Background music

[Rose65]

I have become increasingly sensitive to background music especially on TV programmes. I get so fed up when it is loud and intrusive enough to drown out speech. Why do they do that? It is as if everything has to be over dramatised.
In some shops and often the supermarket, I often cannot concentrate on what I need to buy, it's like a disco.

I know this is old age, I do remember loving loud music of every kind when I was young. I wonder why it bothers me so much now? I so love peace and quiet now.

 

[Wigglestein]

Agreed! I was in a local grocery store midmorning. Every customer I saw was either senior/retired or a few young moms with small kids. They were playing some loud hip hop crap. I actually went to the service desk and made a complaint. Not only was it music that was not suited to the customers, it wad way too loud. I also called their home office and I was told I was not the only one who complained.

 

[timoc]

I always search for programs with subtitles now, because I cannot stand the so called musical interuption of the program I want to watch.

 

[oldlongwalker]

Interesting tidbit. The composer Erik Satie was the inventor of background music in the 1880's. He called it "furniture music." He intended it to be heard but not listened to. His pieces are much more pleasing than Muzak.

Erik Satie

 

[dobielvr]

A lot of those crime shows are the worst.
Especially 20/20...I've had to stop watching at times.

 

[Bella]

I agree. The "background" music for films and TV shows is anything but in the background and often drowns out the dialog and seems to get even louder when there's no dialog. Along with the rest of the attendant sound effects, it's too much sensory overload for me. I'll often change the channel and try to find something else to watch. Another thing I dislike when trying to watch sitcoms are the laugh tracks every two seconds. Give me a break, if it's funny, I'll laugh.

Yes, the music is loud and annoying in grocery and retail stores. I've considered talking to the manager and telling him that the loud music is so annoying that it not only chases me out of the store, it makes me not want to shop there. I'd like to hear what he has to say about it. Maybe if enough people complained, they'd at least turn it down, although I doubt it.

I was on hold with the pharmacy the other day, and the music was so loud it was rattling my brain. I set the phone down, and I could hear it loud and clear from across the room. Furthermore, I think they do it on purpose because they want you to hang up. Never mind that you need help or have a question, they really don't want to actually talk to you. When I went to the pharmacy, the same loud music was blasting. I said to the pharmacist, "Doesn't the music drive you crazy?" She shrugged and said, "I don't even hear it." Maybe she's deaf and reads lips.

Bella

 

[Murrmurr]

I have become increasingly sensitive to background music especially on TV programmes. I get so fed up when it is loud and intrusive enough to drown out speech. Why do they do that? It is as if everything has to be over dramatised.
In some shops and often the supermarket, I often cannot concentrate on what I need to buy, it's like a disco.

I know this is old age, I do remember loving loud music of every kind when I was young. I wonder why it bothers me so much now? I so love peace and quiet now.

I think I can answer that.

I watched a YouTube video about this. I have to turn my TV volume down during the music crescendos, high-speed chases, and shoot-'em-ups, so I have to turn on the subtitles so I can hear the dialog. The guy on this video is a Hollywood sound technician and he said the problem is high-tech recording systems.

He explained it this way --

You may have noticed there's a lot more whispering and soft-spoken dialog in movies. Modern recording systems can pick all that up, but then the post-production sound crew blends that with all the sound effects and music for theaters and home-theaters, not for your television speakers.