Is it me or is sound mixing bloody awful nowadays?

[Jumpin]

curl-6 said:

I should add, the films that prompted the thread was rewatching Oppenheimer and Dune Part II, and I think it didn't help that both Villeneuve and Nolan tend to favour directing actors to speak very softly.

I didn’t have a problem with Oppenheimer, but Dune with all that whispering made me quit the film.

I think it’s specifically that film series because I don’t find Villeneuve’s 2049 has that problem.

But I’ll say this, I find the issue more prominent with Netflix productions and postings than anything else… really quiet talking, really loud music and sound effects (not universally true, but I find Netflix; particularly in the pre-Coronavirus era, had terrible audio balance for home systems; but it seems to generally be a lot better nowadays).

One thing might be that I also got a new speaker system around that time and that might have banished the problem… however, not for Dune.

I think it is generally true that in older films they make a point to make all important dialogue clear; the unclear dialogue is generally more about the character’s emotional state than what they’re saying: Braveheart, for example.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 31 May 2026