Why do TV shows and movies now feel they musthave background music

Q. Why do all the TV shows and movies now feel that they have to have music in the background, sometimes so loud we cannot hear the dialogue? No matter what the situation is, there has to be music in the background.

A. It’s a persistent problem for many viewers. As for why it happens, start with the desire to promote music that a show has paid for, or a belief that loud music adds to the drama of a scene. And, with the deadline demands for a TV show, the audio may have been mixed too hastily or sloppily.

Then wonder if the quality of the audio in your set or home theater can keep up with the ever more sophisticated sound being used in shows. The TV’s settings may need adjusting or the placement of the speakers in your home. (At the House of Heldenfels, the music-vs-dialogue problem declined when we made the switch from speakers to a sound bar.)

Finally, there may be human factors. A BBC executive in 2011 noted that the noisy TV environment could also be hurt by “a mumbling actor.” And those of us advanced in years are less accustomed to a loud music mix than younger viewers who grew up with it.

So what to do about it? If the show is poorly mixed to begin with, there’s not much you can change. And older TV sets may not be able to keep up with the newer mixes. In some cases, though, there may be a means of relief. Before the sound bar, I was helped on occasion by moving my speakers, so I was not sitting right next to one. You could also look at the audio settings on your TV or home theater. CBS offers one such possible solution on its website:

“Occasionally, we have found that viewers who experience an overly loud background music playback sometimes have a stereo television and that the ‘front surround’ feature is activated. This would move the rear surround, usually music and sound effects, information to the main speakers. This can be corrected via your remote control, accessing MENU, and then the audio or sound profile. Set ‘Front Surround’ to ‘OFF.’ We have found that some cable remotes have crossover signals (for instance their DVR button) which activate the ‘Front Surround’ on the adjacent television set.”

While CBS may be offering one solution, it’s not a panacea. Nor do I think there is one, since it would require a consistent commitment by producers, sound editors, studios, networks and TV set makers – and even then, other viewers might complain that the music had gotten too soft.

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