Tag Archives: Sound

Testing!!! Audio Quality Control Possible (Meyer Sound)

a specialist in high quality auditorium sound which has been introducing a cinema-centric line for the last two years. They have worked with another specialist company, NTi Audio, a group that designs and manufactures handheld audio analyzers for the professional market.

The press release describes the new cinema meter option as adding a software package which includes a MeyerSound test script that can be used for tuning any cinema system. Test signals can be sourced through storage in the cinema system or from the NTi MR-PRO generator.

NTi Sound Meter with Meyer Cinema SoftwareGet the big picture here and here.

 

This article will be updated as testing details and price information is given. The screen shot is provocative though, with a question on the number of seats in the room. Obviously the Meyer group put into the NTi the experience they gained from the penultimate product of the field, their SIM 3 System (Source Independent Measurement).

Testing!!! Audio Quality Control Possible (Meyer Sound)

a specialist in high quality auditorium sound which has been introducing a cinema-centric line for the last two years. They have worked with another specialist company, NTi Audio, a group that designs and manufactures handheld audio analyzers for the professional market.

The press release describes the new cinema meter option as adding a software package which includes a MeyerSound test script that can be used for tuning any cinema system. Test signals can be sourced through storage in the cinema system or from the NTi MR-PRO generator.

NTi Sound Meter with Meyer Cinema SoftwareGet the big picture here and here.

 

This article will be updated as testing details and price information is given. The screen shot is provocative though, with a question on the number of seats in the room. Obviously the Meyer group put into the NTi the experience they gained from the penultimate product of the field, their SIM 3 System (Source Independent Measurement).

Testing!!! Audio Quality Control Possible (Meyer Sound)

a specialist in high quality auditorium sound which has been introducing a cinema-centric line for the last two years. They have worked with another specialist company, NTi Audio, a group that designs and manufactures handheld audio analyzers for the professional market.

The press release describes the new cinema meter option as adding a software package which includes a MeyerSound test script that can be used for tuning any cinema system. Test signals can be sourced through storage in the cinema system or from the NTi MR-PRO generator.

NTi Sound Meter with Meyer Cinema SoftwareGet the big picture here and here.

 

This article will be updated as testing details and price information is given. The screen shot is provocative though, with a question on the number of seats in the room. Obviously the Meyer group put into the NTi the experience they gained from the penultimate product of the field, their SIM 3 System (Source Independent Measurement).

AES Attacks DCinema Sound

To affect the latter, the AES has a new technical committee forming around audio reproduction for Digital Cinema. Television is also stuck onto the title, though either outlet is a large enough mandate.

The challenge of audio in the modern cinema comes from many angles. One is keeping it sane safe and listenable during and before movies. On the other hand, there is a different experience potential and expectation for sports and live performance. Since they are part of the magic of alternative content – the miracle that is supposed to compensate for the additional 4X digital costs over film equipment – handling customer increased audio expectations will need to be addressed.

Editorially, we’ll let this article – and press release from the AES – begin a series of AudioRants that will bring out the issues, problems and potential solutions. As vice-chair of the committee Dr. Toole has said, “It’s not rocket science, but it is science.”

Formative AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & TV

December 8th, 2011 Posted in Newsnewsletter

New York, NY — The Audio Engineering Society has formed a provisional committee to review audio reproduction for Digital Cinema and Television. Spearheaded by Brian McCarty, Managing Director, Coral Sea Studios (Australia), the new AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & Television, AESTC-SDCTV is planning a meeting in Los Angeles in early 2012. To participate in this event or to join the AESTC-SDCTV Committee contact: Brian McCarty (http://www.aes.org/technical/sdctv/).

“Our mission is to identify a consistent approach to controlling perceived loudness and frequency response from installation to installation, and from position to position within Digital Cinema installations worldwide,” McCarty said. “And, for this to be adopted as the formal reference for all contemporary dubbing stage recording and mixing activities, and ultimately as the unified method for film reproduction at home.”

Originally addressed at AES Technical Committee meetings in London in 2010, the initiative was inspired by the AES historical involvement in film sound. The lack of electroacoustical response reference data for Digital Cinema systems was underscored by Dr. Floyd Toole’s statement, “It seems that no real science has been done in terms of Digital Cinema Sound.” Dr. Toole, Vice Chair of the committee, is developing a ½ day seminar on these issues to be held in L.A. in March that will serve as the first meeting of the committee.

McCarty underscores the point that global acousticians, engineers and systems installers have expressed the need for a working standard. “In simple terms, what is recorded digitally in the studio does NOT sound the same at the theatrical end,” McCarty says. “As an art form our goal should be consistency of sound quality. Acoustical design of theaters is typically incorrect for sound reproduction in large rooms. Current soundtrack EQ reproduction curves are inconsistent with large-room audio practice and, with the rest of the audio industry. And, loudspeaker technology typically used in theaters has yet to be optimized for proper playback of wide bandwidth soundtracks. Basically,” McCarty concludes, “the current Digital Cinema Audio System is simply not the best we can do. The AES is committed to improving this situation.”

