AES
Forms DC Sound Committee
December 12, 2011
Source: AES
The AES has formed a provisional committee,
spearheaded by Brian McCarty, managing director of Coral Sea Studios in Australia,
to review audio reproduction for digital cinema and television.
"Our
mission is to identify a consistent approach to controlling perceived loudness
and frequency response from installation to installation, and from position to
position within digital cinema installations worldwide," McCarty said. "And
for this to be adopted as the formal reference for all contemporary dubbing stage
recording and mixing activities, and ultimately as the unified method for film
reproduction at home."
Originally addressed
at AES Technical Committee meetings in London in 2010, the initiative was inspired
by the AES historical involvement in film sound. The lack of electroacoustical
response reference data for digital cinema systems was underscored by Dr. Floyd
Toole's statement: "It seems that no real science has been done in terms
of digital cinema sound." Dr. Toole, vice chair of the new Audio Engineering
Society Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema & Television, or AESTC-SDCTV,
is developing a half-day seminar on these issues to be held in L.A. in March 2012
that will serve as the first meeting of the committee.
McCarty
underscores the point that global acousticians, engineers and systems installers
have expressed the need for a working standard. "In simple terms, what is
recorded digitally in the studio does NOT sound the same at the theatrical end,"
McCarty says.
"As an art form, our goal should be consistency of
sound quality. Acoustical design of theaters is typically incorrect for sound
reproduction in large rooms. Current soundtrack EQ reproduction curves are inconsistent
with large-room audio practice and with the rest of the audio industry. And, loudspeaker
technology typically used in theaters has yet to be optimized for proper playback
of wide bandwidth soundtracks."
"Basically,"
McCarty concludes, "the current digital cinema audio system is simply not
the best we can do. The AES is committed to improving this situation."
The AESTC-SDCTV is planning a meeting in Los Angeles in
early 2012. To participate in this event or to join the AESTC-SDCTV Committee
contact Brian McCarty (http://www.aes.org/technical/aft/).
Submit a Company
Submit News
Submit a Job
Submit an Event
| 
