Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Anyone interested in a Sound forum

This is topic Anyone interested in a Sound forum in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 01-04-2011, 11:22 AM:

It seems that when posting questions about sound, specifically B chain, there is no clear choice for which forum it should be posted in. It would seem that a sound forum would be beneficial, it may even bring in new members.

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-04-2011, 11:29 AM:

Eric.

Good point.
Yep, I'll be interested in a Sound Forum.

If you were the moderator for this, how would you do it? Would you split into Analogue/Digital or have the one heading?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-04-2011, 11:43 AM:

You give em a thread, they'll take a forum!

Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 01-04-2011, 01:05 PM:

I know this wouldn't be a trivial undertaking for the system administrators.

If I were to moderate it though I would allow digital and analog sound content and probably name the forum Cinema Sound.

I would allow content as early in the audio path as analog output from an analog film reader. Including gain structure through the processor and amplifiers.

Additionally topics of acoustics, comb filtering, lobing, standing waves, acoustic measurement, and acoustic modeling would be interesting.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-04-2011, 01:32 PM:

We have enough forums as it is and adding more would only make the main board look more cluttered. I'm not sure what the forum would cover that Film Handler's Forum already doesn't.

By the way, it actually is pretty trivial to add another forum. Just create it, give it a number and assign it to a group and there ya go. Takes less than 20 seconds I'd say.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-04-2011, 02:11 PM:

Not really Joe. Its the same as when the digital forum was split from Film Handler's. It required us to go through and check every thread and move every digital thread to the new forum one at a time.

We'll give it some thought. No promises though.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-04-2011, 04:21 PM:

As big a fan as I am of movie sound, I don't think a separate audio forum would help things. I think it might make things a little more disorganized since there's numerous uses of audio, even movie audio.

If someone is talking about Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. as it is related to a film setup then the discussion needs to be in the Film Handler's Forum. If we're talking Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD on Blu-ray then obviously it's going to be an Afterlife Forum discussion. 24-bit LPCM audio for theaters would either go into the Straight To Video or Large Format departments.

If I was going to start a topic about audio for TV or radio broadcasting I'd probably start it in the Afterlife section. Recorded music, concerts, etc. might go into Film Yak.

That's my take on it.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-04-2011, 06:02 PM:

I'd be interested in seeing more discussion about room design, acoustical treatment, loudspeaker selection, and loudspeaker positioning. B-chain stuff, essentially.

So much of this seems to be more of an art than a science, and I find it quite fascinating, despite knowing relatively little about it.

I don't know if this demands a separate forum or not, but I find it interesting to hear what the experienced folk have to say about it.

Posted by Robert Koch (Member # 3728) on 01-04-2011, 06:19 PM:

I think a sound forum would be a waste of Brad`s time. Sound questions in "the film handlers forum" always seem to get adequate and well informed answers from Steve Guttag, Sam Chavez, Pete Naples and others, apologies to the learned ones I have unintentionally ommitted. I`ll bet some of the posts on the suggested forum would be dandies.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-04-2011, 06:27 PM:

If someone had issues with their CP45, for example (let's just pretend for a moment that a CP45 was capable of having an "issue" which it most certainly is not since it is the epitome of perfection), would the post go into the Film Handler's Forum or the Sound Forum? The person posting would want as many people to see the thread as possible in hopes of getting his CP45 working properly (if it could actually not work properly, that is).

Here is another reason NOT to add a sound forum:

His face changes color, therefore he cannot be trusted.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-04-2011, 09:22 PM:

It's kind of like a mood ring!

Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 01-04-2011, 11:00 PM:

Your just jealous Joe.

I have been entrusted by secret military agents for the very reason that my face changes color. Trust me.

There have been good responses to this topic. It is sounding like a slightly good idea, but there is no clear way to separate the sound topic from the platform being discussed. And as Joe said the visibility of the topic is important as well.

