Fantasound Developed by Disney for “Fantasia” (1940) Pan pot, click track, multitrack recording & overdubbing L-C-R speakers across the front Manually switched or panned surround speakers Forerunner of modern theatrical sound for movies

Quad Early surround format for music (1970's) Consisted of 4 speakers (theoretically located in each corner of the playback room) Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) Format wars, difficulty with finding suitable delivery media, and poor speaker placement contributed to its demise.

Theatrical Surround Dolby True Stereo (1977: Star Wars) - 4 channels: LCR + mono surround Dolby Digital Surround (1990's) - 5.1 standard introduced - AC3 codec Others: 6.1, 7.1 source: http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=337317

Virtual Reality & 360 Camera Can consist of “Audio Object” and sound field information Generally delivered in Ambisonic B-format - W,X,Y,Z files – order depends on encoder used - more on this next week... HRTF - Head-Related Transfer Function = a model of the “EQ Curve” generated by your head & ears based on the direction of the sound source - this HRTF is convolved onto the ambisonic files

Monitor Setups ITU/SMPTE

NARAS

NARAS

Monitor Setups (continued) Should be 5 full-range speakers matching make and model Surrounds and center speaker can be 1 size down of same model provided spec's are similar enough Between 6.5 and 7.5 feet from mix position At ear height Placement of surrounds can be anywhere from 90 degrees (Wendy Carlos) to 150 degrees (NARAS) Depends on what your end goal is NARAS: 135 – 150 degrees SMPTE: 107 – 120 degrees (110 common)

Calibration Don't take this for granted Most powered speakers have adjustments for input level and speaker response - make sure settings are correct Pink noise and SPL meter Ref level: 0 VU = 85 dB C-weighted/slow Crossover setting “no higher than 120 Hz” - NARAS Bass managed system = 80 Hz Procedure outlined pp. 36–38 “Surround Recommendations” NARAS P&E Wing

What to do with subwoofer? Bass Management vs. LFE LFE = Low Frequency Effect It is the “.1” band-limited channel Gets a 10 dB in-channel boost on playback LFE should NOT be used to handle bass content sent to main speakers Bass Management “refers to the redirection of low frequencies from the main channels to the subwoofer, so that it reproduces all the low frequencies in a surround mix... including the 1" LFE channel” - NARAS Crossover network Usually done “internally” on home theatre systems

What to do with center? Two “centers” in a 5 speaker system Center speaker Phantom center between L & R Be careful of using both Use of “Divergence” panning Some systems don't HAVE a center speaker Two much overlap can sound bad Comb filtering Center speaker is always anchored Phantom centers tend to be unstable with movement

What to do with surrounds? Envelopment vs. Localization Humans don't localize all that accurately to the sides and rear Phantom imaging works best in the front Can work between rear speakers Not so much between front and rear pairs Envelopment Ambience to surrounds “Decorrelated” effects Use of delays and reverbs Localization Get creative Just remember some home theatre systems don't use full-range speakers to the rear