Did anyone try to watch Spooks last night at 10.30?

I thought, bet this will be good, spy story, British film, etc etc..........
Couldn't hear a bloody word that was being said !
Turned up the volume to a ridiculous number so could try to make sense of it and then got the house roof blown off when guns started shooting.
Makes me wonder how it got through quality control.
I switched off.

 

You ought to have ordered a pizza to be delivered and recreated a scene from Home Alone;
"Keep the change you filthy animal!!!"

 

The BBC have a reputation for producing low quality audio in its programming and failing to adequately check it before airing

 

We didn’t produce it, but it should have been QC’d before being delivered to network. Problem is they often monitor audio in a state-of-the-art post-production facility, with studio grade speakers, then expect it to sound great coming out of the ***** speakers they squeeze into flat-screen TVs. I check everything made for my shows at my desk, on a 19” bog-standard telly. If it’s not right, it goes back to the edit.

 

If you do that then why is the BBC in general so incapable of doing it? Surely they should have learnt from past experiences

 

I think you’re exaggerating a little. There have been a few well documented cases, but it is just that. A few. I can’t recall any of them other than Rebecca. In the many, many hours of content being made, it’s a drop in the ocean. Unacceptable, yes, but not the state of affairs you’re suggesting.

 

Spooks, Rebecca, in the dark, ss-gb, happy valley, birdsong, quirke, Jamaica Inn, taboo, little women. It's quite a long list in a short space of time and seems to be a problem associated with the BBC over other broadcasters.

My point is that you personally have identified that it's an issue and you have taken (quite simple) steps to make sure that your programming doesn't suffer from the problem yet those above you, who are also aware of the issue have done literally nothing to make sure it doesn't happen and imo thats not good enough.

 

Jamaica Inn. That’s the one. Maybe it wasn’t Rebecca. I’ve had no problems with most of the shows on that list; was it documented they were poor? Genuine question.

 

A lot of whispering followed by booming noise during the action scenes seems par for the course nowadays.

 

Perhaps you just watch more of the BBC

 

Just googling them now. Seems it was mumbling, rather than poor quality audio that was the accusation. That’s more the fault of the show directors than a technical thing - obviously going for some “authentic” dialogue from their cast. Can’t imagine that fella off Taboo using RP!

 

SuperTyke has a rather large bee in his bonnet about the BBC, so this isn’t a huge surprise, but he’s got a fair point on this occasion.

 

All the studios I have ever been in used to have something akin to a mono transistor radio on the mixing console that they checked the stereo mix on to ensure it sounded OK . I would think it is even more important when TV sends out encoded 5:1 surround sound transmissions. Fortunately I have a fairly high end surround sound system for home cinema and on quite a few occasions, not just the BBC productions, had to turn up the centre speaker as the dialogue was being drowned out by the music/FX coming out of the Left Right and rear surround sound speakers.
I know BBC used to (re)train sound engineers in 'the BBC way' many years ago and know one person who was an experienced sound engineer who applied having originally trained at Gateway only to be told he would have to attend various courses to be 'assimilated'. Going back quite a few years though.

 

As soon as the op mention poor sound quality on a TV show I just knew he meant the BBC. I had no idea spook's was a BBC thing but I remembered that the BBc had a reputation for it which prompted my original reply. My second one was because it is a bit weird isn't it get you've cracked it and know how to solve the problem but the bigwigs haven't.

I haven't watched any of the shows I mentioned, I just googled TV show poor sound quality and the first few results were news site reports about poor BBC quality and naming shows so yes it was documented problems (I think)

As you know I hardly watch any BBC (actually watch about 5 shows a week now which is an improvement) but to be honest I've never had any sound issues with any of those, I just knew there were issues with the dramas or ''proper" shows.

Apart from being a bit of a dig at the BBC higher ups you should take it as a compliment about your own personal work

 

The Spooks thing in question wasn’t a BBC production, not that that defends shoddy QC.

 

A lot of those articles were a little suspect, to say the least. As I said, a good many of those shows sounded absolutely fine at home here, and this coming from someone who’s deaf in one ear!! There was definitely a spate of criticism in the wake of the first high profile one (Jamaica Inn?) and that seemed to give the usual suspects (Mail, Sun, Express etc) an easy and ill-informed stick to beat the BBC with. We don’t get everything right - I sincerely doubt anyone in the organisation believes that - but given the range of output, we actually get a lot less wrong than people think.

 

I was given 'The Night Manager' on BluRay for my birthday not having seen it on TV and knowing little about it. Very rarely does 'gripping drama' live up to its billing but this was like an adult version of the early Dr Who episodes of the 60's in as much as you felt yourself at times, wanting to hide behind the sofa. After the first 20 minutes I spent the rest of the series watching with sweaty palms and shi**ing myself that the main character (Tom Hiddleston) was going to be caught out. In fact we put off watching the last episode for a few days as I was convinced that being John Le Carre the end might not go well for our hero. Definitely one of the best dramas in years with a stellar cast, great production values and brilliant performances all round. BBC drama at its absolute best.

 

The tension in some of those episodes was unbelievable. Same with McMafia a few weeks back. Really well done.

 

I usually pick up on unclear dialogue, but I didn't have a problem with Spooks.