Higher audio standards of movie sound tracks from UK versus Hollywood

[TLS Guy]

It is apparent to me that movie sound tracks engineered in the UK are markedly superior to those engineered in the US.

I site especially the sound tracks of War Horse and now The Budapest Hotel. Both are stunning especially the latter.

The dialog is always perfectly balanced on the UK productions. In addition the productions are wonderfully transparent with a really good 360 sound stage. They really add to the story telling. In The Budapest Hotel the sound track makes a really major contribution to the success of the movie in my view.

Now I suppose this could be that the speakers used to balance and master the productions in the UK are much more like my speakers, than the ones used in Hollywood, like the Lucas film studios, which are pretty much polar opposites of my speakers.

I suspect the US monitoring systems have far too much shout and are not neutral. I say this, as my daughter has an acquaintance who is a film critic among other things in the Twin Cities. He has been in Hollywood and heard their system including Lucas Films. He strongly prefers the sound here to what he has heard in Hollywood.

So I wonder if others have noted a very different balance and perspective on UK versus US engineered sound tracks.

In any recording the balance and mastering is highly dependent on the speakers used.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I would suspect that the reason you like UK production audio better is that Hollywood is purposely attempting to get a more flashy, in-your-face sound, because they think their audience does not appreciate subtlety. Given the subwoofer tastes of many who post here, who I strongly suspect are running +10db or more at 30Hz, I'm forced to think Hollywood is making a good economic choice. Not that advocate it, but I understand it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I would suspect that the reason you like UK production audio better is that Hollywood is purposely attempting to get a more flashy, in-your-face sound, because they think their audience does not appreciate subtlety. Given the subwoofer tastes of many who post here, who I strongly suspect are running +10db or more at 30Hz, I'm forced to think Hollywood is making a good economic choice. Not that advocate it, but I understand it.

It could be, but is don't understand why people want everything in their face.

Audyssey sets my LFE at -9.5 db, but that 32 ft stop still really rattle my cage literally. If a sub needs to be +10 db it can't be much good!

By the way I see Budapest Hotel is starting to garner best engineered sound track awards, so I'm not alone.