Movie Music has a LOUD PROBLEM! So I fixed that! (Automatic Volume Adjuster)
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
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In this project I will solve one of the biggest problems I have with modern movies. The problem is that the conversation volume is way too low in comparison to the music volume. That is why I combined an Arduino microcontroller with a microphone and an IR LED in order to create an automatic volume adjuster. It basically detects when loud movie music starts playing, lowers the volume and then brings the volume back up when the music is over. Let's get started!
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Music:
2011 Lookalike by Bartlebeats
0:00 The problem with movie music
1:20 Intro
2:17 Volume control + sound measurement
3:06 Hardware design around uC
5:26 IR codes for volume
5:39 ADC settings for audio sampling
6:23 Algorithm for detecting loud movie music
8:21 Arduino code
9:10 Final test & verdict - Věda a technologie
When I did some research a few years back on this, I ended up with the conclusion when the movie audio is mixed the voice is on the center channel. In a system with a center you can turn the center up and the left and right down, this also fixes the problem. I forgot to add cool project though!
I was thinking the same, make sure you're using the right output/input on the player and receiver/soundbar so the center audio is actually on your center speaker (with the right volume if you can).
Would switching to mono fix this problem?
It's cause the playback device is sending with an assumption it's connected to a 5.1+ surround sounds system and these days the stereo audio is just a basic left & right channel downmix which makes the center channel weak which is where most vocal performance is set as. Movie companies have gotten complicit in not doing a proper stereo mix and instead are doing a lazy left + right channel mix which leaves vocals low for those who do not use a surround sound system (which is most of us)
Just watched blade runner on a surround system and it was fine. Dissconected the center and i get the described problem. Easier solution would be to setup your devices propper.
@@trulsvian Change the audio track to stereo and leave the center disconnected, if the movies stereo audio was mixed properly the vocals should be clear and crisp. More often these days it's not lack of devices being setup properly it's the company that compiled the disc.
Now one should add a detection for broadcaster logos, and if none is detected (aka advertisements are running), shutdown the volume. This could be used as well to create some stats about the broadcasters ad policy. Thanks for the idea on how to fix the basic, very annoying problem in the first place.
With a Chromecast it's quite easy to detect the advertisements.
Look at the media position, if it's still but still in playing mode then it's adverts.
@@TheHellis how tell me plz i am sick of youtube playing long ads on my tv :(
I think someone has already solved this problem with a Pi.
the nice thing about this feature:
it can detect built-in ads
Not watching TV since 2016 and feeling much better in general.
Excellent! Every movie I have seen in the past year has been like this. I can barely hear the voices when people are talking and then the music comes on and blasts me out of my chair. It does the same thing no matter if I watch on my computer, or the tv. Well done Sir.
Change to the correct sound format for your setup. User error.
Virtually all DVD and Blu-ray players have a Dynamic Range Compression option to reduce the difference in volume between the loudest and quietest parts of a movie. It's a shame that AFAIK, streaming services don't have this feature. Some TVs also have a similar feature in their audio options. And there are ready-made TV volume regulator devices, although all of the ones I've seen only connect via standard analog line-level audio, not HDMI.
my Samsung TV and Yamaha receiver have something like this; they are not "dynamic" enough to put an end to the "loudness war"!
I always find DRC lacking, it takes it's time to adjust and the level it sets is never quite where I want it.
All Blu-Ray movies come with multiple audio tracks, e.g. DTS-HD, DTS, and stereo. The one that usually works best for me is the DTS one.
@@MrSwanley Thank you, I'll explore that!
9p
As we know MOST dvds come with a few soundtrack options (even if it's just different languages). It would be great if they included a track for people who's hearing has deteriorated, where the music is backed off so you can hear the dialogue.
Yeah, that's my problem. Approximately a decade ago, I searched for remedies. I found none. Time to research again!
Annoyingly most of this problem stems from the fact that soundbars are very popular, yet the movie industry hasn't figured that out. If they would mix audio to work with soundbars, or just provide compressed audio levels, it would solve the problem for both me and you! Hollywood is populated with idiots, though.
@@Variety_Pack That last sentence is straight outta the mouth of a Wiseman.
The studios don't want to spend the money on the extra people to re-mix all the audio for home listening.
Not to mention that they probably have big incentives to keep the theater audio mixing, as to encourage more sales of high end home theater equipment.
There's not much money in making it sound good on cheap 2.1 audio. Gotta spend $50K on the whole setup.
An audio compressor does exactly what you wanted without sending IR signals to slowly lower/rise the volume.
yer i just use the compressor on vlc player to do the same thing , in my opinion the movie industry should do 2 audio mixes , 1 for the movie theatre and 1 for home because if you have neighbours or family in other rooms the dynamic range is far to big for watching at home it should be a lot less
On my main tv, since it's all mixed down to stereo anyway I just throw it all through a compressor and squash it to hell. Much easier than adjusting the volume all the time.
