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I tried to watch Tenet at the cinema and had to walk out after a minute or two and get a refund. The sound was cranked up insanely loud. I don't know if the peo

I tried to watch Tenet at the cinema and had to walk out after a minute or two and get a refund. The sound was cranked up insanely loud. I don't know if the people who sat through the full running time were at risk of hearing damage but it certainly felt that way to me, and that is not something I care to risk. The staff said that the requirement to play it at this volume had come from the distributors and ultimately from the director, in response to complaints of inaudible dialog. No idea if that's true but they also said they were now getting loads of complaints about the volume and having to refund tickets, unsurprisingly. What a ridiculous mess. Anyway, I eventually watched at home with subtitles and it seems I didn't miss much. Michael Spicer summed it up beautifully [1]. [1] https://youtu.be/s2FXfFeRtJo https://youtu.be/s2FXfFeRtJo

ctdonath 5y ago
I watched Tenet at home with subtitles, and had no problem with it. Between wife going "what are they saying?" halfway thru many movies, and getting kids to read fast, subtitles are just left on all the time now. I'm a bit annoyed at my own propensity to stare at them instead of the action, but it's better than "wait, what?".
neuronic 5y ago
The film was horrible. I watched it with 6 people at home and everyone hated it, for good reason. It's peak Nolan-thinks-he-is-artsy.
- handrous 5y ago
  Nolan would be a decent film maker if all his movies didn't think they were a solid two notches smarter than they actually are.
noahtallen 5y ago
I’m sure it was damaging, honestly. I have to think most professional sound mixers have lost part of their hearing, because the standards for “good audio” are far too loud. For example, IMAX, which is supposed to have technically well calibrated sound in the theatre, clocks around 95db in the especially loud parts, and over 80db for large portions. This is after watching Dune in two different IMAX theaters and checking my watch’s audio level sensor :) But Tenet is probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in a theatre. It had to be more than 90db for large parts of it. And then I attended a wedding reception with a DJ recently, and it was over 90db for the whole two hours in a small-ish hall. Imo, that’s unacceptable. In both of these experiences, my ears hurt bad. I can only think that the people making the decision to go this loud have already had their hearing damaged enough that they don’t think it’s loud enough. Well, why don’t we fix the problem by not busting people’s ears in the first place! Maybe we should start suing folks who try to damage our hearing? Or get some legislation to set a cap on the average and max db allowed at various events? I’m not really sure how this problem will get solved. And don’t get me wrong, I love immersive audio! I really enjoyed a lot of Dune’s soundtrack and mixing. I’m just shocked that immersive audio today basically means “turn it up to 90db to kill their ears” and not “let’s have a really meticulously mixed and nicely balanced experience.” But that enjoyment ends when my ears hurt.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  I just don't get it, why is that allowed? There are clear guidelines on how many decibels for how long damages ears, and noise is simple to measure. I've been to concerts which were ear-splitting even up in the bleachers. It's just crazy to think how loud it would be right at the stage. I just don't understand how venues don't get sued into oblivion, and I wish they would because it's too goddamn loud to enjoy.

ctdonath 5y ago

I watched Tenet at home with subtitles, and had no problem with it. Between wife going "what are they saying?" halfway thru many movies, and getting kids to read fast, subtitles are just left on all the time now. I'm a bit annoyed at my own propensity to stare at them instead of the action, but it's better than "wait, what?".

neuronic 5y ago

The film was horrible. I watched it with 6 people at home and everyone hated it, for good reason. It's peak Nolan-thinks-he-is-artsy.

handrous 5y ago
Nolan would be a decent film maker if all his movies didn't think they were a solid two notches smarter than they actually are.

noahtallen 5y ago

I’m sure it was damaging, honestly. I have to think most professional sound mixers have lost part of their hearing, because the standards for “good audio” are far too loud. For example, IMAX, which is supposed to have technically well calibrated sound in the theatre, clocks around 95db in the especially loud parts, and over 80db for large portions. This is after watching Dune in two different IMAX theaters and checking my watch’s audio level sensor :) But Tenet is probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in a theatre. It had to be more than 90db for large parts of it. And then I attended a wedding reception with a DJ recently, and it was over 90db for the whole two hours in a small-ish hall. Imo, that’s unacceptable. In both of these experiences, my ears hurt bad. I can only think that the people making the decision to go this loud have already had their hearing damaged enough that they don’t think it’s loud enough. Well, why don’t we fix the problem by not busting people’s ears in the first place! Maybe we should start suing folks who try to damage our hearing? Or get some legislation to set a cap on the average and max db allowed at various events? I’m not really sure how this problem will get solved. And don’t get me wrong, I love immersive audio! I really enjoyed a lot of Dune’s soundtrack and mixing. I’m just shocked that immersive audio today basically means “turn it up to 90db to kill their ears” and not “let’s have a really meticulously mixed and nicely balanced experience.” But that enjoyment ends when my ears hurt.

brokenmachine 5y ago
I just don't get it, why is that allowed? There are clear guidelines on how many decibels for how long damages ears, and noise is simple to measure. I've been to concerts which were ear-splitting even up in the bleachers. It's just crazy to think how loud it would be right at the stage. I just don't understand how venues don't get sued into oblivion, and I wish they would because it's too goddamn loud to enjoy.