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Soundtrack mix level

sunsanvilsunsanvil Somewhere in Canada....somewhere.
edited November 2015 in SPECTRE Posts: 260
Unfortunately the local theater I screened it at was in piss poor condition. Among many issues, the sound chain I believe was miss calibrated: it was so loud that it, literally, hurt in that we left the theater with our ears ringing. It got to a point where the audience (at least those around us) corporately winced when an action sequence started, and let a collective sigh of relief when it was over. Even Sam Smith's voice in title sequence music was uncomfortably loud.

For the record I am not an old fart who thinks all movies are too loud. I'm an experienced Audio/Video technology consultant and technical writer. I'm no stranger to SMPTE standards and believe I know the difference between a soundtrack mixed "hot" (high Leqm value), and one which simply has had the master fader bumped up.

If in fact the fader was set correctly at my screening, then whoever (in that extensive audio credits list) is responsible for the final mixdown should be run out of hollywood and never work on feature films again....but as I say I'm more inclined to blame the theater.

So in the interest of getting a sampling from the community here, what was your experience like? Please note any technical details if you know them such as THX or (Lie)Max theater, which playback format was used, etc.

Comments

  • dominicgreenedominicgreene The Eternal QOS Defender
    edited November 2015 Posts: 1,756
    I'm glad to say that at all my showings, the music was loud in a good, accurate way. The music was nicely loud too, I never felt like it was too soft. I think it's your theatre that was in bad shape.
  • Scaramanga12Scaramanga12
    Posts: 562
    I'm sorry to hear that. I've often thought enforced loud noise would be an effective torture technique. If it was as bad as you make out I would try and get a refund.
    I hadn't been to the cinema in a long time so it was loud to start with but never uncomfortable.
  • Ed83Ed83
    Posts: 1,181
    No sound trouble at the standard theater I went to. Dolby 7.1 was working fine. They even do a test run during the previews to show you it's working.
  • sunsanvilsunsanvil Somewhere in Canada....somewhere.
    Posts: 260
    Thanks for chiming in guys.

    I've already sent a stern letter to the chain's head office detailing this, and several over deficiency in the facility on that day.

    Sadly, its seems that movie screening showmanship is indeed a lost art.
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