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Author Topic: Dolby's new sound system Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 04-23-2012 12:51 PM                     from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cinemacon-2012-dolby-new-sound-system-314999 LAS VEGAS-- Dolby Laboratories aims to advance the quality of cinema sound with the introduction of its new Dolby Atmos audio format, this week at CinemaCon. "We think it is going to be breakthrough," Doug Darrow, senior vp of Dolby’s cinema business, told The Hollywood Reporter, noting that with more "precision and control of sound" in any theater, audio will be more "natural and lifelike." Atmos is capable of transmitting up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels, and renders from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, according to Dolby. For sound teams, Atmos enables what Dolby refers to as "object-based mixing" by providing precise control over "placement and movement of individual sounds or 'objects' anywhere within a theater environment." In order to create these mixes, Dolby reported that it plans to offer a new plug-in for Avid’s ProTools audio postproduction system, and it is also working with console manufacturers to enable support for the new format, which would be "layered" on top of a 7.1 mix. A trailer mixed in Dolby Atmos will debut this week at CinemaCon for demonstration purposes. It was mixed by Will Files (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted), and features sound design by Academy Award nominee Erik Aadahl (Transformers: Dark of the Moon). Dolby said the mix could be delivered to theaters on standard Digital Cinema Packages (which are used today and are effectively the digital equivalent of a film print). Exhibitors will need to outfit theaters for the format. According to Dolby, theater owners can still use the "majority of their existing sound system" though additional speakers and amplification must be installed. Dolby estimated that an "average mid-size" theater could expect to make an investment of around $25,000-$30,000 for this upgrade. Audio equipment manufacturer Harman Professional is working with Dolby to design specialized loudspeakers to support the Atmos format. Dolby is set to begin a limited deployment of Atmos in the U.S., Europe, China and Japan, and the first feature with an Atmos mix might be released as early as this summer. A larger rollout is planned for 2013. ~~ let the flaming begin!  |  IP: Logged Andy Frodsham Expert Film Handler Posts: 238 From: Stoke on Trent, Staffs, UK Registered: Nov 2006 posted 04-23-2012 03:33 PM                     They should have made this announcement on April 1st!  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-23-2012 05:00 PM                     Cool! Now showing in Dolby 127.1! Something else the major chains can upcharge for the privilege of providing to you.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-23-2012 05:07 PM                     This seems a little premature, considering that the basic D-Cinema rollout is still underway. I'm not sure how many exhibitors will spring for an "optional" component when they're still in the midst of coping with the cost of purchasing and installing projectors. (Which ain't cheap.) And now there's talk of projector upgrading, too. (HFR, 4K...) Also, let's not forget what happened with SDDS-8. As long as there's a 5.1 downmix available, cinemas will probably just go with that. And, as long as studios know that the 5.1 will be the de-facto standard, they won't spring for the added time (and expense) required to mix anything more complicated than that. No users --> No product --> No users And, speaking of learning from the past, I'd also prefer to know that channel assignments have been standardized, so that we're not making this thing up as we go along (like 70mm). quote: Now showing in Dolby 127.1! Probably 126.2 -- Dual-channel subs have advantages.  |  IP: Logged Marin Zorica Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 671 From: Biograd na Moru, Croatia Registered: May 2003 posted 04-23-2012 05:26 PM                     I share opinios with you guys......but hey, when D-Cinema came I don't know what is pourpose to "invent" sound systems? There are wav files and normally 16ch supported, and with basicly adding some sort of compressing you can put how much channels as you like (theoreticly).......then another thing could be 260.3 channel sound.....only not suitable for smaller rooms because of 263 speakers in it  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-23-2012 05:43 PM                     I still only have 2 ears.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 04-23-2012 05:48 PM                     Two ears but non-directional sound to hear. Now, we're prob entering into the world of "ambient" sound.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 04-23-2012 06:35 PM                        Gee, I guess Dolby was "wrong" when then pronounced 70mm to only need 3 in front and 2/3 surrounds. Louis  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-23-2012 06:59 PM                      |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-23-2012 09:27 PM                     ^ What Bruce said.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-23-2012 09:48 PM                     Any new, "breakthrough" invention that has to have a neologism for a name is automatically bullshit.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 04-23-2012 09:55 PM                     I'm skeptical, but I'll wait to hear it until I make a judgement. Good news is, if it is a hit, it's definitely something that would be pretty hard to achieve at home which is good for the industry. AJG  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-23-2012 11:39 PM                     The exhibitors are the ones who really have an interest in promoting the cinema experience -- over the home-theatre experience -- not the studios. There's BIG money in home-video for the studios. Maybe if exhibitors start producing movies, we might see things happening in cinemas that can't be duplicated at home. But that's a pretty big "maybe" and I still have a hunch, they'd end up being seduced by the big money to be made from a home-video release. Even IMAX movies are on video... But, whatever -- 128 channels of sound seems excessive. Good luck trying to mix that. You'd never get off the dub stage! (And that will cost a ton of money, too.) Money is the main challenge here -- the cost to the studios of producing that soundtrack, and the cost to the cinemas of reproducing it. And, finally, without wanting to state the obvious: They've had 16 channels at their disposal for some time now...and they're only using 7.1 of them. And how often is THAT happening..?  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-24-2012 12:05 AM                     Neato  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 04-24-2012 05:09 AM                        Holy crap! Just wait until Jane Campion hears about this!! She rocked the sound in The Piano HARD (blew the roof off... almost sounded like a real goddamn piano) and now she's gonna go nuts creating the mind-numbing, ever-enveloping sound mixes her movies are known for! quote: Article Atmos is capable of transmitting up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels, and renders from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, according to Dolby. So wait. 128 simultaneous and lossless channels but only renders up to 64 discrete speaker feeds? What are the other 64 simultaneous and lossless channels doing? quote: Article Atmos is capable of transmitting up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels, and renders from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, according to Dolby. Sorry. I just needed to quote that again. The stupidity just baffles me. Do these people even read their own stuff? quote: Manny Good luck trying to mix that. I think the idea is to take a sound effect and steer it around some sort of 3D globe in the mixing stage so that the sound can travel wherever you put it. I don't think that the sound mixer would be paying attention to each individual channel specifically. He'd just move the sound around and it's basically just for fancy panning. I imagine every once in a while there might be a sound effect dedicated to this speaker or that one but again, I don't think any care would be taken to utilize each speaker.  |  IP: Logged

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