Yeah this is like using a camera and colored lights pointed at your TV to fix the tint on the picture.
@@drumandbassob0007 they do exactly that already, but the reason they seem like it was mixed for a there is, and this is just a guess, they don't put in the work necessary for playtesting it in an equivalent environment because that would eat up budget for a seemingly small gain, people are going to buy the movie either way. its a really interesting economics case really (I'm in microecon rn in college, so my brain thinks this way on top of my engineering economics)
@@foxphire0093 if they did exactly that already, we wouldn't all have the problem of the range being so large. You are in college?
Your talent and experience never disappoint me. It doesn't surprise me you had to spend extra time to get it right. No easy way to get around the complexity to solve this problem. Very nice you were able to get it into a single circuit!
Very interesting approach to have a physical solution to an issue usually dealt with over software!
Thank you :-)
what kind of software can handle this? Looking for a solution on PC
Windows has a feature called loudness Equalization, there's no such thing for most TV's as far as im aware
If the former is still interesting for you :
Hit Windows key
type "sound settings" and hit enter
On the "related settings" tab hit "sound control panel
Click your output device, then hit "properties"
Open the "enhancements" tab and scroll down the effect list
Turn on "loudness Equalization" and apply settings
Some more modern TV's might have something similar to this
@@paradox3875 doesn't work for all sound cards :( didn't work on my ThinkPad T480s
@@iamdmc there's usually no problem with mixing, but with your speaker configuration. You have to use 5.1 system or correctly map 5.1 sound to your 2.0 system (boost front channel, split it between front speakers)
I think that an audio compressor would be a better approach. It would reduce the dynamic range of the original audio.
@@tiny_toilet How, with HDMI audio? You could do it in the analog path, but not sure about distortion, balance etc.
I agree, I straight away thought that a simpler solution would be to just put a stereo compressor in the analogue signal path. Ok, still not exactly simple, but nothing he couldn't handle. Besides, there are tons of schematics available for compressors out there on the interwebs.
Dynamic range is what makes recorded sound realistic
@@glennjones6574 That's great and all, but most people don't want to hear an explosion at its intended volume.
@@glennjones6574 depends on the compression duration parameters
I love that this guy seemingly unknowingly made an external limiter. I definitely agree that the stereo mastering of movies and som tv shows have become quite bad in the last decade or so. It feels like they just take the surround sound master downmix it to stereo, completely ignoring the fact that stereo doesn't have the same dynamic range.
they don't even do that, its just 5.1/7.1 and is left to the device/service to handle the down-mixing so its kinda a shitshow
It's actually a compressor not a limiter.
I've been complaining about this for years. The lack of compression/limiting in digital sources. Great channel !
Lack of compression? What? There is too little compression now?
My old Marantz SR5000 home theatre amp had a similar function called midnight, for watching movies late at night without disturbing people. As well as prevent any loudness past a chosen level, it also flattened the sound frequency to quiet down the sub and tweeters.
So does my Sony. It's called "night mode" or something like that. Useless!
@@kenmore01 Thats a shame, the Marantz one was pretty good.
This is great! Thank you for showing us how to set this up. Back in the day, I had to get up off the seat to turn it down, now I just read the subtitles.
Dude, this is actually stunningly brilliant! I made a stereo automatic volume control for movies about thirty years ago. Basically, it used a voltage controlled volume IC, an op amp, a diode, a capacitor etc. Once the volume went above a certain level (no waiting), it instantly turned the volume down. Then as it went quiet, it slowly (maybe about five seconds) turned it back up. It was AWESOME!!
Years went by. Stereo turned into surround sound. Audio went to HDMI and I have been looking for such a device for years! I never thought to use an Arduino to emulate the remote control! I would use the actual audio rather than "listening with a mic", but that's actually a pretty good idea too in it's simplicity. I may just do that.
This may be a life changer for me, Thank you!!! Have a great weekend. 👨🦳
Thanks for the feedback✌ Glad you liked it
A line level solution would have one big advantage: Line level is fixed. So, you can still set your volume to whatever level you want, and it’ll adjust relative to that, since the threshold detection is based on absolute levels that are independent of listening levels.
@@nickwallette6201 I wonder if it would be possible to convert GreatScott!'s design into a line level solution. That would be nice, also for PC audio devices, like the volume differences between youtube videos (and ads) and such.
What about a proper AV Receiver?
By controlling center volume you can basically improve voices enough to make the loud music fitting better
And if you are really a fan of dynamic compression, well they also do it a lot better and individual for every channel
@@harrison00xXx Sometimes the producers mix it in a way that no matter what you do, the speech is unintelligible and the sound effects are overpowering. Especially if you have close neighbors like in an apartment and especially especially late at night.
