Forum Topic

Sound quality of Jamaica Inn TV programme ?

Is it my imagination that makes me think the sound quality of the otherwise excellent Jamaica Inn prog is faulty? The sound of other progs are OK, so it can't be that I've misadjusted the audio levels of our TV set. Anyone experienced the poor'ish sound quality that I have done on this particular prog? Or are my ears playing tricks on me?

Gerry Tan ● 4361d18 Comments

Crawls back under stone for not checking out the link :-)Wish you post 'live' links on this forum.

Nigel Brooks ● 4354d

Yes  thanks Nigel that's the one I posted .

Tony Wood ● 4354d

Mitch Benn sang a wonderful parody about this on the Now Show last Friday. About 10 minutes in if you iPlayer it.

Nigel Brooks ● 4354d

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0418x6gAt 14:40 for 30 seconds sums it up adequately.

Tony Wood ● 4354d

If you have the time and inclination, the shooting scripts are available here: http://bbc.in/RSiMtO

Ian D. Richardson ● 4355d

Quite right, Tony. I thought it was a bit rich of the head of BBC Drama Ben Stephenson to point a finger of blame at the actors. They do what they are instructed to by the director, so the buck must rest with him/her.Ian R (also ex-BBC, in news)

Ian D. Richardson ● 4355d

Quite.In fact, I rather doubt that it had anything to do with the techies whatsoever.All sound these days is recorded on the very best of gear and anybody causing that effect through "technical" means is likely to be asked whether perhaps they are quite suited to a career in sound recording at this level.No, the truth is that it is like that because that is the way that the production team wanted it.Once recorded like that then any technical adjustments to attempt a fix can only have a minimal effect at best.Hence on the second night they did tweak the volume and turned up the top end (treble) a bit but it was for nought, as the quality wasn't there to be presented to the listener in the first place.(The fact that I am a (now long since ex-) BBC sound engineer has nothing whatsoever to do with the opinion expressed above.  :-) )

Tony Colliver ● 4355d

I recorded the programme but gave up trying to follow the dialogue and have now given up!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4359d

Can't blame the actors. They do what they are told by the director.

Ian D. Richardson ● 4359d

Babbling  Broadcasting Corporation.

Graham Weeks ● 4360d

The BBC are now admitting that it wasn't just a technical problem but that the actors really were mumbling.

Susan Kelly ● 4360d

I see that many TV viewers have commented on the sound track of Jamaica. I'm not technical, but I think that when the prog makers dub the sound they use very high quality equipment but when we see the prog broadcast we do so on rather ordinary quality speakers, hence a lacking of clear sound. IOW, the prog makers do their sound editing in anechoic perfection and we viewers have non-perfect viewing conditions - at least that's what I think.

Gerry Tan ● 4360d

On reflection, it isn't any where near 'dark' enough. In the book the landlord of 'the Inn' has no redeeming features and is implicitly more violent without the long scenes of self-reflection. The setting of this TV version as a dour grey landscape (along with the mumbled dialogue) does not help.

Nigel Brooks ● 4361d

It felt like a parody, though, Nigel: the Comic Strip does Daphne du Maurier.

Susan Kelly ● 4361d

It does 'pick up'. Like most duMauriers it's a slow burner.

Nigel Brooks ● 4361d

We had the subtitles on from the start of episode one since the husband is a bit mutton and we assumed they'd all be using Mummersetshire accents, so didn't actually notice any mumbling.Watched only episode one as we found it so dull!

Susan Kelly ● 4361d

Thanks Nigel, that's reassuring - I am in my 82year and maybe I need an MoT more frequently.

Gerry Tan ● 4361d

No Gerry, your ears are fine.There were hundreds of complaints to the  about the 'muddy' sound quality. The chap playing the landlord is particularly muffled due a combination of his mumbling and overacted accent.We watched with subtitles.

Nigel Brooks ● 4361d