Imax volume level?

[James Waite]

Not quite sure which forum to put this. The local Imax (digital) has been deafingly loud for the last few shows I've been to, To the point I've been using my straw wrapper as ear plugs. Management claims Imax was in recently and its correct. Does anyone know if Imax has changed it's base volume level? It wasn't this loud before. I think I first noticed just before everything shut down. And no, it's not just less people, I could easily make out the dialoge in the bathroom down the hall. My friend has a decibel meter on his phone and it was going above 80 quite a lot, sometimes way over.

[Marcel Birgelen]

For me, IMAX sound levels always have been wildly inconsistent, not just between different theaters, but also between shows in the same theater. It ranges anywhere between totally underwhelming and 90s rock concert (before anybody cared about legal limits). And there is another big factor off course: The soundtrack of the actual movie. Something like Tenet will sound dreadfully loud in any theater, playing it "at refference". I do know that theater managers have sometimes dialed back the volume, after repeated complaints.

IMAX doesn't share much their specifications of their "laser-aligned" sound systems, so it's hard to tell how they calibrate their rooms. But there's a good chance that someone at the theater dialed stuff back, after numerous complaints, like yours and when the IMAX crew came along, they simply dialed it back to "reference".

[Dave Macaulay]

Much like normal cinemas the "reference level" is almost always deafeningly loud. Are the sound mixers all deaf?
The "Big I" (no company name as I am trying to avoid their media scanning) does try to enforce "standards" more than what you get at a normal cinema. It's still easy to just turn down the volume and I believe the DTAC system can be automated to do in-show level changes.
Audio tuning is done in a somewhat unusual way but they do set channel levels pretty much the same as in any B chain alignment. It is possible to set channel levels wrong and then calibrate the auto setup system to have the auditorium level always out of spec. "Laser Aligned" refers to speaker aiming, not EQ.

[James Waite]

Just a predictable but frustrating update. I emailed both cineplex main office and Imax. Imax told me the staff could adjust the volume at the theatre. Didn’t seem to be able to actually check the volume though.
the theatre told head office that they had turned the volume down in response to our comments.
so basically the theatre staff are lying to either customers ( they told us repeatedly they couldn’t adjust volume) or their head office ( but they did adjust the volume...)
I just can’t figure out why they lied about something so easily checked and even care that much so as not to just turn it down.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

IDK about it in Canada but here in the States they have to watch the DB meter as far as OSHA goes, or they can be fined. Is there the Canadian equivalent of OSHA? Call them and ask if they have DB limits in movie theaters. I know here it is so many DB maximum for so many continuous seconds....

[Stefan Scholz]

AFAIK movies are mixed in calibrated mixing facilities. Theatres are set up to follow the same calibration standard, "~70 dB 1/3 octave in band at 7.0 fader (or 0.0 dB Ref)". As all follow the rule, why are complaints normal? In Berlin, the complaint is, movies are played whisper quite, having all sound mixes collapse, and leaving no impact on the moviegoer. You just hear the speaker, that you're seated next to.
In our auditoria, I rarely had to use the fader, most movies I watch were correctly mixed, and made the show a big enjoyment. Of course I avoid national TV movies, and dubbed movies, which tend to go for a 5.5 5.0 to 6.0 fader setting during mix.
Whereas in the first weeks of the remaining Liemax the fader seemed to be near reference, in the last weeks of operation, it seemed to have been crancked down drasticly. So moviegoing is to be avoided.
85% of the perception of modern action movies is the sound, is what I remember from the mid 1990's at the sound facility.

[Steve Guttag]

I've never found a movie that exceeded OSHA requirements. First, since a movie is just 2-hours long, one's exposure, in total is short. If you were to plot the SPL over time you'll find that the "talking portions" far out weigh the effects/loud music portions and the total achievable SPL based on how cinemas are set up are such that everything would have to be played at full level for a bit of time before you'd risk tipping the OSHA issues (which really are set up to protect workers, not patrons...hence the "O" is Occupational. OSHA uses A-weighting so the effects of subwoofers barely contribute to one's overall level. In a properly calibrated 5.1 theatre running its fader at 7.0 with every channel playing at its 0dBFS level is going to have a C-weighted meter read in the 112dBc region. A-weighting is going to be lower.

OSHA comes into effect when the ambient sound level exceeds 85dBA for 8-hours. Some movies may seems like they are that long. Unless you are in a marathon, and even then there are breaks, you'll not hit an OSHA problem. The standard is there to protect factory workers or people that work in high ambient sound level areas (e.g. airports...the ground crew don't wear ear protection as a fashion statement).

For a 2-hour movie, if you were say an employee required to remain in the auditorium for any reason, the average SPL cannot exceed 100dBA...which it won't. OSHA permits up to 115dBA for up to 15-minutes and 110dBA for 1/2-hour.

