Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Soundtrack on Woody Allen films

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 10-08-2003, 10:27 PM:

Continuing a discussion from this thread so as not to get off topic.

First of all, why are all Woody Allen films in mono? This is something I did not know until tonight.

quote:
put the same mono track on both the left and right channels and you've got yourself a mono centre channel mix.

Just because you're encoding the track with SR matrixing and noise reduction doesn't mean you have to use all of the (matrixed) channels.

So then technically isn't it SR? You're saying that it's using the SR noise reduction technology and matrixing, just without using all the channels, right? So basically it would be the same for the digital tracks? The film does have a digital track (or tracks) but only the left and right channels are used, correct?

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-08-2003, 10:44 PM:

No. It is SR encoded no matter how many channels are used. SR (Spectral Recording, not Surround) is the noise reduction. It has nothing to do with the number of channels.
On a Dolby Stereo matrix encoded print putting the same signal on Lt and Rt results in (more or less) center channel only.
On a digital track, this will be exclusively center channel. If this is what the director wants...

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-08-2003, 10:49 PM:

Yes it's SR and that's the analog format that should be selected relying on the matrix to keep things in the center channel. Some older processors had the capability to select Dolby Mono but you would not want to select Mono on a newer CP as that turns the NR off and puts a rather severe Academy filter into the chain, as well as telling the matrix to sum Lt and Rt into C. The latter is good but the first two will severely degrade the sound so better to select SR to get the proper NR and no filter and let the matrix do its thing which will be to steer the sound into C anyway. If there is a concern over spill into unintended channels you can turn off the amps for all channels but C. After the trailers of course.

The digital format will have the audio entirely on C, not L and R.

As to why you'd have to ask Woody Allen. I presume he just isn't interested in fancier sound just as he doesn't waste much time on fancy titles (they are always white on black). However, being a musician himself the former is a little surprising in this day and age.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 10-08-2003, 11:03 PM:

quote:
So then technically isn't it SR? You're saying that it's using the SR noise reduction technology and matrixing, just without using all the channels, right?

Someone correct me if I don't have this right... but I don't think "SR" has anything to do with the matrixing at all... just the noise reduction.

The matrix card in a non-SR CP-?? doesn't get changed if you upgrade the box with new noise reduction cards....

.... right??

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 10-08-2003, 11:08 PM:

Yeah, that's my dyslexia for ya... I meant SR noise reduction and a matrix encoded track.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-08-2003, 11:29 PM:

quote:
Someone correct me if I don't have this right... but I don't think "SR" has anything to do with the matrixing at all... just the noise reduction.

quote:
SR (Spectral Recording, not Surround) is the noise reduction. It has nothing to do with the number of channels.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-09-2003, 02:13 AM:

quote:
As to why you'd have to ask Woody Allen.

He did touch on this in a Sunday paper article/interview a few years back (wish I'd kept it). He had a bad experience in the '70s when engineers preparing a stereo mix of one of his films balanced the various channels in ways he didn't like, and the changes he wanted were overruled by the producer on cost grounds. He believes that using mono sound only ensures that what you hear is determined more by the actors and musicians and less by technicians. Wherever possible he tries to use a single, omnidirectional mike on the set rather than multiple inputs which are then mixed down.

It's a similar principle, I guess, to Hitchcock's technique of planning his films in advance down to the last shot, i.e. pretty much editing the film on paper before going near a set. Once production was underway he'd shoot only the shots in the script, so that editors and producers could not make substantial changes in post-production even if they wanted to.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-09-2003, 09:44 AM:

Link to Dolby technical papers and presentations, including details of Dolby noise reduction technologies:

http://www.dolby.com/tech/

Evolution of Dolby sound technology:

http://www.dolby.com/tech/mp.br.0102.EvolutionOfSound.html