I recently found myself mixing a 5.1 surround project for a documentary that will screen as a special event showing at a local movie theater. I used the NX 5.1 plugin with great success and with a few minor tweaks, the film sounded just as expected during a test in the theater. I also used the Germano Studios 5.1 room too.
If it is possible, it would be great to have an actual movie theater virtual room to mix in. The movie theater space is very dead and the surround definition is certainly more pronounced. I think this would be a great addition for those wishing to create 5.1 surround mixes for film festivals. While most will accept a stereo file, a 5.1 audio mix is preferred when submitting the DCP package. Just a thought!
Thanks for listening!
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Oh this is an interesting idea.
And on that note, there’s something called the “X-Curve” for theaters…
Stands for ‘extended’, as opposed to the ‘N’ (normal) curve, which is the same as the Academy Curve.
The ‘X’ curve is also known as the ‘wide-range curve’, and is codified in ISO Bulletin 2969. Specifications call for pink noise — at listening position in a re-recording situation or two-thirds of the way back in a theatre — to be flat to 2 kHz, rolling off 3 dB per octave after that. This curve is found in all motion picture theatres and re-recording stages worldwide.
And also this updated standard(?):
And some detailed discussion of the X-Curve:
Interestingly:
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The X-curve is not an equalization/target curve.[1] Rather, it is a response that shows up if you measure a loudspeaker with flat response, in a large room with a real-time analyzer and pink noise as specified in the standard. And that such a measurement will tend to show a decline in frequency response starting around 2 kHz at a rate of 3 dB per octave.
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Since the X-curve is a measurement error, it is not a “target curve” in the sense of trying to modify the sound. That is, the goal is to get at flat response and compensate for the measurement error.
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The reason behind the measurement error is the inclusion of the reverberations in the room. That is, when the direct (“on-axis”) sound of a flat response speaker is combined with reflections/reverberations in the room, the high frequencies when measured continuously using Real-Time Analyzer (RTA) and pink noise. There is also an effect stated to be there in low frequencies which I am not addressing in this article.
So this seems like something that could potentially be a part of the Movie Theater Nx if it was to ever happen.
It sounds like you’re referring to a technical standard related to cinematography, specifically involving the B-chain electro-acoustic response in motion-picture control rooms and indoor theatres. These would be specifications for audio systems in cinema environments, particularly focusing on how sound behaves in different settings.
Yeah this is a great idea. Perhaps a small and large theatre option would be worth the consideration too.
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At this point I’m REALLY feeling a desire to have all the Nx plugins in one. I own licenses for all the Nx products and ARS, too — but it’s cumbersome to switch between rooms and test your mix in a lot of different spacers.
Competitors have put all their rooms and devices into a single interface, and then they upsell new additions as they make them.
I don’t know if Waves is going to continue the Nx series, but if they do — housing them in a single plugin would be a huge upgrade.
The competition figured out how to use the same kind of tech with zero latency… If I remember right, Waves Nx has 5.6ms of latency @ 48khz and all the name brand rooms have 11.2ms. That’s enough that I can feel, and it’s a dealbreaker for me unfortunately.
(Also - I think Waves Nx and definitely Abbey Road Studio don’t report that latency to the host – which isn’t a huge issue since people don’t render through it – but it should be corrected since the other rooms report it. I had to troubleshoot my way into figuring out the problem, because I could feel it and didn’t know where it was coming from.)
I would even give up the head tracking if it meant zero latency, but I suspect it’s the impulse responses(?) that require latency.
Still, there are competitors that initially launched with latency and figured out how to eliminate it so I know it’s possible.
Anyhow, back to OPs point – a movie theater room is a great idea. I just hope they can contain all these rooms into one plugin, for quick selection between them.
I felt the same. A Master NX plugin would;d be great. A plugin that simply connects you to all the other NX plugins people own, or the underlying code/IRs, allowing users to switch between them efficiently.
You could use StudioVerse FX to load all the NX plugins and alternate between them as needed.
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