As obnoxiously loud as most movies are, they don't violate OSHA for patrons or even employees. They probably violate it for the people that mix the movies on dubbing stages where they are exposed for a long time and likely at the higher levels. I suspect that part of the loud-movie problem is ear fatigue by the people exposed for such a long time.

If you want to hear a movie that doesn't wear your ear out, seek one that was mixed by Larry Blake (for example, Ocean's 11). He knows how to deliver a really good soundtrack, very intelligible dialog and without you hurting your ears.

Our industry really should have adopted more meaningful LEQ(m) requirements (a measurement that assigns a single number based on volume over time...the longer the time period the louder any one portion may be...so ads and trailers would really be reigned in). Unfortunately, that sort of thing would be best done by the government(s) so they can be the "bad guy" rather than some industry insider that is "hurting ad revenue." I'm amazed at the blow-back that people got at lowering the level of trailers...its as if Hollywood doesn't get that most every cinema has the ability to lower their volume during trailers.

[Jim Cassedy]

In 2017 I was assigned to run DUNKIRK in 70mm at a big multiplex in Texas. It was also being shown in IMAX™ in a different auditorium. Both myself & 'the IMAX guy' got numerous complaints about the volume level being too loud. Although my standard reply was usually "It's a WAR- - It's supposed to be loud!!" however after several shows, I was finally able arrive at volume level that was still loud enough to be effective for the battle sequences, but at which you could still understand the actors' British accents through Nolan's muddy dialogue mix, and it cut down on most of the loudness complaints.

The IMAX guy and I sometimes hung out in each other's booths between our respective shows. He got numerous volume complaints too, but from what he told me, IMAX headquarters either constantly monitors the sound level remotely, or is somehow automatically notified if the volume level is adjusted beyond certain limits. One day while he was in my booth shortly after starting his IMAX show, he got a call on his walkie-talkie about the IMAX show being too loud. He left my booth and went & made a volume adjustment, and then came back. A minute or so after he got back to my booth, his phone started to ring. "That's going to be IMAX"; he said, even before looking at the caller ID; "they're probably wanting to know about the volume adjustment I did". - - and he was right. I saw this happen at least twice during the DUNKIRK run while I was working there.

I ran IMAX for awhile back when it was all 15/70 film, and there wasn't any remote monitoring. Generally speaking we were given a volume level to run things at and that was that. But that was over a decade or more ago. I haven't worked with their digital systems, and so I don't know how closely they monitor things. But they obviously were doing it, at least occasionally, during the DUNKIRK run at the theater I was at.

[Jarod Reddig]

At most IMAX's near me, what is most irritating is how high they have the low frequencies boosted. To the point of exaggerated port noise. Yes, that was fun as a teen with car audio in the 90's but come on. One would think they would strive for a more balanced sound.

[Martin Brooks]

There's two issues: one is OSHA and the other is hearing damage. Actually three issues: the third is what is aesthetically pleasing. IMO, too many soundtracks have ridiculously boosted levels before the director has an inferiority complex about the film and he thinks he can create emotion by driving up the levels. People have forgotten what dynamic range is. It's not the constant barrage of sound that causes emotion, it's the loud noise that comes out of the silence. I don't think when characters are whispering to each other in a movie, it should sound like they're yelling.

I have a variety of tables that seem to conflict somewhat with each other, but in one table published in EQ Magazine in 2002, one could listen to a level off 85 db (A-weighted) for 8 hours, but come it gets up to 95db, the level of loud classical music, it's 47 minutes and at 103db (equivalent to a subway passing), it's only 7.5 minutes. At 110 db (thunder), it's 1.5 minutes and a 115db (loud rock on stage, it's only 28 minutes before hearing damage can result.

Personally if the loudness is beyond the threshold of pain or if I have to hold my ears, it's too freaking loud. I now bring hearing protection with me to movies (or did before the pandemic) just in case, the same I do for concerts. But over the last year or two, in most cases, the feature is not too loud, although in some cases it's borderline. Only the trailers are. When I saw Interstellar in 70mm IMAX at the Lincoln Square in NYC, I actually thought it was a bit too low. Dunkirk had a few loud scenes but was otherwise okay.

[Marcel Birgelen]

At most IMAX's near me, what is most irritating is how high they have the low frequencies boosted. To the point of exaggerated port noise. Yes, that was fun as a teen with car audio in the 90's but come on. One would think they would strive for a more balanced sound.

In those "newfangled" fake, digital IMAX locations, most movies to me sound like rock concerts instead of movies. Their "balance" is far and in between with too much emphasis on the low end. The dynamic range ends tits-up and at the end of the movie you're exhausted because of the constant attack on your eardrums. It's part of their "experience", some people seem to like it, while most sane people think they're crazy.