"My plan was to synchronize the camera and the phonograph so as to record sounds when the pictures

were made, and reproduce the two in harmony. . . We had the first of the so-called

"talking pictures

" in

our laboratory thirty years ago

"

Thomas Edison 1925

Years prior to Thomas Edison's work on moving pictures, people were making crude hand drawn motion
pictures, much like how animated cartoons are drawn. Eventually photographers began to experiment with
taking a series of pictures of a subject in motion, and then showing them back in sequence.

British photographer Eadweard Muybridge was a pioneer in
this process. He had 700 cameras set up in sequence, to
photograph a trotting horse. This major undertaking yielded just
60 seconds of motion picture when all the photographs were
viewed back in sequence.

In 1888 Thomas Edison met with Muybridge to discuss adding
sound to his moving pictures. Edison wanted to record sound

on his phonograph and then synchronize it with the moving picture. Muybridge wasn't much interested
because be felt the phonograph wouldn't be loud enough for a large audience to hear.

The meeting with Muybridge didn't discourage Edison, in fact it gave him an idea
for developing his own motion picture device. Edison installed a cylinder similiar
to those used on his phonograph, inside a camera and coated it with a light
sensitive material. Every time a picture was taken the cyliner turned slightly,
taking another picture. Edison would then process the crude film and run it
through a viewer which showed motion. Thus, the invention of the "Kinetoscope".
Edison applied for the patent in 1891, but it wasn't granted until 1897. Edison
neglected to include rights for the patent outside the United States and the idea of
projection, which proved to be a costly mistake in the years to follow.

About this time George Eastman unveiled his new celluloid film which began to replace the system of
using light sensitive plates and large bulky cameras. This led Eastman to manufacture the "Brownie"
camera, making it possible for ordinary people to take photographs. In 1889 Thomas Edison ordered some
of the new film cut into long strips. His associate William Dickson worked on a sprocket system for a
camera that would cause the film to move past the lens when turned by a crank.

One of the first films Edison made was of a laboratory worker in his Newark laboratory. Edison turned the
crank on his kinetoscope and shot frames of Fred Ott acting out a sneeze. Edison even
recorded the sound of a sneeze on his phonograph to be played back with "The Sneeze" film.
In order to see the film Edison invented a viewer to go along with it.

Soon he began churning out movies in a studio he had built at the West Orange laboratory. The

"Black

Maria" (.wav/153kb)

as he called it, was a large structure covered with tar paper. A hole in the ceiling

allowed the sun to shine through and illuminated the stage.

The entire building was on a set of tracks so that it could be
moved around to follow the sun. Edison employed circus
performers, dancers and animals in his films that lasted only a few
seconds. His first movie with a plot was "The Great Train
Robbery" and it lasted 15 minutes. The films were being shown all

Robbery" and it lasted 15 minutes. The films were being shown all
around the country in arcades and drugs stores. He churned out
more than 2000 short films from the "Black Maria".

Leon Gaumont, in France, began as early as 1901 to work on combining the phonograph and motion
picture. He worked on the project during several widely seperated intervals (a series of shows of the "Film
Parlant" at the Gaumont Palace in Paris in 1913 and demonstrations in the U.S. were the biggest
accomplishments).

An attempt by Carl Laemmle of Paramount in 1907 to exploit a combination of phonograph and motion
picture resulted in a German development called "Syncroscope." It was handicapped by the short time
which the record would play and, after some apparently successful demonstrations, was dropped for want
of a supply of pictures with sound to maintain programs in the theaters where it was tried.

In 1907,

Dr. Lee De Forest

patended the audion tube. It was the first vacuum tube in which a control grid

as well as a cathode and an anode was incorporated. The audion tube allowed a very small electric signal
to be amplified and played over loudspeakers. It was used for radio, public address, television, and film
sound.

