OK so I don't know if this has been brought up on the forum before, or if it's just me, but I thought the background music on tonight's episode was really loud. Like, I was struggling to hear the dialogue over it. Which kind of ruined the episode for me a bit. Anyone else notice this?

Extremely loud and extremely jarring.

Gold Murray has not learnt that it is meant to be "incidental" music, not "obtrusive" music.

Thats the only thing wrong with New Who; Murray Gold. (And the Daleks. But not the new Orange Dalek dude.)

I completely agree!! It drove me insane tonight.

I agree. The music has been a problem, for me, for a long time. Comes up at the wrong moments, too loud and generally a complete nuisance. It shouldn't be like this. When it is too loud that it makes dialogue hard to listen to, then there is a problem.

I'd have preferred it lower, but didn't think it was as bad as in The Eleventh Hour. I could cope with it.

i've never had any problems with the music, i can see why people might find it too loud, but i personally think the music is at a good volume

for me though, the one problem is the dialogue gets lost when changing camera mid scene, for instance in the latest episode, when amy, the professor and winston watch the dr and the daleks on the small screen, its hard to hear what is being said by the dr and the daleks

I agree, the music was way too loud in proportion to the dialogues.

But I can't have people blaming poor Murray as he is not to blame - the final sound is mixed at a session he may attend but not his mix - The dialogues, sound effects and music are all mixed together by the dubbing mixer who I believe to be Tim Ricketts in this case. But even he is told what to do by the Producer, Execs and Director - so any or all of them may be to blame. There is a tendency for Productions to rely on the music a bit too much.

Anyway, I quite enjoyed the rest of the episode - especially Bill Paterson and Ian McNeice. When are the new Dalek toys out???

I love the fact that people continue to blame the Composer for the fact they believe the music is too loud - it's kind of like blaming the Exec Producer for an episode you don't like...it has a kind of rational thought behind it but in TV Production terms, it is way off the mark.

I haven't found any problems with the music to dialogue balance in any New Who as I haven't found any problems with other TV shows...some people may be having problems with their individual TV'S because they have 3D, Surround...any mock functions that do not work with stereo in some programmes but do with others...but don't blame Murray Gold...after all, Beethoven was deaf and I have a neighbour that plays the old boys' music very, very loudly that surely even he must hear it in the grave

I sometimes think the music can be a little over-dramatic but the volume is always fine for me. I've never had problems hearing dialogue and the music levels don't seem louder than other TV programmes.

If you look through my previous posts I would normally praise the loud music as it would at to the whole experience of the show.

But Victory of the Daleks was ridiculous (then again as i've said earlier it may be due to my TV) all the dialogue was drowned out by very loud music it got to the point where when my sister inturupted (usually i could still follow the show) i tried to continue to watch but it was impossible due to the combination of my sister loudly talking and the shows loud soundtrack resulting in barely being able to hear any of the character

However I think people should stop blaming this on Murray Gold as he doesn't have anything to do with the noise level of his music when it is finally put on the show.

The music makes it epic, big, special for a Saturday night.

Would you rather have a boring episode with just speaking? Come on. Music is what makes Who...

No, but it can be set at a lower volume.

Fix your sound settings (or get a better system); problem solved. And people who think this is down to Murray Gold personally are absolute idiots.

Agreed. It is down to your sound settings. For example, on my mum's TV I can hardly hear the dialogue but if I change the settings I can, and I can also hear the music (which is what makes it great).

That's the same with me! My mum's TV plays the music far too loud, but on my TV it's perfectly fine? I reckon it's people's TV's mucking it up.

It's fine on my TV - I suggest all the ones moaning about it, should check their TV sets - it might be something to do with the surround sound setting or something...???

Don't you think that if people are finding the problem when watching Doctor Who but not for general TV viewing that the problem is not at their end but at the other?

You can't blame the viewers for not having the right television and expect them to buy another one.

How can their settings be incorrect when there is no problem when they usually watch the majority of television and the problem occurs when they watch Doctor Who?

I never said buy another one, merely to check their surround sound settings

Well not you, but a couple of people have said that they should buy a new TV.

I have a standard CRT TV. No surround sound or anything. Just a normal television. Nothing fancy.

I do find that the music can sometimes be intrusive and at times completely obscure dialogue being spoken.

Occasionally I find it hard to understand the actor over the music, but this is much more to do with the actors mumbling or talking too fast. Thankfully I just put the subtitles on and don't whinge about it

Ive been watching it all on catch up as last week I had to rewind about 3 times and still didnt get what he mumbled over the background noise until I watched confidential where it showed it being filmed.
I like most of the music but when the dr's off on a rambling fast mutter I havent a clue what been said. I must try subtitles lol

The mixing this week did seem off, with the music drowning out everything else at times.

I also felt that this was one of Murray Gold's weakest scores. Gold can do some very good atmospheric incidental music, but he can also do some very "corny" music at times. This week was more in the latter.

To be fair to Gold, writing 10 hours of incidental music (which is roughly what a series requires) is no easy task, and it is inevitable that there will be some variance. I think part of the problem is the insistence on almost continuous background music (Dr Who isn't alone in this). I was watching some of the Star Trek Deep Space Nine re-runs on Virgin as was stuck by just how little incidental music is used - almost none! I don't think DS9 suffers as a result, and in fact I'd never really noticed it before I consciously starting listen for incidental music.

Overeall, I think a more sparing use of incidental music would be much more effective, and give Gold the opportunity to work on quality rather than quantity.

Matthew

More moaning! I didn't even notice the music in last nights episode.

Pity the poor Who team, on a hiding to nothing these days...

Previously i've never had a problem with the balance, but during last nights episode it really did drown some of the dialogue. The music itself is exceptional though.