your particular room. If you have a surround sound system with a center speaker and are having problems hearing the dialog, I find it often helps to turn up the volume on the center channel relative to the other speakers since that is where dialog usually emanates from. Most surround sound systems let you control the loudness of each speaker individually by raising or lowering their respective decible levels as well as sometimes dialing in their distance from the preferred seating position. Playing around with those kinds of settings (and there is quite a bit of trial and error involved) until you hit the sweet spot should minimize the need to fiddle with the sound on the remote going forward.