Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter sound mix

This is topic Resident Evil: The Final Chapter sound mix in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 02-03-2017, 07:10 PM:

Anyone else playing this have a issue with it being mixed really "hot". Had to bang the fader right down to 4.5 to get it down to a resonable volume.

Edit: ok just noticed somone even started a thread on imdb about it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2592614/board/nest/265650415?ref_=tt_bd_6

Posted by Marlon Martins (Member # 8823) on 02-03-2017, 07:22 PM:

a while ago I installed audio compressors in the front/center/LFE channels to fix this problem (a lot of movies had just too much dynamic range). movies like "Interstellar" and "In the Heart of the Sea" were horrible to watch. Interstellar had some dialog too low to hear, so we raise the volume up to be able to listen, but then in the "intense" scenes, my ear was bleeding. in "In the Heart of the Sea" there was a scene where it bang a nail with a hammer and I was actually blinking from the loud bang. so, I had to do something [Wink]

so, in the center, I use the compressor to raise low volumes and limit to a safe level. LFE and front channels I only use the limiter function, to it won't go past a certain level, so movies with a "bang" have now a "limited bang" [Wink]

I hate to "disrupt" originality, but my ears safety are more important.

I would also like to know how "you guys" deal with it. just let it be, or not a problem in your systems?

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 02-03-2017, 09:32 PM:

I haven't run the movie in question, but I've been screening a
lot of Netflix produced documentaries for Press & Academy
screenings, and I've noticed that on almost all of them I've
run, the level has been quite higher than normal.

In one of the smaller screening rooms I work at, the regular
house volume setting on the CP650 is 5.5 or sometimes 6.
The last Netflix pix I ran there I played at 3 or 3.5 which
was more than loud enough.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 02-04-2017, 12:42 PM:

quote: Marlon Martins
a while ago I installed audio compressors in the front/center/LFE channels to fix this problem

I know where this is coming from but I cannot agree with compressors/limiters on a cinema sound system.
Also I must say that every time someone tells me that 5.0 is 'already very loud" and that a higher setting would be very uncomfortable, we then sit together in the auditorium with the fader set to 6.5 and what I usually hear is "well, it's not loud as I thought".

Poor mixes are there. But you shouldn't have a fixed compressor/limiter on your system

Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 02-04-2017, 12:49 PM:

I had the same problem screening this new Resident Evil movie a couple of weeks ago. I definitely would have blown some speakers (let alone everyone's eardrums) had I run it at 85db. I had our 650 set to 4.8 I think. It was a wicked loud mix.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-04-2017, 05:17 PM:

I usually install limiters on most systems In the past we used the Smart Afterburner

Posted by Connor Wilson (Member # 6088) on 02-04-2017, 06:51 PM:

From my experience, the better the speakers, environment and tuning, the smoother the dynamic range is. The classic example of low dialogue/loud action usually suffers the most on consumer products. On properly-tuned professional/commercial equipment, this transition is rendered with little-to-no ear strain. When I lived in Virginia, I had a home theater cobbled together with thrift store finds, hand-me-downs, eBay purchases, and stuff we already had. I was able to play movies without any dynamic range compression like a charm, but I was never able to blast it without moderately rumbling the whole house.

In the case of RE:tFC, it sounds like there is very little dynamic range to the mix. If the fader had to be put down to 4.5 for a reasonable level, then it sounds like there barely is enough headroom for the mix to breathe. When it comes to Resident Evil movies, I've only seen Apocalypse (which is supposedly the worst one) and that film had horrendous sound design, editing and mixing. The Resident Evil movies do have an active and healthy fan base, who understand that video games and movies are two wildly different art forms (which is why Apocalypse was so bad because it was too close to the games) and argue that Paul W.S. Anderson is an auetur who specializes in precise schlock. They'd probably defend such a "hot" mix as well, because it falls in line with the series' video game-esque aesthetics, which is malarkey considering the sound design and audio options of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. But that may be an unfair point to make since that game can be described as an interactive movie, as opposed to the Resident Evil movies being linear feature-length cutscenes.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 02-07-2017, 01:23 PM:

From the consumer point of view: if I can tell you're using limiters in your audio system, I'll do my best to never visit your cinema again. If I can't tell but the sound comes off lackluster, I'll avoid the venue.

Just so you know.

Posted by Jason Metcalfe (Member # 5739) on 02-07-2017, 03:00 PM:

We took measurements Friday morning and ended up running this feature about 7dB below reference at all of the theaters