I've noticed several TV shows that have lots of background noise in their sound.  A current example is Blue Bloods on CBS.  The series is set in New York City but I don't know how much of it is actually shot there.  In any case, in the background there is almost always traffic noise, sometimes very loud, even when the actors are shown inside a building.  Even when the shot is supposed to be in a high up office the traffic noise is bad.  Often sounds like large trucks.

Are these inside shots taken in a studio with paper thin walls so that traffic noise is so loud?
Maybe the producers think the traffic noise makes the setting seem more real?

I don't know but it is very distracting to me and sometimes makes it hard to hear the actors speaking.

Comments?

--Larry

Try a search of Robert Altman and Sound Design for some insight.

I have not seen the show but you seem to be highlighting an example of a legacy of an aesthetic.



best regards,
mike

mike_mccue

I have not seen the show but you seem to be highlighting an example of a legacy of an aesthetic.

best regards,
mike

What?  I have no idea what "legacy of an aesthetic" means !!  


In the meantime I'll do so searching on Robert Altman and Sound Design.  At least I know what those are!!!


--Larry

What bugs me is that they can't seem to make a documentary these days without having this banal generic techno music pumping away in the background. Almost everything on the Discovery Channel is like this. It could be the most interesting show about monster oil rigs or something, and there's this constant thump, thump, thump. 

I think it has something to do with Generation Y and the millennial generation not being able to concentrate unless there's a repetitive beat playing. 

Interesting observation. One of those things that can be right in front of our faces but we sometimes don't readily notice. Like the music that occasional plays in the background to these reality shows about auctions, pawn shops, house repairs, etc. (Some of that music is actually quite good when you notice it).

But regarding your observation, it is purely my speculation that the director and audio mixer want the viewer to aurally feel like they are in the city.  Face it, big cities are noisy. Even inside many buildings.

Now you perked my interest. I will listen for this. Maybe it is just bad mixing. A lot of the new shows are mixed for 5.1 surround. If you are listening in stereo or mono, perhaps the mix is way off. Just a thought.

KenB123,  I can understand traffic noise especially when the show is in NYC but not when they are in an office way up in a high building.  I do listen in 5.1 with high quality amp and speakers.  So when a show puts in too much bass I really hear it and trucks rumbling by provide quite a lot of bass.  You might like the Blue Bloods show.  Here it is on Friday evenings (10pm) on CBS.

mike_mccue, I did some reasearch as you suggested and I think I know what you were talking about.  Thanks for getting me to learn something new.

sharke, I'm a retired person brought up in the world of jazz and classical music.  So a lot of "current" music is not appreciated by me.  I've noticed TV ads for the Google Chromebook that has music that makes me want to throw something through the TV screen!  And Google says it will do no evil!  :)

--Larry

Subliminal government propaganda.... combined with backwards masking of satanic messages....


You watch that stuff? 


Better get a tinfoil hat for protection ..... just saying...

i have no idea of the recording or mixing of that show but my reality is that i dated a chick in NYC with an apartment on the 22nd floor.. couldnt get to sleep or stay asleep..you could hear every truck and constant rumble of traffic

It is the idiots who are doing the post audio mixing. It must be something hip like lets keep the dialogue way down and push the music and effects up. I am hearing it in some English productions as well. They are (sometimes)  following stupid American trends instead of doing their own thing and doing it properly.

As soon as you start having trouble hearing the dialogue some dumb ass has done a bad mix, simple as that. They are probably pushing it too fast and not double checking. One should be checking low down on a small mono speaker to make sure everything is still clear, nice dialogue, music and effects just sitting where they should be. It can be done well because something else comes on again and all the components eg dialogue music and effects are all back in the right proportion. Nice post mixer. 

It is a bit like all the hand held camera stuff. People think it looks great but a lot of the time it looks like crap. That started I think with NYPD Blue back in 1993 and it has been going on ever since.

It drives me mad too.

I noticed last week that background music has just found its way into The Sky At Night
 
The programme has been on air since 1957 and remained musak-free until the recent death of its host Patrick Moore. The poor bloke was still warm in the ground and they've defiled his legacy by adding unnecessary music to the show. What next, canned laughter
 
Mind you, there is something to be said for people power - the BBC received so many complaints about the intrusive volume of the 'background' music on the first episode of Brian Cox's (otherwise excellent) Wonders Of The Universe, they actually remixed the audio to bring the levels down for the rest of the series.
 
Another thing that I find extremely distracting is how they use ducking to drop the level of the background when the narrator actually says something. It's not big and it's not clever.
 
Turn it off. Or at least turn it down