Oppenheimer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Comparison between streaming Amazon UltraHD and Tidal Dolby Atmos

[Jean.Francois]

Hello,

Another big summer production is "Oppenheimer", directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt. The film's score is composed by Ludwig Göransson, who previously worked with Christopher Nolan on "Tenet" in 2020.

The film's soundtrack is presented in theaters in 5.(1) DTS, Dolby Digital or uncompressed digital sound.

Christopher Noland chose this 5.1 format to ensure the most similar sound reproduction possible in all cinemas.

The 2 versions tested here are : Amazon Music UltraHD and Tidal Dolby Atmos Music.

As the film is mixed in 5.1, the Dolby Atmos mix of the film's music was created specifically for Dolby Atmos Music broadcast.

The waveform of Amazon Music's digital stereo version is dynamic, but with areas showing the use of a dynamic limiter (yellow zone), which remains moderate as indicated by the average DR10 (DR13 for Dolby Atmos).

Waveform: Amazon Music UltraHD

The spectrum of the Amazon stereo version goes up to 24 kHz (white arrow), a limit due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used. As with the Dolby Atmos version, there's a high level of bass (30-40 Hz), as shown by the yellow arrow.

Spectrum: Amazon Music UltraHD


The Spatialization of the Dolby Atmos version varies greatly from track to track, with values ranging from 2.8 to 6.8. The spatialization of the tracks is very varied, and the rendering is designed to create the ambience of the film. Below is the average spatialization (all 24 tracks are detailed here)

Average spatialization

We appreciate the limited use of the dynamic limiter for this Oppenheimer soundtrack, unlike the Barbie stereo soundtrack.

So there are two ways to listen to this album in good quality: in stereo or in spatial sound, depending on your tastes and equipment.

You can find samples from the various media and all wavefom, spectra and spectrogram measurements here.

Enjoy listening

Jean-François

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Interesting. I saw Oppenheimer at the local theatre. The dialogue was almost inaudible throughout because the music was consistently louder. I know Christopher Nolan sometimes deliberately drowns the dialogue with music or effects, but this was the case for more than 80% of the film, which makes me think the theatre's setup was wrong. I love impressive soundtracks with films, but this was too much for me

 

[Frontino]

Interesting. I saw Oppenheimer at the local theatre. The dialogue was almost inaudible throughout because the music was consistently louder. I know Christopher Nolan sometimes deliberately drowns the dialogue with music or effects, but this was the case for more than 80% of the film, which makes me think the theatre's setup was wrong. I love impressive soundtracks with films, but this was too much for me

I'll wait for the UHD to listen to it in isolated center channel.
I already tested the Batman trilogy, Interstellar and Tenet that way and I found them less overwhelming.

 

[LunZ]

Interesting. I saw Oppenheimer at the local theatre. The dialogue was almost inaudible throughout because the music was consistently louder. I know Christopher Nolan sometimes deliberately drowns the dialogue with music or effects, but this was the case for more than 80% of the film, which makes me think the theatre's setup was wrong. I love impressive soundtracks with films, but this was too much for me

It comes down to the sound engineer at each cinema.

I watched Oppenheimer twice:
- Prag (Czech Republic)
- Linz (Austria)

The Sound in Prag was the same as you described. Really loud and you really didnt understand the dialogs.
In Austria it was way more silent.

For comperison:
When I hear the soundtrack at normal volume with good studio headphones, it really immerses you. "Kind of touching?". Sometimes it calms you down, sometimes it arouses you (I am not a english native speaker, so I dont really know how to describe it)
In Prag the music was really epic, loud and immersive "it was part of the experience"
In Linz the music didn't really get through to you as well as in Prag. It didn't really impact your feelings for the movie? But the good thing: you could here all the dialogs.

I liked prag more.

 

[AdamG]

The waveform of Amazon Music's digital stereo version is dynamic, but with areas showing the use of a dynamic limiter (yellow zone), which remains moderate as indicated by the average DR10 (DR13 for Dolby Atmos).

Nolan has a reputation for clipping the audio source. I have no idea why he does this but it can make watching his films frustrating. No matter what you do. The baked in distortion can not be removed. He also has a habit of making the movie audio so loud that you can not hear the dialogue. If I’m going to watch one of his movies I automatically turn on Closed Captions.