With today's state of the art technology, in sound mixing techniques on dubbing stages and in cinema auditorium design, there can be some very poor ones that are crying out for someone that cares about this profession...
...and to make some major alterations and keeping it up and running to the highest standards that impose upon it, and maintenance of the sound system if anything where to go wrong with it to fix the problem over night before the next performance starts, takes someone very special with good qualities of excellence to keep the cinema sound system at its up most best time and time again, with nothing more or nothing less, anything less would be totally unacceptable.
Upon attending the last episode of the "Star Wars" trilogy episode 3 revenge of the sith, at Bournemouth's ABC cinema Westover road screen 1, I had a bad feeling that the presentation was going to be, well to put it plainly! Just awful, I looking at the SPL meter and listening to poor frequency range from the screen channels left center and right which are JBL 4675-A THX approved these are good performance loudspeakers that have been placed in the cinema with poor design in mind, for todays and tomorrows motion picture soundtracks in mind.
And the excuse from the projectionist is that it's the film mix, I'm a former projectionist, and as one other projectionist said to me I know what to look for and listen for, and after sitting in the cinema for the best part of 2 ½ hours, I was thinking I can design a cinema sound system that will bring the customers in, I'm taking about the die hard ones that like a good motion picture soundtrack playback, not something that sounds like "Al Jolson, vitaphone.
As for the surrounds speakers there the JBL 8330 THX approved and if you saw where the cowboy or the joker placed the side surround 4 on each side in what is called free-space and that only adds poor sound reinforcement, as for the back they are fitted to the back wall, I find it hard to explain about the side surrounds, there is this dividing wall that's slops downwards from the back of the cinema to the front, but keeping a distance away from the screen about 15 to 20 feet, the wall itself is about 10 to 8 feet from the actual side wall, for which the surround loudspeakers should have been placed against the dividing wall and not on top of it, when you look at it the JBL 8330 look like someone's hung the wallpaper upside down!
As for the playback performance from the JBL 8330, there was a electrical buzzing frequency coming from them, oh my god! And the sound was so low in SPL levels.
The sub bass where as it gone too, I know as far back to 1996 when they installed the Dolby DA 10 THX approved digital surround processor, with there Dolby CP-200 THX approved, I noticed a loud popping sound coming from the sub bass or the LFE track, the film was "Event horizon" now the popping sound could be the amplifier going into square wave not good, overloading the sub bass thinking one is plenty for a large cinema which seats around 550, wrong, dead wrong there should be at least 8 sub bass loudspeakers designed into it, with it own amplifier driving it, god knows I won't let them borrow my JBL 4645, like they busted there's which is a JBL 4645 THX approved, and these are dame good performers in there own right.
I have been running my JBL 4645 for 7 years now and not a day's trouble with it
And with SPL up to 116dbc in room by 14ft length 10ft wide and 9ft high any where in the room I can surprise you!
And even some of my friends home cinemas need some tuning, and they don't know how to go about it, one friend ask me if I could do it, but when it's a Yamaha YST SW120 or 150, I think there's not a whole lot that can be done it's not good enough for motion picture soundtracks, as for pop music most drum and bass is around 60 to 80Hz range, and that's that score music is a totally different ball game, with bass extending down to 20Hz or lower, and I happen to like "Madonna" but the truth is classical and film score music rules, classical as been around for hundreds of years, and is still the best and timeless like the universe itself.
Anyway, the issue hear is home cinema vs. the cinema thank, god I was a projectionist, I can make any change to my home cinemas sound system at will.
And make it sound dame good, in fact even as I'm typing this out the I'm thinking about lots of ideas I like to share.
As for the clown who set-up the sound in the ABC should be named and shamed of his profession, you stink big time and suck sorry mate I do hope you find this page time to consider a career change, you are a dinosaur of Vitaphone proportions...
Look out there's a new kid on the block who cares a whole more about the standards, more than ant thing else.
Ashley former UCI and Warner village cinema projectionist.
My point is I'm gutted sitting in a cinema with poor sound, and some home cinemas too as well, and I don't think I'll be watching another DVD film around one of my friends home cinema, which sounds like a lemon of all lemons, the loudspeakers are just placed all random positions, and the setting arrangement is a joke the surrounds left and right are so poor sounding, and to top it he haven't got THX.
Unlike myself and my other friend, who have THX and it makes the films soundtrack shine. I help setting it up, along with centre back surround as well, he likes it and though I wanted to do a lot more to it as there where some low frequencies that need to be aligned but it's not working out with a poor sub bass like the Yamaha YST SW-120 150!
And so he's looking around on the Ebay for a 12in but one is not going to be enough, I made it clear to him but like so many that like to believe in that.
Two 18in JBL cinema THX approved sub bass units will land bass on you chest with pounding effects or shake the room to the point of bringing the house down...