Filmmakers have actually changed the way they capture and mix audio to take advantage of this. They also sometimes abandon TV audio in favor of tuning the sound for high-end setups.
Here is an interesting deep-dive that focuses on Christopher Nolan’s filmmaking.
In a perfect world, there would be the recommended mix, and then the apps (Netflix, Hulu, etc) would let you adjust the faders the way you can with EQ. Instead of one stream of sound, you can balance the voice/music/fx by yourself. Hell, throw EQ on each of those channels. Late at night and you don’t want to bother the neighbors? Let me turn down the bass on the FX and Music channels. Also let me just turn down FX and Music channels in general because I can’t fucking hear what the actors are saying.
Edit: I was talking to my wife about this subject and she was like “yeah, I can do this on my Peloton. Adjust the voice vs music”
So yeah. The technology exists. It may not be retroactive. Like movies and shows already made won’t have the option (but vocal isolation plugins have come a long way). But we have the technology and bandwidth to do it moving forward.
Filmmakers have actually changed the way they capture and mix audio to take advantage of this. They also sometimes abandon TV audio in favor of tuning the sound for high-end setups.
Here is an interesting deep-dive that focuses on Christopher Nolan’s filmmaking.
Why You Can’t Hear The Dialogue in Tenet
In a perfect world, there would be the recommended mix, and then the apps (Netflix, Hulu, etc) would let you adjust the faders the way you can with EQ. Instead of one stream of sound, you can balance the voice/music/fx by yourself. Hell, throw EQ on each of those channels. Late at night and you don’t want to bother the neighbors? Let me turn down the bass on the FX and Music channels. Also let me just turn down FX and Music channels in general because I can’t fucking hear what the actors are saying.
Edit: I was talking to my wife about this subject and she was like “yeah, I can do this on my Peloton. Adjust the voice vs music”
So yeah. The technology exists. It may not be retroactive. Like movies and shows already made won’t have the option (but vocal isolation plugins have come a long way). But we have the technology and bandwidth to do it moving forward.
I mean, a Surround mix and a „I only have TV speakers but would like to hear the dialogue“ mix would be an improvement I suppose.
But also, dialogue isn’t always meant to be clearly understandable. Real life isn’t either.
That would be awesome!