It was after John Stone's demonstration of the de Forest tube in 1912 that Harold D. Arnold of Bell Labs
began his amplifier research project. In 1915, Arnold's new vacuum tube amplifier made it possible for
AT&T to inaugurate the first transcontinental telephone service in time for the San Francisco World's Fair.

The condenser microphone was developed at Bell Labs by E.C. Wente in 1917. This microphone
translated soundwaves into electrical waves that could be transmitted by the vacuum tube amplifier.

Efforts to provide sound for movies were attempted by Georges Pomerede, who used flexible shafts or
other mechanical connections to combine phonograph and motion pictures in 1907, while E. H. Amet in
1912-1918 used electrical methods for the sound. Wm. H. Bristol began his work on synchronous sound in
1917. There were few further efforts in the U.S. to provide sound for pictures by means of mechanical
recording until 1926.

Three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Josef Engl patented the "Tri Ergon" process.
In 1922, Tri-Ergon announced the development of a glow lamp light modulator for variable density
recording of sound. The Tri Ergon Process uses a technology known as variable density, which
differed from a later process known as variable area. The Tri Ergon process had a pattented
flywheel mechanism on a sprocket which prevented variations in film speed. This flywheel helped
prevent distortion of the audio. Tri Ergon relied on the use of a
photo-electric cell to transduce mechanical sound vibrations into
electrical waveforms and then convert the electrical waveforms into
light waves. These light waves could then be optically recorded
onto the edge of the film through a photographic process. Another
photo-electric cell could then be used to tranduce the waveform on
the film into an electrical waveform during projection. This
waveform could then be amplified and played to the audience in the
Theater. The Fox Film Corporation acquired the rights to the Tri
Ergon technology in 1927.

In 1926, Theodore W. Case and E. I. Sponable demonstrated their sound-on-film developments to
representatives of the Fox Film Corporation, and to William Fox himself. The Fox-Case Corp. was
organized to exploit the system, which was given the name Movietone. The Fox Film corporation
started making Movietone News newsreels. One of the first newsreels was Charles A. Lindbergh's
fabled takeoff for Paris. The years 1928 and 1929 were marked by rapid expansion in facilities and
personnel, successful showings and stepped-up schedules of newsreel releases. In March of '29, the
making of silent pictures by Fox was discontinued.

The Vitaphone was a sound-on-disc system using
multiple 33 1/3 rpm discs developed by

Bell Telephone

Laboratories

and Western Electric. The Vitaphone

system was first embraced by Warner Brothers. In
August 1926, Warner Brothers debuted the first
Vitaphone film

Don Juan

. Don Juan was the first

mainstream film that replaced the traditional use of a
live orchestra or organ for the soundtrack. However,
inDon Juan there was no dialogue in the film.

The first movie with dialogue, or "talkie",
was

The Jazz Singer

. Although, originally

conceived as a singing picture with no
dialogue, Al Jolson ad-libbed some
dialogue on the set and the talkies were
born. In 1928, Lights of N ew York was
released by Warner Brothers as the first
all-dialogue film.

Later in 1928, Disney's

Steamboat Willie

premiered. It was the first

Later in 1928, Disney's

Steamboat Willie

premiered. It was the first

film to completely create a soundtrack in post production including
sound effects, music, and dialogue.

After the stock market crash of 1929 and the onslaught of the Great Depression, little
technical development occurred in the early thirties.

In 1933, the King Kong was released by RKO and made film
sound history.

Murray Spivak

, who did the sound design for

the movie, was the first person to manipulate sound in a
creative way. Spivak used the sound of a lion's roar slowed
down one octave mixed with the sound at unity pitch.

In 1933,

Leopold Stokowski's

became involvement in research with Bell Telephone Lab's

early "Auditory Perspective" experiments on stereophonic sound. Bell's most famous
demonstration came when the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Stokowski, was
transmitted over three telephone lines to an astonished audience in Washington's
Constitutional Hall.