Hallelujah, man you are my hero. ...and its not just the music, the over the top sound effects also need a rein in. My budget doesn't include spending heaps of money on new home theatre tech just to watch a movie. Like you, I thought I was doomed to watch movies with my thumb forever on the volume control. I'll definitely be making one of these.
I've been complaining about this for soooo long.. i'm really glad to see someone talk about it and find a solution.
Movie makers force you to hear the movie as they see fit, so they turn the speech way way down and most of the audio way way down. This gives the movie playback the flexibility to raise the background or overall sound when things get very intense. Pain in the ass when you want to hear dialogue while simultaneously not disturb your neighbors!
Most TVs nowadays have built in audio level normalizer, mine even have a mode for night time(which makes everything really quiet) and day time(which raises up the low audo level moments), but this project inspired me to make my twist which is replacing the "volume pod" (and the potentiometer) with a really fancy, microcontrolled automatic volume control.
i have a big one from 2010 and has an audio normalizer xd
I should look for such an option on my TV.
@@greatscottlab Of course 👍
The night time /speech preference on my sonos bar have no discernible/beneficial effect.
@@toms4123 Sonos is trash
Look up the terms "audio limiter" and "audio compressor." Great vid.
What a spectacularly awsome project. Its such a monster pain in the butt having to do this. I've no idea why this feature isn't built into amps as standard. I've been looking for a new project and this is the one. Thank you 😊
Brilliant. Thank too. I too experience unpropper sound level on youtube videos and even on professional hi end movies, as you have mentioned. Sound is THE MOST IMPORTANT element of video/movies.
I've always admired the quality of your videos but they're just getting better and better. The shots of you talking are well composed and super professional! Well done brother! Can't wait for more.
I have been wanting something like this for years!!! It is good to know that I’m not the only one who has to constantly adjust the volume on EVERYTHING I watch. I would love to see further development of this idea.
Your builds are simply GREAT!, Scott!!
As a spare time diy music gear builder, I am astonished by this presentation of your creativity and dedication to making your own life harder instead of using an audio compressor.
What's interesting to me is that this issue was fixed in 1996 when DVD was released. All players had dynamic range control by default. You could choose to experience the original theatre dynamics or to have it modified to suit the home environment. Since then the problem has come back with the advent of bluray and streaming services.
On semi related note. Fuck Blu-ray and it's huge licensing fees. They are the reason why blu-ray drives and even the discs themselves are so expensive. Also the reason why it isn't even to this day, very popular way to release smaller budget stuff. Every PC used to have DVD player, everyone had player at home (that you could buy for 20$ new) everything was released on dvd. You don't see that with blu-ray. Sure consoles support the tech but you need ps5 or xbsx for UHD and even they are still hard to get (not as hard as during the launch but still ridiculous). Streaming is probably biggest reason why physical media is dying but for people who want higher quality, it sucks to spend so so much more money just because of greedy companies. I wish hd dvd won.
bluray players are cheap as hell now. Now UHD players are still expensive... but most people arent buying physically media anymore except enthusiasts. It's like complaining laserdisc was too expensive in the 80's, while everyone use the inferior quality VHS. The general population don't care enough about quality when their are cheaper options. DVD was a huge success because the technology quickly drove prices down, and the discs were vastly cheaper to produce than tape. But there simply wasn't huge jump between dvd to blueray, or by extension HD dvd, for the general population to care. So the cost simply remained high for a long time, which further delayed adoption. Basically HD dvd would suffered the same fate as bluray if it won the format war.
YES! I've had this problem for years with so many movies and TV series! always thought about a variable gain compensation, cutting off peaks and raising low volume. thanks!
this feature have been awailable since the 80s (at least I know since 80s) back then it was called loudness. now it's called dynamic compression or acoustic compression or comp or night mode. TV's have this as well as amplifiers. I'm not talking about logitech computer speakers though however you can use a plugin or software or media player to do this on your computer too. you don't need a device to do this. just don't use the stupid soundbars.
This video made my day. I can't explain how creative you're getting nowadays. Greetings from 🇧🇩
Thank you! TVs have needed this built in for 20 years! I've been dreaming of this day!
Yeah! I constantly turn the volume up and down during lots of movies as well! Of course, there are software options as well. VLC has a compressor, which can be adjusted to reduce the dynamic range of volume peaks. Hmm. It seems like you basically implemented a compressor!
I affectionately refer to it as British audio engineering. The dialogue is practically inaudible while sound effects, screaming, and music are at extremely high volumes. You can actually implement a fix using only an op-amp circuit but it only works directly on an audio signal and won't be able to change the volume control on amplified speakers.
