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Topic: Connecticut looks to regulate sound levels at movie theaters

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-05-2014 10:41 PM

We rarely get "too loud" complaints. I don't know if it's because our system sounds good or if our crowds just know what to expect. But quite often we'll hear comments as people exit, saying "Wow, that movie was LOUD!" But they're saying it with a smile on their face.

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 03-05-2014 11:19 PM

quote:
As for Obamasound, the Affordable Audio Act does have sort of a ring to it!

That is pretty funny!

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-06-2014 07:43 AM

See now...I've done many a premiere and a few world premieres where we have the studio, the sound designer, director...etc on site. The room gets tuned to what THEY think sounds best. And let me tell you...it is too Effin loud! Sometimes, I've had to exit the room from the pain. It was not equipment dependent...I've had it happen on most any brand.

This does not discount the fact that loud distorted sound is very painful...heck, even lower volume distorted sound is painful.

Distortion or not though...there is are well documented thresholds of pain and cinemas can certainly hit them. The realities are, from a legislation, the exposure vs. time in a movie just isn't going to do any damage unless you are watching the movie all day.

As for Dolby and Afterburner...etc. They already have their LEQm meter which does put a number on how loud a movie is (it keeps track of the volume over time). Pretty cleaver actually. You can really get a sense of how loud a movie/trailer is in any room.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-06-2014 09:15 AM

Just get a load of this guy's testimony supporting the act. The Avon Theatre he cites is an arthouse that would probably rarely play films with a dynamic range of sound (explosions, etc).

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2014/PSdata/Tmy/2014SB-00287-R000304-William%20Young-TMY.PDF

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 03-06-2014 10:05 AM

quote: Bobby Henderson
I'll read stories about some special screening room built by Dolby or whoever. The room has walls with multiple sound deadening layers, it's built on some noise dampening rubber platform that's floating on a layer of extra virgin cold pressed olive oil or some craziness like that.

As a senior in college I interviewed with Dolby and was shown their screening room. It was eerily quiet. With a movie playing I'm sure it is fantastic (didn't get to experience) but just standing there was unnatural and made me feel weird. It's the only time I've experienced true silence in my life.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-06-2014 11:10 AM

Love the testimony and the implication that a volume control knob is a new fangled piece of digital hardware.
What he's really saying is the arthouse checks its sound and adjusts it and the commercial theatre doesn't really care after the patrons have emptied their pockets at the concession stand [evil]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-06-2014 11:42 AM

quote: Lyle Romer
As a senior in college I interviewed with Dolby and was shown their screening room. It was eerily quiet.

We got to see the Dolby screening room a couple of years ago. You're right about the quietness. They did a demo where they turned off the air conditioning...it didn't seem possible but it got even quieter!

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 03-06-2014 02:46 PM

That William R. Young guy is ignorant of how this works. He is trying to do research from the internet to make a case as well. I would expect more from a PhD.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-06-2014 04:04 PM

I would certainly expect more than copying and pasting from Wikipedia. Wikipedia pages can range from authoritative to garbage, and you need to have a certain amount of subject knowledge yourself to judge them.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-06-2014 05:12 PM

quote:
We got to see the Dolby screening room a couple of years ago. You're right about the quietness. They did a demo where they turned off the air conditioning...it didn't seem possible but it got even quieter!

I don't recall the actual location, but there's this room at some university that legitimately has a -7 or so dB. The room is apparently so absolutely quiet that sitting there you normally hear your own heartbeat and movement of your lungs and such.

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Jarod Reddig
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 513
From: Hays, Ks
Registered: Jun 2011

posted 03-09-2014 06:28 PM

Such crap.

As said the people doing this have no understanding of movie sound and are just plain ignorant. What a joke.

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