Summer 2001 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

In Mttrch oJ this year, the Ar:udemy qf'Arts uncl
Motion Picture Sciences (AMPAS) presentetl dn
uward to loan AIIen ancl Rabin Bran.shLrrv of Dotbv
Labs, and Mark Han'alt of Walt Disnett Co ior thehwork
as creatrlrs conr:ept, de,rign antl
i mp Ie rne ntat itt n - t{' t he T rai le r Au.dio S I urulu' d s
As s o c ittt i u n'.t ( 71{,5A J T r ui le r Lo ud nt: s s S t a ntlar tl.
With tlttc respect tfi the ttutu.rd a.nd. uchitv,ernenl.t
of tfu cLbove rt:tipients, AI,IPS editrtrs woultJ like to
tb'aw nzenther's attentittn tr: tl't.r: u,r-trk dt.tnt: itt
Brituitt hy the ll'lntiorz Pir:ture Luutlne.r.t (nmrnittee
(MPLC)on llw sturtt stth.ied, &ntl the Commhree's
achievement in having it's finrlings incctrporated
into a British Standrtrd,
The following is a report byt Graham Hurtstone,
Chairmanofthe MPLC.
MOTION PICTURE
LOUDNESS COMMITTtrtr
F-ollowing adverse press articles about the
excessive sound levels in cinemas, the MPLC
(Motion Picture Loudness Committee) was formed
under the chairmanship of Graham Hartstone in
November i998.
The committee consisted initially of
representatives from Dolby Laboratories, DTS and
Sony Cinema Products Corporation. Other
committee members were drawn frorn the maior
di stri buti on companies, cinema exhibi tors ( C"EA i,
cinema advertisers (CAA), cinema installers, the
British Standards Institute, (BSi), various
rerecording mixers from the AMPS membership,
and the all-important optical transfer supervisors.
Our aim, under the combined wing of AMPS and
BKSTS, was to establish some contiol over
excessive soundtrack levels as a form of industrv
self-regulation, before it became a serious health
and safety problem.
From the early meetings it became clear that other
organisations were pursuing the same goal. TASA
(Trailer Audio Standards Association) in the USA,
CAA (Cinema Advertisers Association) in the UK,
and more globally SAWA (Screen Advertisers
World Association) were all proposing to use a
Dolby model737 LEQ(m) to rnonitor levels. This
rneter measures average peak levels over the
timescale of the programme, in other words, the
annoyance factor. It does not prohibit loud sounds
from being used in a mix, but they must be
compensated by periods of lower modulation in
order to register an acceptable average level.
These LEQ(m) limitations are now widely
accepted in many countries, most of the mixing
facilities have the LEQ(m) meter to moniror levels,
and a further check is made at the optical transfer
facilities. Currently the maximum levels of 86 dB
LEQ(m) forqailers and 82 dB LEQ(m) are adhered
to. Further reductions are being sought,
MPLC successfully incorporated these levels into
a British Standard (BS -5,5-50-7.4.2:2000) and an
ISO equivalent is being drafted.
The human ear has a bLrilt-in protection de vice.
When- subjected to continuous high levels it begins
to self-attenLrate, especially the high frequencies.
Fortunately it slowly retrrrrrs to nornral drrrirrg a
followirrg quieter periocl, although too much
continuous high level exposure may cause
pcrrnailent hearing damage. This phenomenon is
well known to rcrecorcling mixers. Irr future, the
'overtures' to feature lilm presentations (trailers arrd
commercials) carr be played at the starrdarclfader
setting without causing offence. This means that
feature mixers will not have to compensate during
the mix for the virtual certaintv thatlheir tracks will
be turned down in the cinema. Let us make full but
not excessive use of the more than adequate
avai lable dynamic range.
As chairman of the Mpt-C, I woulcl like to thank
all the members of the committee for their time and
contributions so far in achievins the British
Standard, with special thanks t6 John Croft FBKS,
for being an excellent secretary to the committee.
GRAHAM V HARTSTONE IJ-\\4PS FI]KS
Head Of Post Production. Pinewood Studios
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OMISSIONS & CORRECTIONS
THE EDITORS APOLOGISE
'"-"'*'1
Unfortunately the following names in the
End Credits 2000 columns, printed in the last
Newsletter, were spelt incorrectly : Ann
Boorman, Carmen Dillon, and Hedy Lamarr.
Sadly, the names of Marc Davis and
Bernard Wicki, who both died in January
2000, were missed from the listings.
Marc Davis was the great animator who,
working for Disney, created many cartoon
characters including Bambi, Thumper,
Tinkerbell, and the evil Cruella de Vil. He
was also responsible for devising installations
at Disney theme parks. He was 86.
Bernhard Wicki, actor/director, born in
Austria in 1919 of Hungarian-Swiss parents,
did much to restore the prestige of the
German Film Industry. In 1959 he directed
The Briclge, a story of Bavarian schoolboys
defending a small bridge against American
attack. The film won a Golden Globe and
was nominated for an Oscar. The excellent
Gernran segments in Darryl Zanuck'sThe
Longest Da_y 66yi" were directed by Wicki.
He also directed two American movies. Zhe
Vlsit (l9e) andThe Sttboteur (1965) and
acted in a number of Italian and American
films.
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