TheZebraKilledDarwin
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2023
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Hi everybody. This is my first post here. Hopefully I can give this very well informed community something back...
Personal tastes vary a lot. I personally always loved the "theatrical" sound color.
After years of acoustics, speaker and dsp optimizations, a good transient and nice time domain behaviour, and a great sounding setup, I was still not having that "theatrical sound coloration", despite all kinds of known and unknown tweaks.
I assumed that this coloration and sound characteristics was simply not possible to achieve in my smaller room, with my speakers and without real theatrical horn speakers.
One day I stumbled over an SMPTE paper, called
TC-25CSS B-Chain Frequency and Temporal Response Analysis of Theatres and Dubbing Stages
Taking a close look at the measurements I noticed not very flat frequency responses (even very good dubbing stages). So a flat response obviously may not be a crucial criteria for the the theatrical sound I was after.
I kept looking at the measurements and began to notice a pattern.
As you can see, a lot of them show the 500 Hz region being louder/the loudest.
By looking at the measurements only, this would not be a speaker/setup, I would want! But being humble means, that if the shown sound is good enough for dubbing stages, maybe I should not discard it, too? Forget theories, interpretations and ideals, just follow the practitioners mixing movies in their dubbing stages. Maybe there is more to it, than meets the eye?
I compared the measurements to my REW measurements and noticed a very significant difference:
My 1k range was louder than the 500 range and my bass was also louder. My setup lacked a kind of 500 Hz midrange peak, many of these systems seem to have.
Only out of curiosity and expecting to degrade the sound of my setup, I tweaked the DSP and brought the 1k slightly below the 500 Hz level… (IIRC it was a significant cut of around -4dB at first try)
But with only the very first word coming out of the center, I already had a smile on the face…
That was the key. I optimized it further to maximize the color, guided by the real world measurements in that paper.
The characteristics of the mids, and with them the color of the whole setup and it's perceived quality, changed torwards "theatrical". As if the speakers and the room had been exchanged against theatrical equipment. The already very good sounding setup was turned into a theatrical sounding setup.
Besides the almost surreal improvement in sound coloration, I noticed a few additional improvements. I remember:
Vocals received more body and warmth(!), but without any additional muddyness.
Transients and plosives also sound warmer, are less hard (especially pleasing in loud scenes), while low volume transients are becoming less masked by 300 Hz mud.
The overall sound is fuller, despite reduced bass, and sounds warmer, despite the gentle midrange "peak" below 1k.
Intelligibility at very low master volume levels is improved, despite reduced treble peaks (mimicking the measurements but adjusting to my personal taste - a less strong x-curved treble).
Strangely dynamics also feel more energetic and powerful, despite these counter-intuitive changes with reduced bass and treble.
Midrange has way more punch, but without the tendency to hurt the ear at higher levels.
Directivity, ambience and spaciousness improved, too. With a RT60 of around ~250 ms in my room, now I can hear ambiences and reverbs in mixes, which I could not hear before.
If you want to give this a try and work torwards a theatrical sound coloration, I recommend to pay attention to the mentioned "theatrical" midrange balance first: the 500 Hz range loud enough, with the 1k not louder than the 500. If you hear success, then work from the mids away: adjust sub and bass levels, in a way the mids begin to shine even more - use the SMPTE measurements as guidance.
And for the treble (as low as from 1.5 kHz work upwards), also guided by the SMPTE measurements and adjusted for your personal taste.
Personal tastes vary a lot. I personally always loved the "theatrical" sound color.
After years of acoustics, speaker and dsp optimizations, a good transient and nice time domain behaviour, and a great sounding setup, I was still not having that "theatrical sound coloration", despite all kinds of known and unknown tweaks.
I assumed that this coloration and sound characteristics was simply not possible to achieve in my smaller room, with my speakers and without real theatrical horn speakers.
One day I stumbled over an SMPTE paper, called
TC-25CSS B-Chain Frequency and Temporal Response Analysis of Theatres and Dubbing Stages
Taking a close look at the measurements I noticed not very flat frequency responses (even very good dubbing stages). So a flat response obviously may not be a crucial criteria for the the theatrical sound I was after.
I kept looking at the measurements and began to notice a pattern.
As you can see, a lot of them show the 500 Hz region being louder/the loudest.
By looking at the measurements only, this would not be a speaker/setup, I would want! But being humble means, that if the shown sound is good enough for dubbing stages, maybe I should not discard it, too? Forget theories, interpretations and ideals, just follow the practitioners mixing movies in their dubbing stages. Maybe there is more to it, than meets the eye?
I compared the measurements to my REW measurements and noticed a very significant difference:
My 1k range was louder than the 500 range and my bass was also louder. My setup lacked a kind of 500 Hz midrange peak, many of these systems seem to have.
Only out of curiosity and expecting to degrade the sound of my setup, I tweaked the DSP and brought the 1k slightly below the 500 Hz level… (IIRC it was a significant cut of around -4dB at first try)
But with only the very first word coming out of the center, I already had a smile on the face…
That was the key. I optimized it further to maximize the color, guided by the real world measurements in that paper.
The characteristics of the mids, and with them the color of the whole setup and it's perceived quality, changed torwards "theatrical". As if the speakers and the room had been exchanged against theatrical equipment. The already very good sounding setup was turned into a theatrical sounding setup.
Besides the almost surreal improvement in sound coloration, I noticed a few additional improvements. I remember:
Vocals received more body and warmth(!), but without any additional muddyness.
Transients and plosives also sound warmer, are less hard (especially pleasing in loud scenes), while low volume transients are becoming less masked by 300 Hz mud.
The overall sound is fuller, despite reduced bass, and sounds warmer, despite the gentle midrange "peak" below 1k.
Intelligibility at very low master volume levels is improved, despite reduced treble peaks (mimicking the measurements but adjusting to my personal taste - a less strong x-curved treble).
Strangely dynamics also feel more energetic and powerful, despite these counter-intuitive changes with reduced bass and treble.
Midrange has way more punch, but without the tendency to hurt the ear at higher levels.
Directivity, ambience and spaciousness improved, too. With a RT60 of around ~250 ms in my room, now I can hear ambiences and reverbs in mixes, which I could not hear before.
If you want to give this a try and work torwards a theatrical sound coloration, I recommend to pay attention to the mentioned "theatrical" midrange balance first: the 500 Hz range loud enough, with the 1k not louder than the 500. If you hear success, then work from the mids away: adjust sub and bass levels, in a way the mids begin to shine even more - use the SMPTE measurements as guidance.
And for the treble (as low as from 1.5 kHz work upwards), also guided by the SMPTE measurements and adjusted for your personal taste.
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