so long, Marianne

A Great Homage

The dialogue in the series ‘So Long, Marianne’ is incredible and a great homage to Leonard Cohen’s voice. The EQ and processing attained a new level of exquisiteness to my ears. There are times when a rich low end dialogue from the main character, Leonard Cohen played by Alex Wolff, seems to get in the way of clarity making certain words difficult to understand for some viewers. This does not bother me. It’s a worthy trade off for the experience of feeling the vibrations of Cohen’s speech. In recent years a lot of viewers and critics complain about the unintelligibility of audio in film and TV. Personally, it never bothers me IF I’m Immersed in the world and as long as I’m not missing crucial information to the plot or character arc. I’m not talking about volume. I’m talking about tone, levels and pronunciation. I enjoy these moments. When done correctly it grabs our attention and feels like a real heightened experience. We don’t hear everything crystal clear 100% of the time anyways. People also don’t pronounce words with 100% clarity! I much prefer raw and messy performances with slurred or whispered dialogue. This is much more true to a real or surreal experience.

Next time you find yourself criticizing the audio, try and keep an open mind as you would with the cinematography and lighting. This has always been my preference throughout all mediums of art. While always appreciating all genres of art, I grew up attracted to impressionistic brush strokes and surrealist landscapes over realistic paintings. Film and TV and storytelling is an art form and should be viewed and appreciated as one.

Hats off to Sound Designer

Espen Album Syversen on a  mix well done!