Too much LFE!

[Harold Hallikainen]

Louise and I went to see Boys in the Boat today. Nice movie! But for the trailers, I thought I was stuck at a very long traffic light next to a low rider. Then, during our movie, we continued to have the walls rattle from noise in other auditoriums. My ears are still recovering...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

You must have gone to an AMC...

[Jon Dent]

Trailers usually overdo the bass quite a bit because it lets them get loud without violating the MPAA noise level restrictions, which don't 'weigh' low frequencies the same as higher ones. It rarely sounds particularly good though.

[Bobby Henderson]

The situation must be different here in Oklahoma, as well as a couple theaters I sometimes visit when visiting Colorado. Usually the only time I hear any significant sub-bass, or noticeable dynamics at all, is when watching the movie in a premium priced auditorium (IMAX, Dolby Cinema, etc).

When I watch movies in normal priced auditoriums the volume is usually quite a bit lower and there is barely any sub-bass presence at all. It has the same ordinary audio feel as watching TV at home using its built-in speakers set at a medium volume level. Sometimes the volume levels are set low enough that you have to struggling hearing some dialog. Any noise coming from audience members (rustling popcorn bags, feet kicking seats, talking, farting, etc) is easily noticeable. I'm guessing the theater managers are using the low volume levels for two reasons. One reason could be preventing speaker damage or trying to make damaged speaker drivers less noticeable. The other more obvious reason is trying to make certain customers happy. Some customers demand the volume level be turned way down because they hate any dynamics in a movie sound mix that startles them.

Another big part of the problem is too many theaters have sound systems that are not properly configured for the auditorium's size and shape. It's just a one size fits all approach. From my perspective it doesn't look like very many people know how to properly "tune" a theater's sound system. If the room/booth doesn't have the right speakers, amps, etc for the job even the best skilled technicians will be able to do only so much with the setup.

Overly loud movie trailers just make problems worse. The trailers are going to sound like crap in a poorly EQ-ed auditorium, even if the sound system is turned up to "reference level." Great sounding LFE should be felt more than heard. Sub-bass needs to be tight and punchy, not slobbidy-flobbidy like some hoodlum's car stereo. The best I've heard in a cinema literally pounded the air in my chest. But I haven't heard sub-bass like that in a cinema since the 1990's. For whatever reason modern stadium seated theaters just can't seem to do a good job with it.