BoxOffice® Pro - June 2014

SPECIAL REPORT > AUDIO
can even in one channel start to move things
because of the information that our brain is
picking up as delays between the two, but if
that field is too far apart, then that doesn’t work
anymore.” He continues, “Diffused field around
[the audience] and using these three layers, that
makes the big difference.”
Upon completion of the work of TC-
25CSS-10 and upon understanding the nature
of how Barco will offer the necessary upgrades
to the existing Auro 11.1 screens to cope with
object-based DCPs, it is still unclear how
effective the current Auro 11.1 layouts found
in theaters today will be at accurately rendering
objects. Similarly, if Van Baelen is correct, Dolby
Atmos’s lack of two vertical height layers ought
to reduce the accuracy of interaction between
Auro’s important ear-height and first-height
fields. Although to be fair, it has been seen that it
has not always been possible in some (especially
in stadium-seat) auditoriums for Auro to install
both layers to the fullest extent due to height
restrictions.
It has always been the case that the ultimate
in sound quality is achievable when the
creative team are mixing sound in a reference
electro-acoustic environment pertaining to that
same release format and that all the cinemas with
that format aim for their environments to tend
toward that same reference as closely as possible.
That way, the nuances of the format are worked
with and the audiences have an experience that
is as close as possible to the original artistic
intent. An Auro mix is best replayed in an
Auro environment, and an Atmos mix is best
replayed in an Atmos environment. Creating
a range of deliverables that are subsets of the
original mix is a norm in the industry—even if
they all end up on the same DCP. DTS’s aim
with MDA is as Kalker puts it, “The format
should be interoperable as 3D was for anybody.”
However, this analogy has some challenges; 3D
is very simple compared to the complexities of
immersive audio. 3D is effectively the delivery of
two channels to a market that offers competitive
ways to present those two channels to each
eye with minimal bleed between the eyes and
with minimal distortions—perhaps very much
like offering stereo sound to a competitive
headphone market. What MDA is aiming to
achieve is perhaps more akin to ensuring that a
video-rich web page is rendered exactly the same
on all users’ systems regardless of the size, shape,
and pixel resolution (including dead areas) of
the monitor, regardless of browser and operating
system used, and regardless of the Internet-connection
bandwidth.
CONCLUSION
Exhibitors are understandably looking for
ways to differentiate and compete both within
the cinema industry and also with non-cinema
forms of entertainment.
Immersive audio for cinema has received
a comparatively quick uptake not only from
exhibition but also from major filmmakers and
studios. It’s an exciting development that the
industry needs. If history has taught us anything,
it’s surely only a matter of time that non-cinema
versions will become available. At least Auro is
currently moving in this direction, with more
than 150 music albums natively recorded in
Auro 9.1 and tangible interest from the games
and automotive industries.
Any such uptake of immersive audio outside
of cinema is not necessarily a negative for cinema
because it is in the home and mobile spaces
where brands quickly become known and associated
with quality. A publically recognized brand
of superior sound is yet another reason for exhibitors
to select one format over another in order
to sell that experience to their own public. The
best cinemas will always offer a better experience
than anything available outside the cinema, and
movie fans will demand the best from their local
screens—especially if they have the best they can
achieve at home.
The cinema audio environment is a challenging
environment, and it is very easy to make bad
sound for otherwise good cinemas or to experience
bad sound from otherwise good content.
Control between content creation and exhibition
has been necessary to optimize the resulting
experience. Proprietary formats have offered this
commercially viable control of the complete
system by wrapping technology with standards,
recommendations, and end-to-end quality-assurance
services. This is not so readily possible with
open standards as is starting to be witnessed in
some D-Cinema-only territories.
Of the current immersive audio offerings,
each offers its solution from a different approach.
One focuses on the use of physical vertical
height arrays and the interaction between the
different layers to create immersion. The other
focuses on providing uniformly placed matching
loudspeakers over an upper hemisphere of
locations to be able to accurately and smoothly
render objects as well as arrays of channels. Importantly,
both are pledging support in principle
of the work of SMPTE TC-25CSS-10 as that
progresses; both are backward compatible to the
standard 5.1 track; both in principle can coexist
on the same DCP; and both are supported by
content creators at this time.
All this is very positive evidence that the risk
is lessened of an exhibitor picking the wrong
format now to only find its content drying up
in the future. There are indeed many reasons for
cinemas to embrace immersive audio now in
order to maximize their competitive position not
only against their fellow exhibitors in the cinema
space but also from the level of immersion that
may be possible outside of the cinema in the
near future from at least one of the vendors.
If you agree that the answer to the question
raised by the provocative title of this article is
“yes”, then the industry must be very careful in
ensuring healthy competition and choice are
kept available in the market but not necessarily
through the over-application of standardization
in a way where the differences between those
choices are diluted down and merged to the
lowest common denominator or that forces
mass upgrades to existing systems. SMPTE
TC-25CSS (and internationally ISO TC-36)
has a lot of work ahead of it in order for this
balance to be achieved. Both immersive audio
offerings have their merits in their full form,
and their coexistence brings necessary choice,
control, and added value to the industry at
this important time.
I would like to thank Auro Technologies, Barco,
Dolby, and DTS for their lengthy interviews by
way of contribution to this article, which has aimed
to be fair, objective, and neutral at all times.
JULIAN PINN
Managing Director, Julian Pinn Ltd
Julian Pinn has 20 years of experience
in the global motion picture industry as
an audio and 2D & 3D imaging specialist,
consulting on hundreds of international
movies over their techno-artistic optimization
of the medium. He is also a highly
experienced senior business development
and sales and marketing executive operating
globally, often in complex trading
blocs such as China. Among his work on a
broad spectrum of committees, Julian is a
member of the SMPTE, the current chair of
ISO standards committee for cinematography
(TC36), and is a full voting member of
the British Academy of Film and Television
Arts. He holds an honors degree in music
and sound recording from the University
of Surrey’s Tonmeister program and a master’s
in business administration specializing
in marketing and finance from the Open
University. Julian is the owner and managing
director of Julian Pinn Ltd, which
provides technical and strategic consultancy
services to a wide range of international
cinema and media clients.
32 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies JUNE 2014