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Dis^ital Sound Breaks the Film Barrier ON By John F. Allen September 18th. 1989, Richard D. Wood, president of Optical Radiation Corporation (ORG), made the long awaited announcement that composite motion picture release prints with a full digital stereo soundtrack were now a possibility. ORG worked closely with the Eastman Kodak Gompany to develop the technology required for encoding, photographing, printing, reading and decoding digital sound on conventional movie film. The system will be trade named Ginema Digital Sound. This is truly a major breakthrough! To fully appreciate this accomplishment, try to imagine cramming 10 times more information than ever before into the same space cuirently available in the soundtrack area. Digital vs. Analog Digital recording is fundamentally different from that of analog systems. We are all familiar with the "wiggles" of an optical soundtrack. If the sound is loud, the wiggles are wide. If the sound has a high pitch, the wiggles are short and fast. The wiggles represent an analog of the sound; an analogous form of the pressure waves in the air which we hear as sound. The analog recording systems we are most familiar with are: magnetic tape, phonograph records, and optical movie soundtracks. Each of these storage inediums has its own limitations due to noise and distortion. All require some form of passive or active noise reduction for best playback results. Tape can certainly do a fine job of recording the highest frequencies we can hear, but it can be noisy. A phenomenon called "print through" can also be a problem. This occurs when the tape is stored on a reel: one layer of tape faintly "prints" its magnetic recording onto an adjacent layer. In other words, we may get to hear something echoed two or three times when we play it back. Though phonograph records lack a wide dynamic range, they can still sound quite good. But surface noise, scratches and pops are a constant annoyance. Optical motion picture soundtracks do not have either the dynamic range or frequency range to be truly called High Fidelity. In addition, a matrixing technique must be employed to achieve more than a two channel presentation. Without sophisticated noise reduction methods, optical variable area soundtracks are virtually unacceptable by today's digital standards. In digital recording systems, the audio signal itself is never recorded onto a playback mediutn. The sound is first converted into binary digits: ones and zeros. It is these numbers that are recorded. We never hear the background noise, clicks and pops of the recording's storage medium because we never listen to it. The numbers are "simply" retrieved from the recording and converted back into the audio signal. (See BoxoFFiCE, January, 1986: Digital Stereo, How It Works:) The noise level of a digital recording so low that we can actually hear the is PIKE PRODUCTIONS Top quality at affordable pricesdelivered on time! If we could get everyone to go to one more movie this year... ...What would that do The Frequent Movie-Goer Program Everything you need to make your campaign a success: •One Sheets • Coupons •Standees • 35mm Trailer •Advertising Slicks And the complete package can be customized to meet your needs. FOR PRICES AND COMPLETE DETAILS contact Connie Pike or Laura Walpole at PIKE PRODUCTIONS OF BOSTON 97 Lake Avenue, P.O. Box 309 Newton, Massachusetts 02159 Phone (617) 332-5560 Fax (617) 332-3997 28 BOXOKKK K
noise of the microphone preamphfiers and mixer used in recording. With digi- In 1984, as part of the introduction of my HPS-4000 installation at the Plitt Century Plaza Theatre in Los Angeles, 1 enlisted the assistance of Glen Glenn Sound, along with Giorgio Moroder's Oasis Recording Studios, and presented the world premiere of digital stereo in a commercial motion picture theatre. The presentation was so successful that it became all but mandatory that we follow it with a full length digital stereo feature presentation. As if it were fulfilling its own destiny, "Fantasia" opened in digital stereo and HPS-4000"' sound at the Century Plaza Theatre on February 8, 1985. This was the first ever pub- tal recordings, wow an flutter are absent lic demonstration of a digital stereo film. This is due to the precise timing The response was enormous. "Fantasia" with which the digits are converted went on to two more digital pesentations back into an analog signal. in Washington, D.C., and New York City. (See Boxoffice, July, 1985: Digital Sound on Film Presenting Digital Stereo.) For the next year or so, digital was one of the most talked about topics in Digital sound in motion picture studios actually began about 10 years ago, when Walt Disney Studios began using digital recorders to record the sound for their theme park films. In 1982, "Fantasia" was rerecorded using these early, the industry. Interest seemed to fade, however, as people realized how difficult it would be to marry a digital soundtrack to a composite release print. For their special venue presentations, and often temperamental, machines. Disney and Showscan began using digital This marked the first time a feature discs synchronized to their films. film was digitally recorded, mixed and dubbed. Film historians will recall that, In 1940, "Fantasia" was also the first Until now, these double system presentations remain the only ones regularly used in digital stereo. The three digital "Fantasia" engagements were also presented film ever recorded and presented in wdth a double system. We used stereo. VHS video cassettes with the digital sound recorded in the Sony PCM-Fl video format, instead of compact discs. The reason digital presentations in standard movie theatres stopped after 1985 was due to the lack of an inexpensive way in which to place digital sound on the film. Wide acceptance of digital stereo for films requires a single system approach. It should also be mentioned that the film studios have resisted investing the millions of dollars required to convert and replace their sprocketed analog recorders. Toward A Solution Two approaches to "single" digital sound on film systems have been seriously explored. The first was an ingenious approach called Fluorescent Sound, developed by Peter Custer of Pennsylvania. This system used a print with a normal analog optical soundtrack. The digital information, however, was printed over the picture area. Detection in the projector was accomplished by focusing an ultra violet light on the film and reading the "dots" on the film, which represent the digital ones and zeros. This system featured two redundant sets of eight full-frequency channels of sound. In other words, the sound was placed on the film twice. If the pickup missed the encoded sound in one place, it could read it at another location on the film. The drawback to the Fluorescent Sound system was the increased print cost. Distributors resisted any digital approach that increased either printing complexity or costs. They wanted a system that would put the digital soundtrack on the film at normal printing speeds using conventional printers. Some people within the industry felt this would prove to be an impossibility, believing that the dots representing the digital code would have to be too small to be resolved at a film velocity of only 18 inches per second. Others questioned HIGH DEFINITION THEATRE MUSIC distribution amplifier will distribute up to 26 isolated stereo signals to the entire complex from a single high quality CD player or tape deck. Movie pre-show and intermission music never sounded better. One of the reasons for this change was the introduction of the SIVIART music distribution sic be as good asthe stereo sound- Why should your intermission mu- systems a few years ago. That changed the way music in theatres was presented to audiences. Instead of a music player per booth, the DA226 track? Because you are a showman! .# An optional 1 watt power amplifier module is now avail able that plugs directly into a vacant slot of the DA226 to directly power your lobby speakers. Available with 70 volt line or 4 ohm output. THEATRE SYSTEMS 3856 Green Industrial Way Atlanta, Georgia 30341 1-(800) 45-SMART . December, 1989 29
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Page 12 and 13: COVER STORY " Sex; Politics and the
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Page 20 and 21: GIANTS OF EXHIBITION: THE SEQUEL
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Page 24 and 25: FEATURE " The Buck Stops Here Can a
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Page 42 and 43: VALMONT Reviews Sfonijig Colin Firt
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