Why movies are too quiet, then too loud, and how to fix it

You turn the volume up to hear a whispered line, then a car chase nearly wakes the house. It isn't your speakers, it's how film sound is made.

Why it happens

• Wide dynamic range. Film sound is mixed for cinemas, where the gap between the quietest and loudest moments is deliberately large.
• Dialog gets squeezed. In a surround mix, speech is often carried by a dedicated center channel. When that mix is played through stereo, laptop speakers or a soundbar, the dialog can end up quieter relative to music and effects.
• Small speakers and quiet rooms make the problem more obvious, and late-night viewing makes it a social one.

The usual fixes

• A "night mode" or dynamic range setting. Many TVs, receivers and some players have a setting that reduces the loud peaks and lifts quiet parts. Look under audio settings.
• A compressor in your player. Desktop players such as VLC include an audio compressor filter.
• In the browser, where most streaming happens, there's often nothing built in. That's where Steady comes in.

How Steady helps

Turn Steady on for a tab and it evens out the sound as it plays:

1. It measures the loudness about ten times a second.
2. It turns loud scenes down quickly, within a fraction of a second, and brings quiet scenes back up gradually, so it doesn't pump.
3. It leaves silence alone, so background hiss isn't boosted in the gaps.
4. A compressor and a limiter catch sudden bangs and keep the sound from distorting.

On a test scene of whispered dialog followed by an explosion, a 34 dB gap came out as about 2 dB. One slider sets your comfort level, from Quiet to Very loud.

Steady works on the tab's audio, so it also works on players that normally block extensions, such as Netflix. It never records or sends audio. Shortcut: Alt+Shift+L.

A reminder

Evening out the volume makes quiet sounds louder than the original mix intended. Keep your comfort level somewhere sensible for your ears.