Movie Theater Room for NX

Feature Requests
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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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.