can you understand today's actors mumbling on tv?

[Pouatchee]

i truly enjoy watching tv. but over the years i have found that the actors/actresses are more and more difficult to understand. they slur more, mumble with low voices and many actors arent even native english speakers. now i am watching true detective season 3 (as example) and i gotta have the subs on all the time. season 2 was just as bad with woody harelson and Matthew McConaughey drawling in texas accents. same goes for british tv... even more so cos much of what is being said on brit tv is colloquial and particular to england. any others struggling with this new generation of actors?

Edited January 18 by Pouatchee

[scubascuba3]

I agree the American mumbling is really annoying and unnecessary, i usually switch off. True Grit was like that, they think they are good actors if they mumble

[Will B Good]

Play the audio through wired, Bose speakers AND have to play subtitles, which is annoying, just to make sure I know what's going on.

[Celsius]

Start watching Season 4. Has Jodie Foster in it and some black chick.. Only 1 Episode so far tho. Sounds fine.

 

Season 2 was with Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, Season 1 was what you are thinking of.

 

But True Detective sound mix is the "artistic choice" which is done on purpose I believe. 

 

Ever seen Tenet? 

[HappyExpat57]

 

Are you sure it's the shows or could your hearing be going? Not a dig, all of us eventually suffer hearing loss if we live long enough.

[Pouatchee]

 

25 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I agree the American mumbling is really annoying and unnecessary, i usually switch off. True Grit was like that, they think they are good actors if they mumble

 

with brit tv it gets difficult when they also have irish and scots on the cast. usually if it is in received pronunciation it aint so bad. of course, in any of the 'englishes' if they talk about names or places then it can be really hard to tell.

 

24 minutes ago, Celsius said:

Start watching Season 4. Has Jodie Foster in it and some black chick.. Only 1 Episode so far tho. Sounds fine.

 

i did. their will be a few american first nation actors, so that might mess things up

 

20 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Are you sure it's the shows or could your hearing be going? Not a dig, all of us eventually suffer hearing loss if we live long enough.

 

my hearing certainly aint what it used to be, but i can turn up the volume, so no... not just that.

 

try listening to something like  power book lll: raising kanan and see if you can really follow what they are saying

 

yeah i watch that crap... aint much on now apparently due to writers strike.

 

Edited January 18 by Pouatchee

[bkk6060]

My worst experience ever was Ireland.  Beautiful country and friendly people, but I could not understand a word they were saying same for their TV/movies.

[HappyExpat57]

34 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

 

with brit tv it gets difficult when they also have irish and scots on the cast. usually if it is in received pronunciation it aint so bad. of course, in any of the 'englishes' if they talk about names or places then it can be really hard to tell.

 

 

i did. their will be a few american first nation actors, so that might mess things up

 

 

my hearing certainly aint what it used to be, but i can turn up the volume, so no... not just that.

 

try listening to something like  power book lll: raising kanan and see if you can really follow what they are saying

 

yeah i watch that crap... aint much on now apparently due to writers strike.

 

Hearing loss isn't just volume, you lose the high end first which results in everything sounding muffled. Just sayin'.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

To my ears, the volume of content on streaming services seems to vary considerably. If there is music or violent scenes with explosions or gunfire, the volume is excessive, yet in the same movie the dialogue is often so low that it becomes difficult to understand.

 

I have frequently wondered whether the streaming services like Netflix somehow degrade audio quality in order to conserve bandwidth when streaming their content. This article states that it is just inconsistent volume levels within the content: https://www.techhive.com/article/579229/streaming-tvs-invisible-annoyance.html. The article also mentions some solutions for specific types of TV or media players. I'm not entirely convinced and suspect that the audio signal is possibly intentionally degraded by the streaming service.

[Pouatchee]

7 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

To my ears, the volume of content on streaming services seems to vary considerably. If there is music or violent scenes with explosions or gunfire, the volume is excessive, yet in the same movie the dialogue is often so low that it becomes difficult to understand.

 

dude! totally agree with you. i don't get why they dont try to balance out the sound. then the actors talk to each other in muffled voices for realism... sucks

[scubascuba3]

17 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Hearing loss isn't just volume, you lose the high end first which results in everything sounding muffled. Just sayin'.

but it isn't everything, it's certain movies and series when they mumble a lot for effect.

 

Another annoying thing in movies is fight scenes in the dark, ridiculous 

[scubascuba3]

Just now, Pouatchee said:

 

dude! totally agree with you. i don't get why they dont try to balance out the sound. then the actors talk to each other in muffled voices for realism... sucks

there is a solution to that, i use Bluetooth earphones where the sound isn't great

[Pouatchee]

Just now, scubascuba3 said:

Another annoying thing in movies is fight scenes in the dark, ridiculous 

 

thats easy to understand... its to hide the actors incompetence at acting, or they cant find a double that looks like... enough

[samtam]

1 hour ago, Pouatchee said:

i truly enjoy watching tv. but over the years i have found that the actors/actresses are more and more difficult to understand. they slur more, mumble with low voices and many actors arent even native english speakers. now i am watching true detective season 3 (as example) and i gotta have the subs on all the time. season 2 was just as bad with woody harelson and Matthew McConaughey drawling in texas accents. same goes for british tv... even more so cos much of what is being said on brit tv is colloquial and particular to england. any others struggling with this new generation of actors?

