Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Ideas to fix severely ducking audio description in movies and TV shows (self.Blind)
submitted by morbidSuplex
Hi all, I'm sorry if this gets a little long.
So, I recently heard that the final season of a TV show called Homeland has audio description. Unfortunately, my excitement turned into intents frustration only on the first episode. Whenever the narrator is speaking, the sound audio drastically drops in volume. Then after the naration the volume gets back up again. It is like the show turns off when the naration began, then turns on again when the naration stops.
I have 2 questions
* Is there a way to fix this sound a little bit? At least partially get the audio a little bit louder when the narrator is speaking? Using goldwave or such software?
* Is there a way to get the actual description track? So the listener can manually fix the audio track and the description track?
Homeland is one of my favorite shows ever. In my personal opinion, it seems that our comunity isn't relevant enough to online services that they could simply provide piss poor audio and get away with it. I mean, I am not an audio engineer, but how fucking hard it would be to balance two audio tracks? What the fucking fuck!
I appologise for my rant.
So, I recently heard that the final season of a TV show called Homeland has audio description. Unfortunately, my excitement turned into intents frustration only on the first episode. Whenever the narrator is speaking, the sound audio drastically drops in volume. Then after the naration the volume gets back up again. It is like the show turns off when the naration began, then turns on again when the naration stops.
I have 2 questions
* Is there a way to fix this sound a little bit? At least partially get the audio a little bit louder when the narrator is speaking? Using goldwave or such software?
* Is there a way to get the actual description track? So the listener can manually fix the audio track and the description track?
Homeland is one of my favorite shows ever. In my personal opinion, it seems that our comunity isn't relevant enough to online services that they could simply provide piss poor audio and get away with it. I mean, I am not an audio engineer, but how fucking hard it would be to balance two audio tracks? What the fucking fuck!
I appologise for my rant.
Marconius 2 points 2y ago
The ducking is necessary to make the AD track audible over loud music, effects, etc. The vendors mixing the AD track usually need to do it quickly and aren't part of the sound mixing crew when shows or movies are made. Ideally, there would be a standard -5db duck whenever the AD narrator is speaking, so that would need to be coordinated and agreed upon by all the AD vendors and movie/show houses.
For me, ducking really isn't an issue. The much larger problem is the lack of multi-channel support for those of us with 5.1 home theater systems. Netflix is fantastic at having AD in the center channel of their shows with the rest of the dialog track while preserving surround sound. A lot of other houses are crushing AD into 2.0 stereo, which makes it sound awful with ducking, and even worse when they forget to duck the underlying audio. I hate hearing all the show audio and AD track come through all 5 of my speakers at once since it ruins the immersion and enjoyment of the experience.
All in all, we need more of us to speak up and push for standardization of AD methods and ensure that 5.1 audio is preserved when audio description is offered. Sighted folks get to watch the shows in brilliant 4K resolution with great mixed surround sound. We blind folks are getting shafted by paying the same amount for media and getting a much worse product, essentially equivalent to being subjected to standard definition quality audio from the 90s or earlier.
For me, ducking really isn't an issue. The much larger problem is the lack of multi-channel support for those of us with 5.1 home theater systems. Netflix is fantastic at having AD in the center channel of their shows with the rest of the dialog track while preserving surround sound. A lot of other houses are crushing AD into 2.0 stereo, which makes it sound awful with ducking, and even worse when they forget to duck the underlying audio. I hate hearing all the show audio and AD track come through all 5 of my speakers at once since it ruins the immersion and enjoyment of the experience.
All in all, we need more of us to speak up and push for standardization of AD methods and ensure that 5.1 audio is preserved when audio description is offered. Sighted folks get to watch the shows in brilliant 4K resolution with great mixed surround sound. We blind folks are getting shafted by paying the same amount for media and getting a much worse product, essentially equivalent to being subjected to standard definition quality audio from the 90s or earlier.
retrolental_morose 1 points 2y ago
Bring on AD piping through an APP. I'd be perfectly content with an earbud, whether I was using aTV or a home cinema setup wouldn't matter then.
Marconius 1 points 2y ago
Yes, like Spectrum Access or MovieReading. Those syncing apps need a lot more support and content.
Superfreq2 1 points 2y ago
I would suggest listening with then without description. I pretty much always do that anyway if it's something I really like.
MostlyBlindGamer 1 points 2y ago
If I had the episode video files and the audio files I would mute the AD track outside the narration and then add it back to the original video file, while balancing the volume to my liking. It would be a lot of work though.
morbidSuplex [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Can you ilaborrate more? It doesn't really matter if it is a lot of work. I have the downloaded audio files with the description track premixed. I also downloaded the movie to compare. Can you explain how I would go about it?
MostlyBlindGamer 1 points 2y ago
You can extract the original audio with ffmpeg and then mix it with Audacity and push it back with ffmpeg again.
I can't really go into particulars, because I've never done something like that, but that's where I'd start my research.
I can't really go into particulars, because I've never done something like that, but that's where I'd start my research.
retrolental_morose 2 points 2y ago
but you're missing the clean audio-description track. without that, you'd have to have a very well-synced original episode, and then precise timings of where the AD cuts in to do anything with it. Hellishly busywork for a movie, but you'd be looking a lot of effort on a per-episode basis.
MostlyBlindGamer 2 points 2y ago
Yup, that's the problem.
You could sync on things like gunshots (although not every episode of Homeland has then) and, once you get into it, you might find some kind of distinctive cue around the AD segments.
I never said it would be easy or quick. This is just where I would start.
You could sync on things like gunshots (although not every episode of Homeland has then) and, once you get into it, you might find some kind of distinctive cue around the AD segments.
I never said it would be easy or quick. This is just where I would start.
poochbrah 1 points 2y ago
I have the same issue with some programs too. What's helped me is getting a home cinema system - I didn't buy the system to fix this issue, I just really like good speakers. My point is that if you could get a better speakers or even use headphones this might help you hear the audio a bit better.
retrolental_morose 1 points 2y ago
In this specific case I imagine you're stuck: whoever captured the thing would have gotten it presumably from UK TV of some sort?
Only Freeview, and then only select boxes, have any sort of volume option for the AD here. On satellite and cable it's premixed, as is it on DVD/Blu-ray and streaming sites such as Netflix.
Only Freeview, and then only select boxes, have any sort of volume option for the AD here. On satellite and cable it's premixed, as is it on DVD/Blu-ray and streaming sites such as Netflix.
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