About AES

The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers. The AES counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry.

www.aes.org

AES Attacks DCinema Sound

To affect the latter, the AES has a new technical committee forming around audio reproduction for Digital Cinema. Television is also stuck onto the title, though either outlet is a large enough mandate.

The challenge of audio in the modern cinema comes from many angles. One is keeping it sane safe and listenable during and before movies. On the other hand, there is a different experience potential and expectation for sports and live performance. Since they are part of the magic of alternative content – the miracle that is supposed to compensate for the additional 4X digital costs over film equipment – handling customer increased audio expectations will need to be addressed.

Editorially, we’ll let this article – and press release from the AES – begin a series of AudioRants that will bring out the issues, problems and potential solutions. As vice-chair of the committee Dr. Toole has said, “It’s not rocket science, but it is science.”

Formative AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & TV

December 8th, 2011 Posted in Newsnewsletter

New York, NY — The Audio Engineering Society has formed a provisional committee to review audio reproduction for Digital Cinema and Television. Spearheaded by Brian McCarty, Managing Director, Coral Sea Studios (Australia), the new AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & Television, AESTC-SDCTV is planning a meeting in Los Angeles in early 2012. To participate in this event or to join the AESTC-SDCTV Committee contact: Brian McCarty (http://www.aes.org/technical/sdctv/).

“Our mission is to identify a consistent approach to controlling perceived loudness and frequency response from installation to installation, and from position to position within Digital Cinema installations worldwide,” McCarty said. “And, for this to be adopted as the formal reference for all contemporary dubbing stage recording and mixing activities, and ultimately as the unified method for film reproduction at home.”

Originally addressed at AES Technical Committee meetings in London in 2010, the initiative was inspired by the AES historical involvement in film sound. The lack of electroacoustical response reference data for Digital Cinema systems was underscored by Dr. Floyd Toole’s statement, “It seems that no real science has been done in terms of Digital Cinema Sound.” Dr. Toole, Vice Chair of the committee, is developing a ½ day seminar on these issues to be held in L.A. in March that will serve as the first meeting of the committee.

McCarty underscores the point that global acousticians, engineers and systems installers have expressed the need for a working standard. “In simple terms, what is recorded digitally in the studio does NOT sound the same at the theatrical end,” McCarty says. “As an art form our goal should be consistency of sound quality. Acoustical design of theaters is typically incorrect for sound reproduction in large rooms. Current soundtrack EQ reproduction curves are inconsistent with large-room audio practice and, with the rest of the audio industry. And, loudspeaker technology typically used in theaters has yet to be optimized for proper playback of wide bandwidth soundtracks. Basically,” McCarty concludes, “the current Digital Cinema Audio System is simply not the best we can do. The AES is committed to improving this situation.”

About AES

The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers. The AES counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry.

www.aes.org

AES Attacks DCinema Sound

To affect the latter, the AES has a new technical committee forming around audio reproduction for Digital Cinema. Television is also stuck onto the title, though either outlet is a large enough mandate.

The challenge of audio in the modern cinema comes from many angles. One is keeping it sane safe and listenable during and before movies. On the other hand, there is a different experience potential and expectation for sports and live performance. Since they are part of the magic of alternative content – the miracle that is supposed to compensate for the additional 4X digital costs over film equipment – handling customer increased audio expectations will need to be addressed.

Editorially, we’ll let this article – and press release from the AES – begin a series of AudioRants that will bring out the issues, problems and potential solutions. As vice-chair of the committee Dr. Toole has said, “It’s not rocket science, but it is science.”

Formative AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & TV

December 8th, 2011 Posted in Newsnewsletter

New York, NY — The Audio Engineering Society has formed a provisional committee to review audio reproduction for Digital Cinema and Television. Spearheaded by Brian McCarty, Managing Director, Coral Sea Studios (Australia), the new AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & Television, AESTC-SDCTV is planning a meeting in Los Angeles in early 2012. To participate in this event or to join the AESTC-SDCTV Committee contact: Brian McCarty (http://www.aes.org/technical/sdctv/).

“Our mission is to identify a consistent approach to controlling perceived loudness and frequency response from installation to installation, and from position to position within Digital Cinema installations worldwide,” McCarty said. “And, for this to be adopted as the formal reference for all contemporary dubbing stage recording and mixing activities, and ultimately as the unified method for film reproduction at home.”

Originally addressed at AES Technical Committee meetings in London in 2010, the initiative was inspired by the AES historical involvement in film sound. The lack of electroacoustical response reference data for Digital Cinema systems was underscored by Dr. Floyd Toole’s statement, “It seems that no real science has been done in terms of Digital Cinema Sound.” Dr. Toole, Vice Chair of the committee, is developing a ½ day seminar on these issues to be held in L.A. in March that will serve as the first meeting of the committee.