It’s not a British problem.
I've been dreaming of this for 15+ years. I was thinking of using guitar compression petals to do this; never got to it.
Thank you!
@Ken Mason i was too excided!
I used to use my dpr402 compressor, then downloaded the waves plugin version. does the exact same thing and I don't have to patch in hundred different cables. yey!
@@ruthlesscutthroat4030 you most certainly don't need paid plugins for this job
@@SpektralJo so get free ones... eh.
Great project! Major props for going above and beyond to make a smart remote.
I want to attempt this project. Thanks for the inspiration, oh wise one!
Still at the 1:24 min mark, and boy am I I excited !
This is an issue that I have always thought it was just because of my poor quality speakers and or the lack of support for audio formats etc etc ... but @GreatScott! comes to the rescue !!
Man this is amazing, it’s amazing that you get to make something to solve a problem you encounter
The problem is that your TV is downmixing the 5.1 sound to stereo improperly. The center channel needs to be louder and left right channels need to be quieter. VLC's default settings are quite good
While this is true to an extent, they do mix the sound effects and music a lot louder as a 'creative choice' too.
But I have a soundbar + 2 rear speakers and subwoofer. I think it should do a better job with that.
@@TheRevWillNotBeTelevised Yea a more recent movie Tenet has this problem. The center voice channel is quieter and even hard to listen to at some points. Seems to be a thing with Christopher Nolan films.
it's probably more to do with MPG audio compression than any intent on the part of the producers.
@@greatscottlab Is your sound bar an LCR soundbar, or does it just have stereo?
Thank you for this project, it is interesting and it will solve my problem with certain tv house , who loves to put commercials like 2-3 times louder than movie. Imagine watching movies with such commercials , somewhere in middle of night, it is terrible experience. So this project will for sure solve my problem. Thank you great Scot and forgive me for never tried to build such thing on my own.
This is a problem not only with movies, but many CZcams videos, where added music has its volume seriously high... love the video 👍👍
Well, that's an unconventional way to build a compressor. Bonus points for creativity though.
Not exactly a compressor, but a triggered, temporary IR audio attenuator. A compressor would squash everything- an undesirable effect watching movies.
@@fmphotooffice5513 in audacity, a compressor only compresses above a defined threshold, by a defined ratio.
A compressor with super slow attack and release would give similar result. Especially when chained with a limiter.
I don't see conventional method for implementing this to "smartTV" without external audio system.
@@user255 Yes
But the real problem is that every time when changing the volume, the volume bar comes up and blocks the vision.
He seems to be using a sound bar, in that case it doesn’t show anything on screen when changing the volume.
It works better controlling a stereo receiver.
That's why you use a line level device. No need for activating the remote at all.
@@jefferylarson3218 Which is more what my version for earbuds and headphones will be like heh
Get a Sony Bravia 2020 and the volume bar is so minimal it doesn’t interfere with the picture like past TVs.
I'm so glad you said this about Bladerunner, I had to watch with a compressor on and I thought I was being super OCD, but it really was so quiet in conversation scenes, then incredibly loud in music scenes
Hi, I just came acroos your video. I am totaly impressed with your project. Way to go and two thumbs up !!!
i thought you would have "just" altered the output from an AUX cable to a speaker, this is quite more interesting nice :D
That wouldn't work for any digital audio format or multi-channel audio.
I was thinking he would build a line level out auto adjustment circuit.
Could even make it work with digital and mutil-channel if you want to deal with the complexity.
This could be hacked by some naughty family member to change the channel when it detects music, or even turn the TV off altogether! Could have great fun with that I think!
@@99Duds And there would be less lag, as you can change the gain instantly instead of waiting for the device to receive several consecutive IR commands.
You really want to sample 5+ minutes ahead. Then adjust volume to normalize each section and anticipate against set limits. Otherwise, you will have quiet scenes increasing volume and loud scenes decreasing volume. Winamp can normalize music but it takes the entire track and moves highs and lows to a set max or min.
This is always been the thing that prevented me from just doing this with a device in the middle of the line out from the TV.
Ideally, you want to be able to look ahead to the audio, which means that you really can't use any live immediate feedback.
Reactive circuits like this one, or one that just detects volume levels directly from the line out signal are always going to be a bit noticeable. Our sound bar has a feature for this, and the problem is you can just tell that the audio is being turned down as an explosion is happening or something. It's not completely jarring, and at least it's better than having to manually turn the volume up or down, but still it's not ideal.
I dream of the day that there's some industry standard that implements normalized audio for stereo outputs.
