Can anyone explain bad sound at theater?

[Bob Olhsson]

I honestly don't think today's theaters sound nearly as good as I remember back in the early 1960s.

[Cheesehead]

Hi Michael,


I agree about Picturehouse Central, great sound and picture.
The other ones I rate are Curzon Bloomsbury and 02 Cineworld which has just been re-furbished with Atmos in the main screen and new sound systems in the smaller ones too.

[michaelfbates]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

Hi Michael,


I agree about Picturehouse Central, great sound and picture.
The other ones I rate are Curzon Bloomsbury and 02 Cineworld which has just been re-furbished with Atmos in the main screen and new sound systems in the smaller ones too.

Oh cool, I haven't been to Curzon Bloomsbury since they put in Atmos and never to O2 Cineworld, I'll have to stick them on the list. Cheers!

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Originally Posted by dr sound

How does Dolby police theaters? Who would pay for that? Dolby has let go of personnel lately and obviously there will be no money policing Theaters SPL playback levels.

Hi Marty

1) If Dolby RENTED out sealed units that had two buttons - reference and less, but you had to apply for the software key to use the less function (if you couldn't get the isolation between screens). We the public could go and see films in Dolby reference theatres or Dolby 'less' theatres and pay accordingly.
2) We (the industry) should stop playing silly buggers with unnecessarily loud mixes that compensate for the other end playing back too quiet - and Dolby should police this. Time for some loudness measurement in the Cinema mixing environment and calibrated playback for consumers. If films like Transformers get mixed stupidly loud then the public will leave and arrogant directors won't get hired to make that mistake again (he said hopefully). Can this really be that hard?

When I am not attending a BAFTA screening (which are in all the nice west end pro screening rooms like Dolby's in Soho), I pay extra and go to the decent places. If I go to the local Odeon or Cineworld I spend my time explaining to the confused 'management' which of the speakers aren't working etc. My trip to see the latest Mission Impossible had the joys of C R L playback across the front and no discernible surround at all - and probably played back at '4' as some dialogue scenes were too quiet to hear properly and the foley and fx atmos all but disappeared. Having the dialogue on the left speaker is very disconcerting when you are sitting on the right!

The state of the industry for the consumer is in a diabolical state. Unless I go to to Olympic Studios (or its ilk) I get a better viewing experience at home on my Blue Ray, Panasonic THX plasma and with my BBC monitors and Naim pre/power amps. So the cinema chains must evolve or die....and that might mean part of our industry collapsing too, which no-one here wants at all.
I hope we can do something about this...

[dr sound]

Mike,
I think your heart is in the right place but we can't dictate to Cinema owners
what they have to do especially when it comes to SPL playback.
If Dolby starts policing the Theaters then another competitor will give them the
"New Updated Flexible Playback box " . Who is going to pay for this?
Then the Doby guys are going to come onto a Stage and tell you it's too loud.
Who is going to pay for that? Once the DCP creation came along Dolby lost a lot of Mastering Income. It became the wild West with anyone in any size room with no idea of calibration could mix a Film with Zero oversite!

Unless we go to a variation of what we deliver to Network TV or Netflix and there is a company that says "Meets spec or fails" I don't see having Dolby as the deciding company of what we can or can't deliver because for these companies it's about proffit. There is no profit in this. Only hard feelings.

BTW it's Marti

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Sorry Marti

Yes I suspect you are very right. I was definitely shooting from the heart...

I have a strong suspicion that cinema may go the way of music, and only the high end will survive and mass consumption will be mostly streamed, which will be a titanic cultural loss.


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