Every time I go to the movies, turn on the TV, or listen to
the radio I find myself wondering, “Are these sound engineers deaf or just
making money on sideline businesses such as hearing aids, and replacement
headphones and subwoofers?”. The Human
eardrum can register certain ranges and frequencies of sounds. It can pull one noise out of many, like
someone calling your name to you from across a crowded room. But too many noises, too many frequencies and
it becomes a cacophony, mush. We also
recognize certain frequencies easier than others. Some pitches provoke pleasing feelings. Some
tones transmit terror. The feeling that
has recently been evoked in me is anger.
When watching anything with an audio track this anger is evoked. On a consistent basis, the vocal track (speaking
parts in TV and movies/mid and high range in songs) is put at a lower volume
then the rest of the score. The background track/special effects track for movies
and the commercial/special effect/background/ promotion music track for TV and
the Road-Rocking-Wake-me-up-from-the-second-floor- how-can-you-even-stand-to-sit-in-the-car-with-
that-music-playing bass line for the radio is utterly too loud and disrupts the
rest of your Movie/program/music. In a
Movie Theatre, you must simply cope with the volume as is. When watching a movie or TV show at home, you
must sit with your hand poised precariously on the volume button constantly hovering
between low and high to compensate for some editor’s inability to delicately
balance high and low frequencies. Don’t they understand that music is not a line
or a wave but complicated mathematical figure involving time space and relative
dimension? Frankly, half the industry
should go bad to kindergarten and relearn how to add and subtract.
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