@@fieryferret But then how on earth would my neighbors know the action movie I'm watching at 3 am reached a climax? Gotta keep the dialog to whispers so you turn the volume to max just to hear them, that way when an action scene plays at max volume the entire neighborhood can hear the exciting parts too and you get to experience they joys of permanent hearing damage... /s
I hate that the only way to equalize it is to either have real time reactive feedback that'll only start lowering/raising the volume a few seconds after a couple gunshots have been heard by the entire town or to basically download and preprocess the entire movie/episode. Really ruins the immersion in films when you're constantly reaching for that volume knob and you get lazy half the time so you miss out on most of the important dialog when they decided to whisper right after a loud action sequence... The whole reason they make the action scenes 10x louder than the rest of the film is so that it feels more realistic and chaotic but over the years they've taken it to the far extreme and it just ruins the immersion it's supposed to create.
Honestly, the first streaming service that actually allows an equalized audio service would make bank, We should have the option to disable the stupid "immersion" for action scenes and it baffles me how this isn't a thing. Bonus points if you make it a slider so you can choose an in between, the film wouldn't be as exciting if the climax were the exact same volume as characters whispering but the extremes it's been taken to is just too damn much nowadays...
I've been having components ready for just this thing! What I didn't have ready is the IR library, and trying to catch (and replicate) the IR codes by oscilloscope is extremely annoying. Think now I can actually implement it. Thank you so much!
Pretty clever design. No messing with the signal, no need for making a full blown amplifier. I would only consider adding an EQ stage before signal input to the uC. Audio frequencies like to be audible differently, even when their signal amplitude is the same. Hats off for all the audio related engineers that are able to tame that beast.
It is something like automatic gain control (AGC) which lowers or raises the gain of signal automatically. I really liked this idea you came up with. Awesome!!
try the V571 dual vca compressor chip, it only costs a few dollars. The V571 is a dual version of a National NE571 or Signetics SA571. This works.
You couldn't be more right about this, I have tried surround sound, sound bars, changing setting after setting and every thing in between.
Would be nice if there was a product I could buy as not every one is capable of building one of these.
Brilliant idea still, maybe manufacturers will catch on and add some thing like this to their equipment from factory.
Genius!!!
Televisions in the old days had one speaker, today they can hook up to multiple sound systems. However even some of today's TV's still lag behind sound control. Movies are made with huge Cinemas in mind and it causes issue with those trying to hear voices over the background. Glad you're working on this issue. Good video!
Now that we've seen what the Great One keeps on the shelves behind his couch, I think the next project should be a modern, electrically efficient still.
Building a still for drinking alcohol is illegal in germany though...
@@davidpetry7853 An even better challenge. Build a still that looks like an automatic volume adjuster, to fool the cops if they come looking,
hmm is making hand sanitizer legal ;) ?
@@nvmyutube yes it is
I know that this is electronics channel, but having a compressor/limiter on the audio path is way more simpler and without having to hear the loudness until this makeshift device adjust the volume.
I actually built that for in my bedroom :-). It's hard to do with modern digital audio systems though, especially when the audio path goes via HDMI.
@ I have been playing with modify and alsa with a raspberry. And I think it is totally doable.
@ Yes, I was just trying to figure out how to use an HDMI breakout adapter with a 5.1 AV receiver and a fiberoptic audio connection to the TV.😜
@@HappyMathDad I wanted to make it 100% analogue for my project. Worked out great, just limited to 3.5mm jack plugs.
Compression is great for smoothing peaks and bringing out hidden elements, but in this case I think his approach (volume automation) might be superior. Especially if you have prolonged periods of time of just talking or just music. Maybe a hybrid approach might be even better
Been a follower for a long time and your videos are not only great 😁 but inspiring. The only thing that I would "change" is putting a de-esser on your voice!! 👌🕺🏾
¿Why wasn't this recommend to me earlier? This is a reason for the notification button.
I thought about solving the problem by modifying my TV, but too intrusive.
By many reasons, this is the best approach. Love it!
I'll be a Patreon but just can't (for now).
Long time viewer, and newest Pateon! I love your work and have used your circuit ideas and teachings to get through my engineering degree! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the support👌
I, being a lover of analog electronics, my first thought was to use a voltage controlled amplifier and use it directly on the sound bar to control the signal output. However this kind of application would been way more intrusive, since it's would require to open up the sound bar and directly modify the soundbar's original circuit. So, your approach albeit being more complex, in my view, is better and much more practical.
GS, your studio is WOW!
My AV-Receiver has a dynamic compression feature, also, if yours doesn't, the obvious way to go, would have been to build a digital dynamic compressor into the HDMI stream. There are chips that can split the stream from HDMI, and remux it also. However you went with the ultimatively odd solution and a absolutely love it! Such a nice project!
Friendly code advice. ((audio > 480 && audio < 540)) has better readability. It logically puts your audio value in-between your bands. Great job overall 😎
I'm sure you've already checked for this, but in 5.1, the dialogue is sent to the centre speaker... if you don't have a centre hooked up, re-map it to the front speakers or it'll suck big time.
