logo Sign In

Post #793797

Author
hairy_hen
Parent topic
Info: Terminator 2 - in search of the theatrical sound mix...
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/793797/action/topic#793797
Date created
17-Oct-2015, 9:06 PM

That sounds like Dialog Normalization at work.

Because of it, the whole Dolby track will be turned down in the receiver by a certain amount (most likely 4 dB), and it makes it seem less powerful than it actually is.  The speech itself will be perfectly audible in both cases, so we don't notice during times when not much is going on, but since the peaks in the action scenes are noticeably lower, this will deceive the listener into thinking that it is less good.  Also, due to the Fletcher-Munson effect, our ears suck at hearing bass at low volumes, so we think one version is mixed with less bass, while in reality the actual amount may well be the same.

Unfortunately, DialNorm cannot be defeated by the end user, so these sorts of volume discrepancies during playback are unavoidable.  Combine that with our natural tendency to believe that louder is better, and we can convince ourselves of all kinds of things.  If you have a receiver that specifies how much DialNorm offset is in the track (I have a new Marantz that does this), that can help with making a more accurate comparison.  This can at least help make it possible to distinguish how much of what you're hearing is due to the mix itself and how much is just because of the playback level being turned down.