[Richard Fairbanks]

Yes there is an ever increasing amount of non-theater work. It is the overwhelming majority of my work, too. And it IS possible to mix for theater playback in a small room with nearfields. A spot-on mix will sound good on practically any system. It will not sound the same however, for all the reasons I cited in my first reply. And I honestly don't think you can design a room which can really do both without a lot of compromise. My point was to pick one or the other, and make the best room you can. Then you can use your talent and experience to mix anything. A bigger room has many benefits over a smaller one (within limits), but a 5000 sq ft room isn't going to sound like my living room. Not ever.

Dolby's X-curve is a big high frequency rolloff you apply to your playback speakers to make you compensate for the horrible high frequency loss encountered in some really old theaters. I've grown up with it, but it can really get you into trouble with modern playback systems. It is easy to end up with excessively sibilant mixes and to not hear hiss and other high frequency problems that become obvious on "DC to blue light" systems. Check out the response specs required for THX certification and compare those to the X curve. They are not compatible. I swore by the X curve for a long long time until I got severly burned a couple of years ago, when the client organized a screening party for a musical presentation I had just mixed. And the "THX certified" system was probably the brightest, most brittle system I've ever heard. No way was it flat. Regardless, the music hurt to listen to, and some of the interviews had so much hiss it was distracting. Yet on my X curve system everything sounded great. It was a terribly embarrasing experience which I don't intend to repeat. I've altered my playback curves to keep up with the modern world. In fact since going surround, I've tossed out the graphic eqs and rely on speaker controls and room treatment to make things right. It has taken some time for my mind's ear to adjust and I still need some help with the subwoofer. But I'm happy with my decision so far. There is a whole other discussion to have about whether to use horns for midrange and tweeters. Again, home and theater are very different.

I still do 80 percent of my work on the Auratones, at least one of the networks I mix every other week for broadcasts in MONO, and don't even get me started on Manhattan Cable, which is how everybody I work for hears the broadcasts. They don't realize that they are hearing it in mono through the stupid digital cable box. That's how the channel 3 rf output carries all our pristine audio. In mono.

Anyhow, for me great monitors are a joke. I work very, very hard to make my rooms accurate and sound good. Just so an occasional big speaker playback will really blow everyone away. But mixing for TV isn't about that, it's about mixing for the lowest common denominator without completely destroying a big speaker playback. I want to believe the lowest common denominator is getting raised, but if it is it is a slow, slow rise. Just my opinion.