Lol. Could have saved him some time
If you are watching a DVD/BD movie with audio just going to TV speakers or a plain ole stereo, check the SETUP section of movie to see if they provided a simple STEREO audio sound track. Some do, some don't. Just a thought.
@John Alexander if he used Wagos it would fix the problem for sure.
I actually considered building something like this as a ad-detector for my tv a few years ago. The idea was that most commercials are louder than the TV programs they surround, which means that if you had something detecting that, you could automatically lower volume, or skip if you're using a play-back device. I never made it because I never made time (in part because I stopped watching TV and went to mostly Netflix and CZcams), but it was a cool idea. Its great to see that someone has at least done that for fixing movie volume, and others can develop it from here. I love it. Keep up the good work everyone.
Just a note, if you have a Windows based machine you run your media from, Windows has an in-built setting on most sound cards called "Loudness Equalization" in the Enhancement tab in the audio device settings.
On Linux systems you can achieve Dynamic Range Compression through PulseEffects and various plug-ins for it.
Though this hardware solution is pretty creative, Props!
I was going to mention I use PulseEffects with the auto-gain plugin. It constantly adjusts the volume to get the level where you want it, but it does so using the average loudness over the last few seconds so it doesn't distort the sound and completely remove dynamics like a compressor would. The disadvantage is the long quiet parts in music (fading in or out for instance) won't be as quiet so that dynamic is partly lost, but the auto-gain can be adjusted to find a middle ground or easily turned off when listening to music. PulseEffects has about 30 plugins that are each very configurable and is really useful. No, I'm not paid to advertise for them.
Realtek Sound Manager on Windows 10 has loudness equalisation feature built in. It works live without noticeable wait time. It matches the volume to the volume level set in windows. This is very helpful in movies with low dialogue and high effects volume. This is also helpful in games which give you sound clues like footsteps of enemies. Good project though.
Yeah i was going to say the same.
Seems like this problem would be easily solved if set-top players had a little more sophisticated software in them.
Well done Scott. How about using audio compressor IC which would do pretty much the same thing but without the need of adjusting the volume up and down.
This is also a major problem with a lot of content on youtube. Finally, somebody is coming up with a solution.
wow! fantastic idea. I hate when movies or CZcams videos have background music louder than the audio. So annoying. Great circuit. Thanks for sharing.
The real problem here is that the movie sound is designed with cinemas in mind. There it is an important part that conversations are quieter, so the viewers will focus and follow the dialog. Also the loud music helps to transfer atmosphere. Of course when you view it at home in the evening you can't have the music or explosions or gunfire blaring out, disturbing all your neighbours. The movie producers just don't care about remixing the audio for DVDs or Blurays because they make most of their revenue from cinema ticket sales.
They absolutely do care about remixing and that is why they don't A 5.1 system can be had for the same price as a cheap junk soundbar, and completely fixes this problem. His issue is *specifically* a lack of center channel where most of the dialogue is mixed. Why should they remix and alter the original artform just to pander to consumers who don't appreciate it enough to run 5 wires?
@@gravesclay why should they care? Simple it's the number one rule of business. Always, ALWAYS, give the customer what they want. This isn't about art, expression or other immeasurable concepts its about making money. Money to pay you loans, actors, staff. etc. If you give a middle finger to the majority of your market with a holier-than-thou attitude you will not be making art for long. Most people consume media on laptops, cellphones, PCs and 2 channel audio TVs these days so not catering for this is a very poor business choice.
cinemas are way too loud tho
@@gravesclay because people with 5.1 systems or better make up at most 5.1% of the market
It makes no sense to me that conversations would be quieter in movies. You are basically saying that when before the movie theatres start the movie they tell you to be quiet during the movie that they are telling you in between the lines that it's okay to be noisy if the movie is being loud. Actually, your body lowers your own hearing volume when you talk, so you're not wrong. But that doesn't make what they're doing okay. Loud sounds can and will still break your ear drums. They can grow back, I can confirm it myself as I lost all hearing in my right ear and even pulled parts of my ear drum out because it was insanely itchy but it has grown back and I can hear again. But modern entertainment is too loud and people that try to support it a little too much like I have been known to do suffer for it.
There's usually a setting for loudness leveling in most TVs. Also you can try changing the sound stage from high dynamic range (audio) to medium or low
Scott as an electrical engineer i admire that you always take a hardware approach! thank you so much for such a great video
I needed an arduino based compressor for a personal project and never knew how to do it. You just made the heavy lifting for me!!
