3 Aug
2014
3 Aug
'14
7:05 p.m.
I guess I didn't see your previous post -- I just caught the part where
you were wondering about why some theaters play at lower levels than the
"recommended."
When I said we don't get "too soft" complaints, I was saying that nobody
ever says they couldn't understand the dialog. We get lots of COMPLIMENTS
about our sound -- and we get quite a few comments such as "wow, that was
loud!" but they don't seem like complaints, more like observations and
they're always smiling when they say it. So I think we are in the right
ballpark. Of course there are always going to be some people who want to
have their ears bleeding, we'll never please them. And, of course some
senior citizens always think any modern entertainment is too loud.
The other thing to consider is, this is a small town so about 90% or more
of our customers here are repeat customers, so they know what to expect
when they come in. I think that's why we don't get complaints. I also
have enough friends who would (hopefully!) tell me if they think it needs
to be louder or softer.
I do run the sound a point or two higher when we have a large crowd.
Many's the time I've QC'd a movie and thought 4.8 was about right, but
with a crowd in place (especially kids) I have often notched it up a bit.
Mike
Mike, if you read my previous post, you will notice
that I do not advocate
playing at 7 blindly. As a matter of fact, we have never played a single
feature at 7. Not even when I do personal qc on a new feature do I choose
to play at 7, even as a sound pro it isn't fun for me at these levels.
Also, I have no idea wether the fader level/attentuation relation is the
same between your CP650 and our AP20. So, it may be that your 4.8 is
essentially the same as our 5.5.
Your mentioning of playing Gravity at 6.5 may suggest that we have
identical calibration levels at level 7 (what should indeed be the case
for all cinemas), but not even that is sure.
But I know for sure that 'no complaints about sound being too soft' is no
evidence that a cinema is doing it 'right'.
An all time 'no complaint level' will typically result in a sound level
that will leave most of the audience untouched by the sound. Intense
dialog perception needs the subtleness of the human voice to come through,
as well as spontaneous excitement.
If you're checking individual features for a proper dialog level, that is
probably the best thing to do. Although I usually then still choose to
give it a bit of boost from there, because the level needs to be higher
for populated auditoriums, and the adjustment range between 'just right'
and 'too loud' in my opinion should be used towards the top, not the
bottom, for the reason I explained above.
This, of course doesn't mean using 7 instead of 5.5, but e.g. choosing 5.8
to 6 if 5.5 seems to be 'just okay'.
You are, of course, as every cinema operator, the one who knows your
audience and sound system best. Even with the best calibration, a single
number can never cover all aspects of a specific cinema sound system
coupled with an audiences expectations and habits.
I just want to make clear that, from a 'cinematic experience point of
hearing', 'too soft' is equally bad as 'too loud', even if it
doesn't
trigger complaints.
- Carsten
Am 03.08.2014 um 09:05 schrieb Mike Blakesley / Roxy Theatre / Valley
Auto:
Carsten -
We have a Dolby CP-650, all QSC amps and all QSC speakers (5.1 system).
We routinely play features at anywhere from 4.5 to 5.3. Somewhere in
the
4.8 range is the most common setting.
If we use 7, it's just too loud. I listen to dialogue scenes in each
movie and set the fader to where the dialogue sounds good, and with very
few exceptions anything above 5.3 is uncomfortably loud. The highest
setting we've ever used on a feature is 6.5, which we used for Gravity.
When we had the movie "Space Jam" a long time ago, we promoted a "super
loud" matinee where we played the sound at 7. It sounded amazing of
course, but just awful loud. Some of the KIDS were even saying it was
too
loud!
But if you go to CinemaCon, you'll hear trailers being played at
deafening
rock-concert levels. I think Hollywood sound mixers think this is
normal,
so that's why 7 is so blasted loud.
We virtually never get "too loud" complaints from our customers (besides
senior citizens who don't like anything loud) and I don't think we've
ever
gotten a "too soft" complaint from sound nuts either, so I figure we're
doing something right here!
Mike B.
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