Yes, I already used the "Balance" settings both in-game and in the launcher...

Basically the music is so loud, I can barely hear a word of what the characters are saying. (And you can be sure that key info is always gonna be interrupted by a crescendo in the bg music.)

This silly detail renders the game near unplayable (outside of using a walkthrough to learn what everyone's saying). How do I fix it?

If I can just overwrite the music files specifically to make them go away I'm open to that even.

Hmm... I had the same problem, but the in-game "balance" setting fixed it. I just turned the music volume down. What happens when you use this? Does it respond at all?

Note that I had to re-set it every time I launched the game. But it wasn't too much of a hassle.

I should also note that I was playing the original CD version of the game, I haven't used the GOG version (yet) and I haven't tried the new v1.1 at all. But I doubt it would change anything about this.

Anyone else know for sure?

It's a Key you have to press during the game's running. I can't remember exactly but i think it's "K" or "X" or something.

Then you can see on Screen the Balance between music and speech.