Audio engineer and developer here: the reason why so many movies have such a large dynamic range is because the engineers working on the film are mixing for the cinema, not for your home. Most modern TVs (2010+) have an in-built audio compressor you can find somewhere in the audio/speaker settings in its menu. It's often called Night Mode/Auto Volume/Dialog Mode...something like that.
If you're using a more modern setup with soundbars and wireless connections which bypass the TV audio entirely, then that's admittedly a bit tricky to solve unless your audio system has an in-built audo compressor; read the manual! The best solution to this whole problem would be if the mixers working on these flims released a pre-compressed version WITH the original for-cinema mix which viewers could select. There's actually a big push for this concept in the industry.
I absolutely agree with you but I have my doubts as to people who can't rtfm of their receivers and turn on drc would know to switch to a different audio track. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the option.
@@frankthetankricard The latest I heard about it was they're thinking of making the compressed version the default, especially on streaming services. It's a battle between viewer experience, artistic expression and the general ignorance of the masses when it comes to anything audio-related which you rightly pointed out.
@@amber1862 I wouldn't be upset if they had a compressed track as default. People who care would quickly learn to change it. Maybe even have a setting per account or device to prefer one over the other, kind of like some players can let you prefer captions for hearing impaired instead of standard subtitles. That would be a decent solution. Especially on streaming services where they aim for "good enough for most cases" audio and image quality.
@@frankthetankricard I agree on all points.
@thereisnochoiceleft 'Is it really just the compression that needs to be adapted?'
No. Like you said, there are a lot of elements that contribute to a mix, such as the number of channels. It's just a relatively easy slap-on-the-end way of somewhat fixing the issue very quickly.
'would handling an additional mix pose a significant overhead to the mixers?'
Yes. A lot of sounds and plugin/mixing desk parameters are automated over time and they often transition sounds from one channel to another to create movement and immersion. Changing the number of channels would remove all of that work. Some surround-enabled plugins and hardware have channel limitations too.
Even though the mixing engineers often have big studios with the same number of speakers as the cinemas, they frequently collapse the mix to stereo and mono throughout the mixing process to ensure it will sufficiently translate, but they're still listening to this collapsed version in a top studio; most people will be watching the film in terrible acoustic spaces with lots of background noise and on consumer-grade equipment. The frequent collapsing also helps to reduce psychoacoustic trickery and allows them to hear the mix in a new way, like a painter stepping back from the canvas to see the bigger picture.
Even just turning down all non-dialogue sounds by 3-6db as an alternative mix would help in dialogue-heavy films. This too would obviously be a very quick fix :)
Nice project, i like how you implemented the SPL detection and the IR emitter, however as a sound engineer the premise of the device upsets me... the film is mixed that way to be experienced through a full surround system, the separation into each channel and speaker is critical and the individual volumes can be set for each speaker, also through a good quality audio decoder device you can enable dynamic range limiters and compression. what you are aiming for here is obviously "Night Mode" or Neutered mode as we would call it, I would recommend looking into the settings on your playback device and speaker system for adjustable settings such as dynamic range etc. The contrast between loud and quiet scenes will never function correctly through something as limited in function as a Soundbar. Great work nonetheless and well executed.
nice video as usual
what I specifically like bout your video ideas is that you don't put a lot of technology in your designs even so they're still useful for learning and usage
many thanks.
Great project! I like these practical projects that I didn't know I needed until now 😊. Instead of IR, I'm thinking about integrating directly to Home Assistant, where I can control the volume of my TV speakers.
To solve this problem as a sound engineer I would use a 5.1 system as the center channel carries a lot of the voice signal while the music uses left and right. But I like your solution too.
Now days all sound systems have in this feature it's called DRC (dynamic range control ) relative word *Night Mode*
This is basically a crude implementation of a audio compressor. I've been thinking of building one mainly for regular tv, some stations have different mastering volumes between the shows and ads. I guess a off the shelf studio compressor set with really long attack and release times would work.
The implementation done in this video amazes me with the simplicity and versatility.
It is also a good Idea to implement in a android app for phones with a IR blaster, I should do it actually, if no one does it sooner.
Was thinking about this yesterday. What a great timing.
My first idea was a Comprssor/Limiter ... that solution was unexpected :D
Indeed.
Ahhh now i understand what that revolutionary circuit does
Good project Scott
Thanks mate :-)
we use to have a circuit like this in the vacuum tube receivers it was call automatic gain control, it worked like a jiffy, no Arduino or any computer chips though that had not been invented yet. really amazing how things come full circle.
You deserve a Nobel prize for this topic alone.
Instant adjustment can be achieved if you tinker with the pre amplifier to power amplifier section in your audio system. I think next project should be that.
It used to be, but I would guess there aren’t any analog audio cables involved in his setup - or nearly anyone’s these days.
