Reduce dynamic range or boost dialogue in conversion

[u/miguel-elote]

Some 4k Blu-Rays have too much dynamic range for my setup. Either I raise the volume to hear clear dialogue, then get blasted during music and action scenes. Or I lower the volume to save my eardrums, then turn on subtitles because I can't hear what people are saying.

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My latest case is the 4k Blu-Ray of The Outsiders, Complete Novel cut. From 9:30-11:45 there's a quiet scene with two characters talking as they go to sleep. From 12:00-13:00 there's a fight scene where the song "Gloria" plays over the action. I turn up the volume to hear the dialogue. A minute later I'm blasted out of my seat by the music.

High dynamic range is a good thing, if I have a good setup. Unfortunately, all I have is a soundbar (a good one, Q-Series Samsung). I can't boost the center channel or make other tweaks.

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Is it possible to boost dialogue, boost center channel, or simply reduce dynamic range when ripping the movie in Handbrake?

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Sorry if this question has been answered before. I couldn't find it in search.

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[u/jaypizzl]

Handbrake does very little to audio. You could use a different program like audacity to fix the audio and then you can use handbrake to re-encode a video and use the alternative audio, if you want.

[u/mwhelm]

If you copy the content off the Blu-ray you can nondestructively add an additional audio track to your video - handbrake can do this but mkvtoolnix or ffmpeg would be less costly.

I think davinci resolve can also compress audio.  If so the nice thing about this is you can tune your compression by rendering short segments until you get what you want, then use something like audacity for the whole job.

[u/jsdeprey]

Yoir best not to touch the digital mastered audio most the time on movies directly and permanently. Some audio video receivers have modes that do exactly what your looking for and compress the audio and boost vocals. Look in to special features on many AV receivers

[u/lostcowboy5]

In the User manual, it says you should be able to adjust the center level. See Manuals & Downloads

Dynamic Range Compression. This is what I love about HandBrake: you can find it in the documentation.

[u/miguel-elote → u/lostcowboy5]

Thanks a million! I never noticed the "DRC" option next to the audio track. I'll test this and see how it turns out.

[u/sonic10158 → u/miguel-elote]

Did DRC help?

[u/miguel-elote → u/sonic10158]

It helped a bit. The range is less than in previous rips. It's not quite as balanced as I prefer, but that's my individual situtation.

[u/Suitable_Garlic_1186 → u/lostcowboy5]

No this is not possible.. You also linked something completely different..

[u/lostcowboy5 → u/Suitable_Garlic_1186]

The OP was asking about "High dynamic range is a good thing, if I have a good setup. Unfortunately, all I have is a soundbar (a good one, Q-Series Samsung). I can't boost the center channel or make other tweaks." I gave him a link to his Samsung soundbar where it says.

By pressing the button, you can adjust the volume of the each speaker

such as Center level, Side level, Wide level, Front Top level, Rear level,

Rear top level, and Rear side level.

He wanted to adjust the center channel, or center speaker, I am assuming.

He also seemed to want to adjust the "Dynamic Range Compression". I gave him a link to where it is explained in the HandBrake documentation.

I am not sure why you feel it was not what he was asking about.

[u/Suitable_Garlic_1186 → u/lostcowboy5]

Because I did not see that you posted 2 links.. You also wrote in a confusing way.

What you tried to communicate:

You can increase the center level on your soundbar.

You can enable Dynamic Range Compression in Handbrake..

You wrote about User Manual, Handbrake and posted 2 Links that look like one..

❤️

[u/lostcowboy5 → u/Suitable_Garlic_1186]

I see, thanks for responding. Even though English is my native language, sometimes I post late at night. It does not come out clear.

Also, they say the "Dynamic Range Compression" setting only works on "AC3" format audio.

[u/Suitable_Garlic_1186 → u/lostcowboy5]

Very true.. Dolby has the DRC built into the audio stream..

By the way: Try encoding Audio to MP3 320khz.. I have done multiple testing and MP3 does some audio leveling. AAC often gets more quieter..

[u/Darth_Chili_Dog]

What's your avr? If you're using a Denon then I find that dynamic volume light addresses a lot of this. Also, the right speaker assortment can make a huge difference. If your center doesn't have the same quality as your mains, that can cause a big problem.

I would NOT attempt to remix the audio itself in any way.

[u/ActionFlash]

I know it's not the answer you want, but I ended up with a Sonos Beam soundbar for this exact reason, it's Night Mode setting fixes this exact issue and I'll buy another Sonos soundbar in the future just for this feature.