I’m constantly having to turn the volume up and down depending on the what the scene is. It’s not just me either. A lot of people I know have resorted to just turning on the closed captioning so they can hear what they’re saying. I don’t remember this being an issue before.
In: 2005
Source: Im a mix engineer for film & TV.
Eli5: Mixing films and shows with a big difference between the quiet sounds and loud sounds gives impact and provides a cinematic experience. This sucks for home viewing because domestic environments are extremely noisey relative to a cinema and the quiet sections get lost.
Simply put: The quietest film/TV sound has to be louder than your ambient room sound in order to be heard clearly. The quieter your ambient sound, the quieter the mix be yet still be heard.
Eli10: Companies mix film and TV to different loudness standards which are intended for different viewing environments. Cinemas are sound treated, quiet environments with good speakers so when mixing for theatre you can make the quiet sections super quiet and they will still be easily heard. This makes the loud parts seem even more impactful.
The phrase to describe the difference between the loudest and softest sounds is “dynamic range.”
Why is it more prevalent?
The problem with a lot of modern media, especially as TV shows have become higher budget and more cinematic, is that they are mixed with a wide dynamic range to give that cinematic experience. The problem with this is that the majority of people watch said shows in a domestic environment that is much noisier. Streaming has thrown a spanner in the works as typically things made to be publicly broadcast to a domestic environment had a smaller dynamic range to cater for that environment but sites like Netflix don’t work to those same standards.
This just skims the surface but covers enough to hopefully answer your question.
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