BOOM! SMASH! KABLAM!!! I like LOUD!

Yes I like loud stuff. Maybe it is because as a kid I lived so close to train tracks and steel mills that I beacame so used to it. you know, all that clanging and screaching at night kinda put me to bed.
So what the hell am I talking about? My surround sound is what I am calmmering about (Clammering is another sound that filled the night are in Western PA) I like to pop in a POPCORN flick, and let the noise begin. Some poepl seem to think that certain movies are to loud. Well is that not why we have spent tons of money on constructing our state of the art home theaters? You don't even have to watch a POPCORN flick, even the classics are loud. I loved the opening to Saving Private Ryan, hell now I know what my Uncle went through because it sounded like I was there. And yea it was loud. It really does not matter, action movies are and will continue to be LOUD. Sound makes the picture come alive. Imagine a movie without any music. To me the louder the better....bring on!
In closing, if you sound aphobics don't like the LOUD movies, then go out and rent The Notebook, sip some wine and turn on the night mode on your receivers. For the rest of us, bring on the BOOM! SMASH! and the KABLAM!!!!

HERE HERE!!! I HATE MY EARS TOO!!!

Biker,

Do you not see a difference in the loud in the new "Star Trek" and the LOUD in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"? Both films have super-duper, state-of-the-art audio tracks, but one uses the loud to advantage, to entertain us, while the other uses the loud to assault our ears with a vengeance and drive us insane.

Or, to use another analogy, just turning up the volume on a bad song to its loudest level doesn't make the song any better (unless turning it up so loud makes it unlistenable, which might improve it).

John

Biker,

You're also making the assumption (mistake) that us folks that find some films overindulgent with audio are films we don't care for. That's really not the point we're making. What we are complaining about is the improper use of sound (note John's point above). I, too, would expect were action sequences are involved that there is certainly a large degree of audio cranking, and I would expect nothing less. However, when it's mixed with a bunch of pumped up music and delivered solely for the purpose of being loud it becomes unacceptable nonsense. Like CGI, audio should blend with the movie, not over dominate it.

John, yes I would have to agree with you...somewhat. Even the DUMBEST movies out there, sound good. Now as I am watching Transformers 2, and it is loud, I thought (in my opinion) that the fighting scenes towards the end in the desert sounded just as good as the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. I am not saying that Transformers 2 was a good movie, in fact I thought it was really really rediculous. But was it entertaining, yes. Was it somewhat mindless entertainment, yes at times. But that is why we call it a POPCORN flick. It was no more meaningful than Indiana Jones 4, and yea that was entertaining also.
John I respect you to the upmost, as a matter of fact when you review a movie I actually use your reviews as a guide as on what I should and shouldn't buy. But a movie does not have to be an A+ to sound good.

I believe you two fine gents are "assuming" that biker is referring to a movie that he didn't even mention in his post. He said "Saving Private Ryan". Of which has a punishing soundtrack as well not unlike "Black Hawk Down". But this "overkill" get a pass though right?

No, he was talking in general of POPCORN flicks, as he calls it. He used "Saving Private Ryan" as one example of audio he enjoys. Nevertheless, that does not mean that every popcorn film uses it's sound properly, and I, for one, would never consider "Saving Private Ryan" a popcorn film. If you examine the use of audio in SPR - which I'm sure we're all referring to that famous, opening sequence - you'll notice no screaming heavy metal music. In fact, very little music, if any. There are even times the sound goes blank to simulate what it's like to have temporary hearing loss due to an explosion close to your ears. Not to mention a great use of rear speakers simulating the sound of bullets ricocheting off objects from behind. It was because of Spielberg's craft to not go over-the-top that made that entire sequence feel as real as possible. I can only imagine Bay's version would have included metal music along with ten-times more explosions and massive weaponry, and if that happened, then we could call SPR a "popcorn flick."

The sound work done in audio tracks and scores are just as much an art form as filming the movie itself. I'll use Saving Private Ryan as an example as well. The loudness and chaos of the film was intended by Spielberg. He wanted to show that "war is hell", and not glorify it as so many movies have done. Spielberg not only accomplished this by the brilliant work of the sound engineers, but by his choice in how he shot the film, the performances by the actors, how it was cut, the placement and usage of violence and gore and the multitude of emotions the film pounds through you.

Loud sound with intent and cleaver placement is one thing. Loud sound for the purposes of "louder is better" or more, is another entirely. Just like in any other art form, more often than not, more is just more, it doesn't necessarily lend to the film, or make it "better".

Unfortunately, I think greater and greater numbers of directors out there have come to the conclusion that a louder sound track will help sell their films. This is no different than horrible writing in a script.

A film (or movie, if you will) is a delicate balance and can be directly compared to a painting. On one end of the spectrum, you might have the scribblings of a deluded artist with no training, no direction and little to no redeeming qualities in their artwork. While on the other end, you might have Vermeer's "Girl With A Red Hat", that entices you to look closer, astounds you with his use of color, evokes an almost immediate emotional reaction upon viewing it, and you can look at it again and again and consistently find new and intriguing elements that were intentional in their usage.



- Josh

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[Post edited by NachtDerKriecher on Oct 21, 2009 - CDT 2:30 PM]

Oh, and, Biker, just as a point of information: I did give the audio on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" an A, (well, an A-, actually, a 9/10). I thought the movie sounded great (if a little overbearing in the bass). Yet the audio made the movie only marginally better than it would have been without a good soundtrack.

Anyway, I love sound, and I've been writing about it for close to forty years in hi-fi magazines and now at Classical Candor. My wife is forever telling me from upstairs to "turn it down" in the home-theater room (and even in the living-room music system) because the whole house tends to shake when the bass rumbles too loudly.

But, as I say, there's good loud sound, and there's bad loud sound.

John

First let me clear the air, I did not say that Saving Private Ryan was a POPCORN flick. No what I said is that SPR is a classic. I actaully watch it every Veterns Day as a homage to every man and women who died for this great country of ours in all wars. Why I used SPR, is beacause to me the sound in that movie is an A+ (yes the opening scene) But why I used it was a comparison to a CLASSIC movie and a POPCORN flick in sound only. Yes there are movies that sound bad and are bad in general. All I am saying is that some of the mindless movies (your BIG budget POPCORN movies) sound good and they are loud. So hang me on the cross and pound in the nails because I like to give my home theater a work out.
And John yes I did see that you gave Transformer 2 an A-, c'mon on John I gave you props for all of your great reviews that you feed us. John what I was saying is that you do a bang up job.
Guys don't hate because I love BANG! BOOM! and KABLAM! coming from my speakers, hey it's just my opinion.