At normal fader setting the film was painfully loud!

I was aware that we were running it a bit lower... but when I ran myself two days ago it was almost 1 1/5 steps lower on the fader than normal, we have CP45's in our non-THX screens. We were running on DTS at the time. Adverts and trailers were normal, about 5 1/4.

I switched between DTS and SR during the film and the levels were matched so its not a setup problem or a difference between the sound formats. I've recently done a full 'B' chain in this screen and no problems so its clearly the print.

I thought we'd got away from such dramatic level changes in films with the advent of Dolby becoming standard.

Any comments?

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I can't recall having the same problems when we opened it in SRD in our THX screen.....

As I said it's not the equipment as the ads etc are running fine as normal. Odd why you would have to run it higher!! I can't see how different print runs would have any real effect on playback levels.... and even then that would not explain why the DTS levels matched corectly?

Just to confirm, other prints are running fine in that screen.

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Personally, I thought it was a little on the quiet side, but I didn't go cranking the volume up.

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Looks like I'll be checking the system out in the morning... Can't see what the problem could be.... but I'll check it out anyway, got to justify the extortionate wages I'm being paid.... NOT!!

In contrast, I can still remember seeing the latest "Halloween" movie in a theatre where they must've had a special fader that went all the way up to 20. A deafening experience. I asked them to turn the volume down twice and I don't think they really did anything about it. I was truly living in fear of the next loud passage.

Back to "Signs"... I must say I really got a kick out of how the surrounds were used when the creatures were scurrying about on the wooden surfaces overhead. Even in SR it was fun to hear that.

SDDS was used and the fader was run at -2dB.

We rehersed the print earlier in the day and ran at reference level 0dB.

It did sound on the loud side in places but not ear splitting loud.

There is a lot of surround activity but this wasnt over powering.

------------------
Les Brock
Principal Engineer
SDDS Systems.
Priestley Road Basingstoke,Hants
United Kingdom, RG24 9JP

Phone +44 1256 484924

Les.Brock@sonybpe.com

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I'd suggest a full B-chain alignment to be sure that levels are set properly in the cinema processor. Be sure that your tech uses a setup disc and sets the DTS for 300mV RMS output on all channels. This should match the buss level on the cinema processor.

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thanks for that, I do my own installs now and have a full set of equipment and a full set of DTS discs provided by the good people at DTS in the UK.

I did in fact check the b-chain levels this morning and they are correct. As I mentioned before the levels are the same if switching between DTS and SR when the feature itself is running so its not an alignment fault between the DTS and the CP45.

Besides the adverts and trailers are fine at 5 1/4 which is the normal setting.

It's definitely the print and the DTS track as they match....
The print moves into an SRD screen tomorrow so I'll be interested to see how it compares there.

This is the first time I've ever had a feature that was as loud as this which is why I raised the point in the first place. All our films run within a 1/4 fader step so to have to run a full step down is very unusual indeed. The only other option is a faulty remote fader. For some silly design reason the volume will go to full if there is a dead spot on the fader track or it becomes disconnected. Additionally you can't setup a CP45 with the remote fader... only the main fader. However that would not explain why the adverts and trailers are fine!!

The plot thickens or is it just me