Any Movie Scene With Interesting Musi/sound Effects

Why are movie's sound effects and music SO LOUD and the dialogue so quiet?

I’ve noticed that too. I don’t have a clear answer for you aside from the obvious, that it’s for ‘emphasis’. Common sense tells us when you make it quieter you really pay attention, focus in and try to uncover the secret and understand what you’re listening too. This seems a desirable trait to have in an audience for actor’s dialogue when there may be hidden meaning. But when things are much louder they’re bigger, and in your face. It’s more big picture, it’s all about scope. They want you to feel like you’re in the action. That would be my guess.Upon further research (including asking my buddies at Frugal Filmmaker) it looks like the problem is movies are mastered for the big screen, not for your television. Even when they’re remastered they’re sounds are just piled up on-top of each other rather than redoing all the sound effects and foley for the entire movie.So if you have your dialogue as a mono track, it comes in nice and clear, front and center. Then you switch to an explosion, and it’s all around you. Environment sounds are often designed for surround sound. So in this case sure, it’s louder, but it’s not so much louder that you can’t make it out. In fact the dynamic range normally feels just right. But when your studio packages the film for DVD or Blue Ray release everything turns to mono or at best: basic, front facing stereo. Everything gets layered so all the sounds are still there, but it’s just not something that was mixed for your tv, or your phone for goodness sake.

Why do they use sound effects in movies instead of using the actual sound?

Why do they use sound effects in movies instead of using the actual sound?Adding to Bret's answer, an audience’s expectation of movie sound is different from what they expect to hear through their live experiences.A simple example is the 2 minute clip below from BBC’s Planet Earth.There will be virtually no meaningful sounds to be heard in real life if we were there to experience it, and the producers know this, so seeing it as a documentary means they’ll need to produce an artificial soundscape perfectly suited to every second of the clip and perfectly blended through narration, music, and Foley sound effects as to cause an audience to suspend their disbelief and become immersed in the experience.

Is there a particular intended effect to the use of background music tuned slightly up or down in modern films? Or are slightly detuned tracks unintentional and coincidental?

First I must say that I admire your keen sense for tuning - you must have perfect pitch - at least in part. If the music is performed by say a symphony orchestra, it may easily be a different pitch than A=440 - maybe 442 (8 cent up). When you use computer generated music in the same film it could easily be standard tuning. Tweaking the tuning may well be used by the film's music director - for subliminal effect - for suspense - and few of us will be able to call his bluff - and he needs to either resolve the tension again or work very consciously on the phenomenon throughout the film. It is a very interesting observation by you, and I will be listening for it. However not all films are made with such sense of psychoacoustics - so the inconsistency of tuning might be accidental. For me to notice two deviant tunings should come rather close to each other. You may be experiencing a whole new aspect that passes unnoticed by other spectators - and maybe even the producer. It would of course be easy to electronically equalize the pitches of the film.

What is a sound effect used commonly in films that is unrealistic?

You know, that last sci-if you watched?Maybe Star-Trek, Star-Wars, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, maybe even Gravity or Interstellar?Well. There is this one annoying scene in which there is a YUGE blast in the space or there's a face-off between the protagonist and the antagonist. And then, suddenly the director goes into Anti-Physics mode.He is like. Who even gives a damn about physics, eh? I don't. I can't even spell it right. Let’s just add a Dinosaur fart sound. Because, why not? Who in the world cares about the fact that sound can't travel through vacuum and needs a medium to propagate? Let us just forget that, shall we?And then there are loud blasts ripping through outer-space as two ships collide. Or as an escape pod gushes away from the mother-ship, there is this Wheeeesh……sound. There is a Ploink sound as a huge alien collides with the glass windows of the ship.Dear director,I can deal with alien planet of apes. I can deal with aliens knowing English. I can even deal with a person standing on his feet right after descent onto a planet. But dino farts in space? Or rather, even a single sound (effect) in space?You've got to be kidding me.