Perhaps a forum on acoustics, sound measurement methodology, auditorium design principals, and acoustical treatments.

Mood Ring [Big Grin]

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-05-2011, 06:16 AM:

There used to be a movie sound forum for years on another site but it became a fan page for a system and name that canot be mentioned here
In some ways it might be a good idea so that mechanical and audio are seperated

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-05-2011, 08:05 AM:

One argument for a separate forum might be that B-chain issues (matrix card and on in the processor, wiring, amps, speakers, room, etc.) are not specific to film or digital playback systems, and the same issues could conceivably arise in both the film and D-cinema forums (fora?). A-chain (optical, magnetic, film-based digital) posts could continue to go in the film forum. Video- and D-cinema-specific sound posts could continue to go in the [dlp]

forum. Everything else could go in the B-chain forum.

It might also be interesting if the proposed "sound" forum were extended slightly to include non-cinema sound topics, like speech systems and other live sound systems that are sometimes found in multi-use venues.

On the other hand, Brad is right that finding and moving all existing B-chain threads would be a pain, and that the real benefit would be minimal.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 01-05-2011, 10:30 AM:

I'm a fan of fewer forums, not more.

I've been to sites with dozens of sub-forums and some of them not posted in for months. There is an argument to be made for separating topics to keep things more organized but this can be taken to the extreme. To me the primary purpose of sub-forums is to keep less discussed topics from being buried by more popular ones. Seeing as how the film handlers forum never fills the first page with new threads in a single day (hell, probably not in a single week) I don't see sound issues being buried by other topics as much of a problem.

To give an example: look at the Large Format Forum. I hardly ever see new posts there. With all due respect to the fans of 70mm/etc I'm not sure what the point of a separate forum for large format discussions is, the search feature would work just as well if it was consolidated back into the Film Handlers Forum.

But eh, what do I know?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-05-2011, 11:39 AM:

The reasons for the Large format forum were primarily to separate discussions of 5/70 from the distinctly different discussions of 8/70, 10/70 and 15/70. One could argue that the 15/70 venues are running conventional films though that is not the case in all situations. The people that have only run large format would not have similar experiences to conventional theatres.

I therefore agree with keeping Large Format separate.

One COULD argue that there is no need for a "Direct to Video" forum since many theatres are now mixed and the needs of the booth are the needs of the booth....However, there is nothing wrong with keeping it separated either.

The more I think about it, I like the idea of a Sound forum as a separate entity as it is not dependent on film nor digital...it has its own issues.

I am less inclined on the greater separation that has taken place to make all of the forums now sub-groups as it takes longer to find the forum (have to scroll) as opposed to just scanning down and jumping into the forum you want. It isn't something that really bothers me...however I've noticed that it has less of a flow than it did before...for me, at least. However, I've noted that the separations between the groupings has now thinned a bit so I guess someone else noted the flow difference.

Steve

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-07-2011, 01:17 AM:

My issue with adding a forum is that the old threads never make the trip -- so the discussions are still scattered all over creation

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-07-2011, 10:07 AM:

quote: Brad Miller
Its the same as when the digital forum was split from Film Handler's. It required us to go through and check every thread and move every digital thread to the new forum one at a time.

Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 01-07-2011, 02:22 PM:

Yes, there is a very large amount of posts pertaining to audio, sound, and speakers in the film handlers forum. The task of sorting this would be absurd and painful. It could make your face change colors.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-07-2011, 08:03 PM:

quote: Brad Miller
Its the same as when the digital forum was split from Film Handler's. It required us to go through and check every thread and move every digital thread to the new forum one at a time.

I've often done searches where I found discussions on whatever topic in the different forums. Case in point was the recent discussion about movie reviews. There's a lot of overlap between the review forum and the afterlife. But, whatever -- it's not my website. And, besides, didn't there used to be a rule about creating these "i have a suggestion" threads? Or does my memory fail me?