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Author Topic: Loud projection booths could damage hearing Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 03:55 PM                     From the discussion on loud movies here...has anyone building theaters ever put any thought into this scenario? *Projection room at a small multiplex with no more than 2 projectors close to each other (separate booths). *All Strong equipment. *No carpet, just a raw cement slab. *No ceiling tile, just hard surfaces overhead. *Projectionists typical shift confined to the booth 8-12 hours. Anyone want to guess just how LOUD it is in there??? Please make your guesses in C/Slow db.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-25-2003 04:05 PM                     88db  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 02-25-2003 04:09 PM                        Where is the measurement being made? How close to the projector? Are the booth monitors turned up?  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-25-2003 04:20 PM                     Which lamphouse? Where is the exhaust fan?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 04:21 PM                     Cenury projector Highlight II consoles Strong platter (model really doesn't matter here) Booth monitors are all off. Exhaust vents outside, but there is no air conditioning. (Yes this is a theater in Texas that was built with no air conditioning in the booth!) Measurement is made halfway between the projectors. In some rooms this could be 15 feet away, others only a few feet away. There are 2 projectors per room. (Just think how bad this would be if all were in one common booth!)  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-25-2003 04:57 PM                     Mine is carpeted, with drywall ceilings and floors. Tri-Plex. About 75db. I once visited a 14-plex up in this area. Cineplex. Had an open ceiling, right up to the roof and its trusses. Concrete floor, and standard drywall. Simplex 35's, Strong lamps and platters. Noise level was so high, I would presume, from my experience, that the average person would not want to spend more than 4 hours at a time in that booth. That place was LOUD!  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 05:21 PM                        Hmmmm... class action lawsuit!  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-25-2003 05:22 PM                        My 7-plex single booth with Alpha 3's (which don't really make noise), V5's, tile ceiling, tiled floor, ply-wood (on top of a few layers of dry-wall) walls and killer air-conditioning runs at about 90+ dB. After spending 14 hours or so in the booth, the eerie silence and presence of light scares me when I exit the booth and enter the lobby. BTW, you can yell from one end of this straight stretch booth (while everything is running) and not be heard at the other end.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 06:26 PM                     It's good to see people are finally "hearing" me when I complain about booths that do not have carpet and ceiling tiles. Honestly, I don't know how some people can work in that amount of noise. While I don't have any hard proof, I just know it is killing the projectionist's hearing. Not too long ago I worked a noisy booth like this for a couple of months to get things fixed up for them. One day I left there and headed straight to another theater to service them and I had forgotten what a difference it made. I didn't even realize the film was running at first. They had carpet and ceiling tile. Their ought to be a law against these "unfinished" booths. Anyone out there reading this that has the final say-so on new construction, if you choose to go the cheap route and not put in a drop ceiling and carpet, YOU SUCK! May someone sue your ass off one day for it.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-25-2003 06:30 PM                        That's the sucky thing about the Galaxy booths, they are actually nice. Nice blue/white speckled tile floor, nice black tile (drop) ceiling, and actually nice dark blue painted walls. Nice and dark too (I actually like that). So it's really a finished booth... just no thought into how loud it's going to be with the materials used. It's easy to keep clean... just loud.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 06:31 PM                     When I say "finished" booth, floor tile does NOT count. Also, an acoustical drop ceiling is mandatory, as is carpet. It is amazing how many people just don't give a damn about their employee's work environment. Not only does this affect the employees running the projectors, but whatever sound leakage there is via the port windows will just be magnified if the booth is loud to being with. Of course, the smaller the booth, the worse this is too. Duh! When I was in college I ran a single screen booth that was about 15x10 feet. It was so noisy in there the projectionists just couldn't stay in the booth, so we would gauge how much time was left on the reel and keep an eye on our watch and sit in the lobby. A few minutes before the changeover we would enter, do the switch and rethread the next machine then get out of there again. It was just too loud. No reels were rewound until the show was over and the machines were off. We finally got management to let us purchase some 1x1 foot self-adhesive carpet squares and from then on we could stay in the booth.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-25-2003 07:10 PM                     Carpet is a static nightmare and is something I don't particularly like in booths Accoustic wall tiles are by far a better solution  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-25-2003 07:26 PM                     I never had a static problem with carpets in the booths I worked in, not out here, anyway. Maybe they were treated with anti-static chemicals...I don't know.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-25-2003 07:40 PM                     Paul, The main problem with carpet is that it holds alot of dirt big time. Every time you walk across it the dust is sent airborn and lands on the films you have around it. Carpeting gets a no vote from me.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2003 07:42 PM                        I never had static problems in the carpeted booths I have worked in, nothing "serious" anyway. And that was BEFORE Filmguard! At Greenwood the floor was carpeted and we had lots of traffic from people walking all over the place, and this was just after polyester stock was introduced. Never any big problems caused by it. Must be a Canada thing. Filmguard would pretty much alleviate any concerns I had about that anyway. Acoustic wall coverings would be good IN ADDITION to carpet! Also never saw what I would consider a really "dirty" print at the Greenwood. They have invented vaccuums as well. They work great! About the 1' x 1' square self adhesive carpet... how much does that stuff cost? I'd like to do that for my booth at the very least (it is tile but has a drop ceiling... and cinder block walls). Would it be cheaper just to have carpet professionally installed everywhere? I hope so, 'cause it would take FOREVER to cover my booth with those little squares. My booth is a little over 125 feet long and 12 feet wide.  |  IP: Logged

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