 

Yes, agree! No enunciation. As others have said, when regional English accents are used, the audience must be very limited. I'm British, but I have to put on subtitles to understand what is being said. Also dialogue very often includes very local phrases. In an attempt to be authentic, they have lost a large audience. But I dare say the same is true when you are in UK, the variation of accents is difficult to comprehend. American English has similar issues. It's subtitles for everything for me now, which proves some of the jargon, (when you see it written) is very specific to a very limited group of people.

[Pouatchee]

found this

 

[Chris Daley]

It's the sound settings.  Go to volume and remove the volume levelling.

 

The TVs all have a default setting that lowers loud noises and raises quiet ones.  As a result dialogue is lost during car chases or scenes with music.

Edited January 18 by Chris Daley

[scubascuba3]

15 minutes ago, samtam said:

 

Yes, agree! No enunciation. As others have said, when regional English accents are used, the audience must be very limited. I'm British, but I have to put on subtitles to understand what is being said. Also dialogue very often includes very local phrases. In an attempt to be authentic, they have lost a large audience. But I dare say the same is true when you are in UK, the variation of accents is difficult to comprehend. American English has similar issues. It's subtitles for everything for me now, which proves some of the jargon, (when you see it written) is very specific to a very limited group of people.

Still Game is a very good comedy series, for me it's my favourite British comedy but I reckon it's not massive because of the Glaswegian accents

[Pouatchee]

9 minutes ago, Chris Daley said:

The TVs all have a default setting that lowers loud noises and raises quiet ones.  As a result dialogue is lost during car chases or scenes with music.

 

my samsung 7 series only has 3 settings...  ; (

[KannikaP]

7 minutes ago, Chris Daley said:

It's the sound settings.  Go to volume and remove the volume levelling.

 

The TVs all have a default setting that lowers loud noises and raises quiet ones.  As a result dialogue is lost during car chases or scenes with music.

Incorrect. My TV has volume levelling which I can turn on, it is not on by default......Samsung QLED 55 inch via Soundbar.

There are sometimes EQ settings either onboard or external. which can enhance the dialogue.

[Lacessit]

I find the easiest way to deal with mumbling actors is to stop watching them.

IMO Game of Thrones had some of the best enunciation of lines, particularly Peter Dinklage ( Tyrion Lannister ).

[lungbing]

That show was the best at everything, especially the divine Emilia.

[peter zwart]

Why is it that many American ladies talk with a so called "broken voice". Do they think it makes them special? I heard it for the first time with those unbelievable boring Kardashians (the absolute lowest quality tv celebs). And as were now talking about American ladies, why do they always shout so loud when they do the thing? 

Edited January 18 by peter zwart

[sirineou]

16 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I agree the American mumbling is really annoying and unnecessary, i usually switch off. True Grit was like that, they think they are good actors if they mumble

I have a problem with actors whose english is not their native language such as Brits and Australians 

[GammaGlobulin]

This problem with audio and clarity of spoken lines is a problem not only plaguing television broadcast dialogue.

 

This problem has also existed in films of recent decades.

 

This problem has been discussed often.

 

One problem cited involves the placement of microphones....And also the new methods of filming which do not require actors to stand close to the mics when reading their lines.

 

Just google this Topic and you will find Tons of discussions.

 

These days...actors are more free to walk around beyond the optimum distance for a microphone to pick up the best sound quality.

 

Google it and see if I am not correct in this.

 

 

[Pouatchee]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

I have a problem with actors whose english is not their native language such as Brits and Australians 

 

555... damn man please dont start world war 3!

 

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

These days...actors are more free to walk around beyond the optimum distance for a microphone to pick up the best sound quality.

 

i totally believe you. new generation.... just like the horror movies around '85 or so, not quite sure when it started but around then, where they killed the hero in an unsuspected surprise come back from the villain

 

cinema has taken a turn... for the worst

 

[GammaGlobulin]

18 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

555... damn man please dont start world war 3!

 

 

i totally believe you. new generation.... just like the horror movies around '85 or so, not quite sure when it started but around then, where they killed the hero in an unsuspected surprise come back from the villain

 

cinema has taken a turn... for the worst

 

 

Turn for the worse, or turn for the worst...

It's all bad, these days.

 

[ThaiFelix]

22 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

 

Are you sure it's the shows or could your hearing be going? Not a dig, all of us eventually suffer hearing loss if we live long enough.

What??

[Bangkok Barry]

 

I agree with this 100%. It's got to the point now that if what I want to watch doesn't have subtitles or I can't find them to download (very, very rare) then I simply don't watch. And it isn't ears growing old. When I watch old tv series there is no problem understanding.

[LALes]

Whether they are mumbling or not, today's movies and t v have one problem in common... They mix the dialogue way too low compared to the sound effects.  I'm always Running the dialog up to a 100 on the volume only to have to dial it way back down once they stop talking and the sound effects begin.

[CygnusX1]

2 minutes ago, LALes said:

Whether they are mumbling or not, today's movies and t v have one problem in common... They mix the dialogue way too low compared to the sound effects.  I'm always Running the dialog up to a 100 on the volume only to have to dial it way back down once they stop talking and the sound effects begin.

Completely agree. It’s especially a problem if you live in an apartment and want to be considerate to your neighbours.