3 Aug
2014
3 Aug
'14
1:06 p.m.
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.