At any rate, for volume level normalization, it’s good to have some slack in the detection phase anyway. This is similar to how a traditional audio compression circuit works. The trigger level is known as “threshold” and the timer for reaction is called “attack.” The attack window is usually from tens of ms to a second or more.
Using a really short attack changes the action from compression to limiting, which is normally used to prevent clipping digital inputs, or as a last resort protection mechanism on the power amplifier input to protect speakers from being overdriven in PA systems. Although it’s starting to show up in cars and Bluetooth speakers and other DSP-driven audio chains.
Limiting isn’t a good way of managing volume disparity because it doesn’t sound very good when used with a heavy hand. Reacting quickly ends up squashing the sound in a way that is similar to strong wind buffeting a microphone. You need slower attack and release to keep from modulating the volume constantly.
Of course slow response means initial bursts of loudness and sometimes laggy return to normal levels, but the only way around that is to have a look-ahead buffer that can analyze the level changes and preemptively adjust the volume. Or just mix the source material properly, Hollywood...... 😖
Automatic volume control are very common in ham radio audio amp stage, a simple pre-amplifier with a feedback does the job. I wonder if such a simplistic analog approach hurts audio quality.
They do a great job of enhancing intelligibility over the 300 to 3000 hz audio range, using a combination of soft clipping and equalization. Might be a bit rough for movies.
@@waynegnarlie1 Yes I have to try it however, maybe with some parameter tweaking...
@@phileasfogg65 With that it should get the job done. Enjoy!
The pleasure is in the building of a project.
Nice video.
Great work as usual.
Reminded me that I use ffmpeg normalize & amplify filter for such issues
Alternative way: You can use headphones jack to get the sound signal and disable on device speakers. Then you can normalize this signal and use your own external speakers for the sound output.
That's how I'd do it 😀
Nope... Tried.. Over and over. I've started turning the bass and treble way way down...
Using speakers that are not wireless, a laptop with good sound card (or with an external one) can do the job. You can program it the same way, but instead of lowering the volume by IR, it will do it be lowering the gain.
As has already been mentioned, the dialog is usually in the center channel on multi-channel audio streams. If your sound bar is 2-channel stereo, you might want to look for an option to boost dialog in your video player's settings.
If the connection to the sound bar is analog, I'd just whack in an AGC. Simple, reliable and, as it says on the tin, automatic technology that has been around for decades because it works.
Some advice on measuring battery voltage. Run your second resistor on your voltage divider into an input of the microcontroller instead of directly to ground. That way you can regulate when you want to check battery voltage and there will be almost no parasitic loss. Just toggle between low output and input to enable or disable it.
Good idea
I remember back in the day when sound equalization was a must nowadays it just sounds like they take the noise out and say it’s good enough
AGC can do the same job to a great extent, and much simpler
My thoughts exactly! But these days "electronic circuit design" means including an expensive microcontroller to do what a few discrete components used to do at far less cost, as well as having to work out how to program it. Despite that, this problem with movies is real and on TV the ads are nearly always louder than the program, but the TV companies say that they have no control over the volume! If that was the case and I owned the TV company, I would sack the sound engineers for incompetence.
What a great concept. Thank for your good video. I am will give a try. Thank you so much Great Scot. Though I have not done any electronic. I will give a try
This is a long way around to build an inline limiter as a sidecar. I love it. Phillips TVs in the early 00s had a feature to normalize volume. They were always weird TVs too. Like their LCOS or the one that had full color LEDs on the back to extend the viewing experience by shining average color on the wall. It doesn't work well with wallpaper. Phillips used to be pretty cool. You are pretty cool. Cheers!
you werent joking when you said this invention was going to be revolutionary, great job!!
Thanks mate :-)
Your LG soundbar probably has a built in normalizer feature (they come up with different names for it). Nice project nonetheless!
PUT THIS IN MASS PRODUCTION! Seriously, we all need this not just for movies.
The volume problem is atleast 15 years old, and i guess there are sporadic examples earlier than that aswell.
I've long been asking if there isnt a way to keep the output volume constant, like measuring the amount of power consumed by the speakers or something.
Your idea is very clever!
So - this is an automatic gain control? Let me get my copy of the “Art of Electronics” ;)
oh hail Horowitz......
yes it sort of is.
Though I think an audio compressor would be the better solution. It lowers the dynamic resolution by making the silent parts of the music louder. like a very very fast AGC
@@larcomj . . . and Hill!
What you might find is that, all those films you used to love actually have really week dialogue and not worth hearing anyway. 😉
the best comment :-D
yeah the volume quality is really bad in so many movies! i was just watching dc's legends of tomorrow's newest episode this week and someone did a really loud scream but the volume quality kept it from bothering us! so appreciated when the sound team does their job!
I had an old 36" CRT Television that had 'Smart Sound'.. did the same thing and worked wonderfully.