McCarty underscores the point that global acousticians, engineers and systems installers have expressed the need for a working standard. “In simple terms, what is recorded digitally in the studio does NOT sound the same at the theatrical end,” McCarty says. “As an art form our goal should be consistency of sound quality. Acoustical design of theaters is typically incorrect for sound reproduction in large rooms. Current soundtrack EQ reproduction curves are inconsistent with large-room audio practice and, with the rest of the audio industry. And, loudspeaker technology typically used in theaters has yet to be optimized for proper playback of wide bandwidth soundtracks. Basically,” McCarty concludes, “the current Digital Cinema Audio System is simply not the best we can do. The AES is committed to improving this situation.”

About AES

The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers. The AES counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry.

www.aes.org

Iosono Surround Sound – a perfect companion to 3D releases?

Having been programmed with the actual dimensions of the replay space, and number of available playback sources, the Iosono decoder outputs audio signals tailored for the installation-specific loudspeaker channels. The result has been described as an ‘acoustic hologram.’

‘While it is possible to create a fairly realistic sense of acoustic space with conventional surround-sound technology,’ concedes Brian Slack, Iosono’s SVP of Studio Technologies, ‘there is one major drawback – the mix requires that the listener sits in the so-called ‘sweet spot.’ Outside of that, any sound will be perceived to originate only from a very general direction.’

 


Read the rest of this fine Mel Lambert/ProAudio Asia article at:
The art of mixing motion pictures – Pro Audio Central 

 

In fact, this is part 2 of  article: 
As 3D conquers popular cinema, how are audio playback formats being developed to match?


 

Art of Mixing Motion Pictures

‘Our primary rerecording format remains 5.1-channel soundtracks,’ considers ‘Doc’ Goldstein, VP of post-production engineering at Universal Studios Sound. ‘But we can accommodate other multichannel formats and always have our eye on the future requirements of filmmakers.’ The ubiquitous 5.1-channel format involves three screen channels (left, centre, right) plus separate surround channels beside and behind the audience (labelled left-surround and right-surround) in addition to a low-frequency extension/LFE channel that carries reduced-bandwidth material (hence the ‘0.1’ label).


Read the rest of this fine Mel Lambert/ProAudio Asia article at:
The art of mixing motion pictures – Pro Audio Central

Part 2 of article, speaks about the Iosono Sound Audio System: 
Iosono Surround Sound – a perfect companion to 3D releases?


Such material is carried to audiences on analogue film using one of three data-compressed formats: Dolby Digital, which optically prints the digitised audio between the sprocket holes; DTS, which uses a time code track on the film to synchronise a companion CD-ROM that carries the multichannel audio; and SDDS – Sony Dynamic Digital Sound – which uses a similar technique to Dolby but, as we shall see, can accommodate additional screen channels.

Dolby Digital premiered in 1992 with Batman Returns, while DTS launched a year later with Jurassic Park

Meanwhile, reacting to a need for a more immersive soundtrack experience and to provide additional panning options …

The first Digital Surround EX release, in May 1999, was for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Earlier this year Dolby unveiled …

There is however another 7.1-channel format that offers extra behind-the-screen loudspeakers. …

According to Gary Johns, SVP of Sony’s Digital Cinema Solutions, there are roughly 7,000 screens worldwide equipped for SDDS 5.1 playback, with fewer than 1,000 screens outfitted for SDDS 7.1. ‘…

‘Of the formats beyond 5.1, we have seen some 7.1-channel mixes,’ Universal’s Mr Goldstein offers. …

All current analogue film releases also carry a two-channel optical Dolby Pro Logic soundtrack that contains…

In addition to the IMAX presentation format that uses a 70mm film or digital file…

Tomlinson Holman, formerly with Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Ranch and now president of TMH Corporation, has been advocating several playback formats, including a 10.2 configuration. Co-developed with Chris Kyriakakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and first demonstrated …

‘The difference is not the placement of the speakers,’ Mr Holman stresses, ‘but rather the type of speakers and the information sent to them. 12.2 would use both surround-diffuse and surround-direct channels.’ …

Multichannel Mixes for digital cinema

The advent of digital projection with playback from hard-disk servers rather than analogue film …

‘Beginning in April 2011,’ points out Charles Flynn from the DCinemaCompliance Group, …

The ability to carry uncompressed audio to audiences at enhanced bit rates and sample rates will extend filmmakers’ creative options, …

Sony Pictures Studios’ postproduction complex features five state-of-the art dubbing stages that are ‘capable …

DCPC – Digital Cinema Package Creator

Functions:

– SMPTE / MXF Interop DCPs
– 2D + 3D DCPs
– 2k BW/Scope, 4k BW/Scope and HD resolutions
– 6 Channel Sound, 24bit/48kHz
– Film and still image creation
– MPEG2 DCPs for E-Cinema Server
– DCP “re”wraping of MXF files
– Source image formats: bmp, tif, dpx, MPEG2 ES (MPEG2 DCP)
– Source Sound format: PCM 24bit
– Framerates: 24, 25

Utility archive: This archive contains the required Imagemagick, and a helpful
Program to e.g. avi video files to split into individual images in order to create aDCP.

3D channel separation test DCP: The DCP contains two test images for you to consider the quality of the channel separation. The left image contains the test images, the right image is black.