The bad sound mixing in certain Christopher Nolan films; TDKR, Dunkirk, Tenet etc

[chalkitdown]

Seriously, how do his movies get released with huge issue like this? There are entire scenes in both Dunkirk and Tenet where I, a native English speaker, could not understand a single word of what was being spoken. Why is the music SO LOUD. Why are characters delivering extremely important plot information while wearing masks or over scratchy mics while the ambient sound around them drowns out their voices? This shit is unacceptable in movies with the budget these have.

No spoilers here; The sailboat scene in Tenet; literally no idea what was going on or being said during that 3-4 minute scene. Absolutely no idea. That's just one example of many a cross multiple films of Nolan's. I only specify it because I just watched it today. Tenet was confusing enough before you take this issue into account, ffs.

I genuinely don't understand how or why the sound mix is so bad in these 3 particular movies. Maybe it's present in some of his other work as well? I havent seen them in a while.

 

[Firebrand]

Dark Knight Rises was the last Nolan film I saw in theatres, it made my ears physically hurt and I had to plug my ears with my fingers in several scenes. At least there were subtitles.

I thought it was just a bad theatre but when I checked it out on Netflix the music was still stupidly loud.

 

[Deleted member 35740]

Interstellar is also plagued by this. I love the movie but Jesus how can they not do a better job making the dialogue more clear. The music drowns everything.

 

[HandsomeCharles]

Just out of the cinema and I said EXACTLY this to my partner. OP are you me?

 

[SteveWinwood]

i think its intentional, because theres no way people get paid to make it sound like that and still have a job

they think it just makes it sound

LOUD AND EPIC WOW

 

[Bumble Bee]

Apparently "A lot of hard intentional thought and work has gone in to the mix" 🤣

https://twitter.com/burnt_disk/status/1299075611986726920?s=19

 

[Deleted member 9035]

I believe Nolan does this on purpose.

 

[Sordid Plebeian]

Doesn't translate well if you don't use surround sound, never had a problem with it in theaters

 

[INST]

*Flashback to that first gunshot in Dunkirk*

 

[Miss Piggy]

Thank god it wasn't just me and my partner thinking the same thing. We weren't sure if we were just getting old and too used to subtitles from all the TV we watch 😅

 

[ArjanN]

The only reason I know any of Bane's dialog is because of memes.

 

[MrCibb]

Yeah, I watched TDKR in the cinema and Bane was almost inaudible at times. Not even exaggerating, couldn't understand a fucking word quite often. I think they fixed it or I just became more attune to it because watching it on blu-ray it was much better.

 

[Chopchop]

Sound mixing is just really bad in movies these days for some reason. Somehow the voices are always way, way softer than anything else in the movie. It sucks.

 

[DavidDesu]

Totally agree. I was pretty confused by a lot of Tenet because so much of the dialogue I was straining to hear or understand. And yeah I'm from the UK. And I mean there's very important pieces of information that are delivered once in one line. If you miss it you miss it.

 

[Carn]

it sucks. glad there were subs. also I think this is bullshit :

So, the big question, why is it like this? It's hard to know precisely, but there might be a simple enough reason for it. Namely, Christopher Nolan did it on purpose. In a Reddit AMA last year, Christopher Nolan's long-time sound designer Richard King was asked why he tended to have loud music and sound effects drown out the dialogue in some scenes.

King's response is pretty revealing. "Chris (Nolan) is trying to create a visceral emotional experience for the audience, beyond merely an intellectual one. Like punk rock music, it's a full-body experience, and dialogue is only one facet of the sonic palette," he explains.

"He wants to grab the audience by the lapels and pull them toward the screen, and not allow the watching of his films to be a passive experience. If you can, my advice would be to let go of any preconceptions of what is appropriate and right and experience the film as it is, because a lot of hard intentional thought and work has gone into the mix." King was the supervising sound editor on 'Tenet', and worked in a similar role in 'Interstellar', 'Dunkirk', 'The Dark Knight Rises', and 'The Dark Knight'.

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[pikachief]

Yeah, I watched TDKR in the cinema and Bane was almost inaudible at times. Not even exaggerating, couldn't understand a fucking word quite often. I think they fixed it or I just became more attune to it because watching it on blu-ray it was much better.

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the scene where hes talking in the stadium was completely inaudible for me when I saw it in theaters.

 

[SJRB]

I remember during Dunkirk my girlfriend and I both struggling with the insanely loud audio at times.

It's just absurd and 100% unnecessary.

 

[Deleted member 2226]

Yeah, I dunno why it's an issue. Looking at Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Dark Knight Rises, Nolan has the same supervising sound editor (Richard King) for all three movies, but he's got different mixers and general other sound crew, and it's not like I've heard the "can't hear anything" complaints from other non-Nolan stuff in his filmography, so I feel like it's fair to lay the blame squarely on Nolan.

Any good sound mixer knows to test his mix on low-end stuff in addition to the target best-case scenario, I doubt they're just not doing this. I'm guessing Nolan just doesn't care.

 

[Carn]

or maybe Nolan is kinda oblivious to the fact that he knows the script inside out and is familiar with what his actors are saying?

 

[Lowrys]

it sucks. glad there were subs. also I think this is bullshit :

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That quote is ridiculous, they don't have to make the dialogue inaudible to give viewers a visceral experience.

 

[Tambini]

Can't disagree, need subtitles for this shit

 

[BLEEN]

This is usually a home theater issue. 9 times out of 10.

