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Topic: EQ Help!

Nic Margherio
Film Handler

Posts: 91
From: St. Louis MO, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-24-2000 05:03 PM

I am the head projectionist at a new AMC that opened in September. The booth operation is first class, the best in town, however we have a serious problem. The clowns who installed the equiptment (a company called Patton Sight & Sound) gave the auditoriums an absolutely horrible EQ. I saw a movie in one of the theatres just before we opened and alerted engineering to the problems. He seemed to take me seriously at the time and said they would take care of it but they did not. So now we are stuck with the poor EQs because the stupid company won't give my tech the laptop computer he needs to interface with the SDDS. I constantly remind management of the problems but they have their head up their ass when it comes to that kind of thing and I don't think they really see it as a problem. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I've thought about taking the battery out of one ofthe DSP boards, that would cause the unit to lose its memory and force engineering to take a trip out to my theatre. That could get me into some trouble though, especially with my tech. (who I think may read this forum) I've also thought about filling out a box full of comment cards anonomously, giving the sound quality low marks. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, it is extrememly frustrating to have such a good booth operation be held back by something that is not our fault and is relatively easy to fix. Thanks.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 01-24-2000 05:09 PM

Well, re-doing those EQs "properly" isn't all that easy. The setup (especially if using a multiplexer...which they should be using) along with the eq time and "listening" time (very important) and then tweeking time does add up. It's not something many techs are willing to spend time on. Plus, EQing on an SDDS is (in my opinion) a pain in the butt! Everything just "has" to be electronic in Sony's mind, even though I feel that a good ol' fashioned cat64B card provides the best sound.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-24-2000 06:44 PM

It may not be the engineers fault. I have had a whole complex of DFp3000 dump their settings to something on another planet a week after opening. This can also happen whena firmware upgrade is done and the unit doesn't rerecord all the uplifted settings which has also happened

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Nic Margherio
Film Handler

Posts: 91
From: St. Louis MO, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-24-2000 09:17 PM

In 1994, when AMC first adopted SDDS, my tech did the EQing for the 6 houses at the theatre that I worked at at the time and they sound great. I have complete confidence that he can do a competent job, but as I said in the original post the supid company won't give him the equipment necesary and thats the part thats so frustrating. Oh well, I guess thats what happens when I work for a company whose standards are so much lower than mine.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 01-25-2000 12:40 PM

This reminds me of cars: It used to be so easy to troubleshoot a car. The most complicated 'control' system then was the vacuum line that advanced the distributer. Now you need all kinds of special tools.

But, you do need the right tools. I don't see any way around EQ'ing without a PC and the Sony software. AMC is a pretty big company; I would think they would either have their own people to do this, or a service contract to maintain the equipment. I can easily see your difficulty; you want stuff to work, but would rather not step on anyone's toes.

My suggestion is that you write a memo, addressed to both your manager and the tech services- one copy to each. Don't say specifically that the EQ is bad; just say the theater doesn't sound right. (If you say the EQ is bad, you are indirectly saying the tech who did it is a dummy.) Just ask if someone could look at it. In fact, now is a good time to throw in all of the major things that aren't working correctly.

Sound positive; "This theater is really nice and if we can fix these things, it will perfect.." Get people to agree with you, if possible. Especially a manager.

And if there were any refunds, say so. Money always makes management's ears perk up.

The memo also protects you if any one complains about anything later.

Actually, I used to send a memo like that about once every 3 months or so. I'd put on it the problem, and how long it'd been that way. If you have a PC and printer at home, it's easy to do. And can really save you in the future.

I realize this memo thing seems like a really lame way to go about getting something fixed. In the old days, there would be a bottle of JD, a midnight service call, and screw people's toes. But, that's the way it's done at any large company today. People are always fighting for resources, and today you have to demonstrate why you need it more than someone else.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 02-03-2000 09:54 PM

The theatre is open now, AMC probably won't care.

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