In theatre? Designers just sucked.

 

[chalkitdown]

Some scenes in Tenet made me think of this video while watching.

"I know they're speaking English, I understand some of these words..."

 

[Necromanti]

It worked in TDKR's favor for me. The movie wouldn't have been half as funny if Bane was understandable. I remember my friends and I trying to not lose it in the movie theater.

 

[Fallout-NL]

This is why I always want subtitles.

Always.

And not just with Nolan movies.

 

[Katten]

While it is apparently intentional, the sound issues and inability to direct action, has made me kinda hate Nolan movies as cinematic experiences.

Having the option of turning on subtitles should not be needed to watch a movie.

 

[Deleted member 2533]

Maybe it's your theatres? I saw Dunkirk in Mississauga just outside of Toronto, and the sound was excellent.

 

[Deleted member 4260]

Dunkirk was a bit much. All the gunfire was so loud.

 

[Orbis]

I won't spoil Tenet but there are times when this is clearly used for effect but also times where important dialogue is being obscured and it's frustrating. This was in a modern, recently built Dolby Atmos cinema (Odeon iSense screen) where I've seen many movies with no sound issues.

 

[ANNeFRANKxGOKU]

sound mixing in dunkirk was infuriating

absolutely hated that movie

 

[Deleted member 8579]

Yeah it sucks.

Michael Mann films suffer sometimes too in a similar way. Really too many films do nowadays.

I half think they listen to it with headphones and think yeah, I hear them and since they know the words, they don't really need to hear it clearly to understand.

 

[Garp TXB]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like it doesn't affect all his movies. Like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are fine, same with The Prestige

 

[Rodney McKay]

I saw Interstellar in IMAX and I did like that docking scene with its ridiculously loud music, but thankfully that scene didn't have much dialog so it wasn't drowned out.

But yeah, when you can barely understand characters or it literally makes your ears hurt you're not doing it right.

Maybe Nolan has some hearing damage so all his movies are just cranked to 11 to compensate.

 

[Bob White]

I love Nolan but... a lot of his movies have sloppy aspects to them. Sloppy to the point where it seems like he just doesn't care about the small things and just wants to get another film done and put away.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Just out and I did think the sound was a bit loud but I understood every word.

 

[WillyFive]

Mixed for IMAX (and it sounds great on IMAX), but ignored for everything else.

 

[captive]

Knight Rises was the last Nolan film I saw in theatres, it made my ears physically hurt and I had to plug my ears with my fingers in several scenes. At least there were subtitles.

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Next time go ask them to turn it down.

This has happened several times for me and especially with my kids. I've asked them to turn it down and they typically will.
Movies should not be so loud that it hurts your ears.

 

[molnizzle]

Can't say I've ever had this problem, but I do have a dope home theater and only go to dope Dolby/IMAX/70mm showings of Nolan films at the cinema.

 

[ExInferus]

Just out and I did think the sound was a bit loud but I understood every word.

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same for me. The score in particular was too loud but the dialogue was clear in my theater

 

[Solo]

All his movies are like this. I recall seeing Batman Begins in theatres and the whole goddamn place basically shaking when the Tumbler was fired up and Molossus hit. Funnily enough, I felt like it worked to great effect in BB, but never again since despite being the case for all his movies.

 

[XMonkey]

The mixes and the half-assed justification for them are nonsense. Actively harms my enjoyment of his films.

 

[a Master Ninja]

Mixed for IMAX (and it sounds great on IMAX), but ignored for everything else.

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I don't know if this is actually true, but it feels true.

 

[Nappuccino]

or maybe Nolan is kinda oblivious to the fact that he knows the script inside out and is familiar with what his actors are saying?

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Or maybe he knows his scripts are his weakest link and wants to cover their banalness up with amazing musical and sound effect affect.

 

[Rocket786]

Haven't seen Tenet yet, but I didn't understand probably 80% of Dunkirk. I saw it in the theaters and I had no idea what was going on because the dialogue was so muffled and the background score so loud. It was horrible.

 

[Keywork]

Maybe Nolan has some hearing damage so all his movies are just cranked to 11 to compensate.

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I've heard some people put forth that theory.I would think it starts to fall apart when you bring in the chief sound editor and reports from studio execs who see the film in various stages. Or is Nolan such a golden goose for WB that the execs are very hands-off and let him make his films however he wants?

 

[VeryHighlander]

For a guy with such a boner for cinema, why rely on subtitles to understand your characters?

 

[Bungie]

Mixed for IMAX (and it sounds great on IMAX), but ignored for everything else.

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Depends what you consider great. It was impossible to hear some of the dialogue when I saw it at an IMAX. To me that's bad mixing, intentional or not

 

[VeryHighlander]

Some scenes in Tenet made me think of this video while watching.

"I know they're speaking English, I understand some of these words..."

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I'm probably not the target audience but holy shit that video is stupid. They're just mumbling and throwing a coherent word out there every now and then. I can do the same exact thing with Arabic or Polish, but what exactly is it even proving?

 

[echoshifting]

Whenever I think about rewatching a Nolan film I have to stop and consider if I want to put up with this (and make everyone else in the house put up with it too)

 

[mattiewheels]

I'm one of those people who didn't like the "new" Bane voice after everybody freaked out about his voice in the prologue and they redid it. It sounds way too upfront and goofy in the final, and half of that is down to Tom Hardy changing his performance style. He sounds really boisterous and flourish-y in the final where the prologue had this far more low-key and digitally manipulated sound.