In 1935, Alan Blumlein invented the first stereo variable area soundtrack. Earlier in the
decade, Blumlein was an inventor at the then EMI Central Research Laboratories, where he
experimented with stereo sound recording and invented an apparatus for binaural recording,
as well as designing several pieces of equipment of equipment, including a stereo microphone.
Blumlein understood the complex way that the ears detect the direction from which a sound
comes. He derived a technique to record and recreate the necessary features in the sound
field through two independent channels cut onto a gramophone record. Blumlein believed
that for realism, the sound image associated with a "talking picture" should follow the moving
image.

In 1938, Hollywood studios decided on an equalization curve to have theaters and studios
monitor in a way that sounded similar. This curve was based on research by the Research
Council of the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which became known as the
"Academy Curve".

In 1940, Walt Disney's

Fantasia

was the first film to be released in a multichannel format called

Fantasound. Some important innovations are as follows:

the click track
dispersion-aligned loudspeaker system with skewed-horn
the pan-pot
control-track level-expansion
overdubbing of orchestral parts
simultaneous multitrack recording
and the development of a multichannel surround system.

Conductor

Leopold Stokowski

and Walt Disney collaborated on the production and concept of this

innovative movie. Fantasia is a feature-length film that choreographs
animation to music. Stotowski wasted to bring mutichannel sound in
Fantasia. Stokowski's involvement with this new technology dates back to
the Thirties, when he began research with Bell Telephone Lab's early
"Auditory Perspective" experiments on stereophonic sound. Bell's most
famous demonstration came when the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by
Stokowski, was transmitted over three telephone lines to an astonished
audience in Washington's Constitutional Hall.

Eight optical recorders were employed to record the Philadelphia Orchestra
conducted by Stokowski. Using multiple optical recorders allowed sections
of the orchestra to be handled separately during mixdown, a new concept at
the time. Six channels were devoted to individual orchestral sections, one to a distant mic, and
another to a balanced mix. A ninth track was later added to give animators a guide for timing.
Recording began on April 7, 1939, and consumed a half million feet of sound film during 42 days of
recording. Because of the multitrack nature of the recording, overdubs of individual sections of the
orchestra could be performed easily.

Supervising acoustician for the production, John Volkmann worked out all of the mic set ups for the
recording. To do this, Volkmann worked with stage layouts, directional plots of the RCA velocity
mics, directional plots of the orchestral sections, and reverberation time to pick out the precise mic
placement desired. Volkmann recording setup documentation included mic positions and electrical
paths including details of gain and frequency characteristics. A total of 44 RCA velocity mics were
used. An operator would mute mics not being used to minimize noise and leakage.

A special system was devised for playback of Fantasia called Fantasound. The Fantasound system
employed two projectors. The first one projected the picture and had a mono optical mix of the
entire soundtrack. This mono mix was used as a backup system in case of failure of the main
soundtrack. A technique that is used in all of today's successful digital sound systems. The second
projector was played in synchronization to the projector with the picture information. This second
projector employed four mono optical sound tracks as follows: 1. control track; 2. screen left; 3.
screen right; and 4. screen center. This three channel speaker array was similar to the original stereo
setup proposed by Bell Labs in the Thirties. In addition to the screen left, right, and center, there
was house left, right, and center channels. These channels were derived from the screen left and
right channels and were the equivalent of surround channels. The control track had various
amplitude and frequency tones that drove Voltage Gain Amplifiers (VGAs).

The original orchestral recording was recorded as close to peak modulation as possible to increase
signal-to-noise-ratio. The control track could then be utilized during playback to later restore the
dynamics to where Stotowski felt they should be. This control track system was known as the
tone-operated gain-adjusting device (Togad). This unique system controlled the levels of each of the
main soundtracks through the VGAs with a dynamic range of 50 dB. The superposed frequencies of
250, 630 and 1600 Hz each varied in level. The control track is filtered and the VGA can be biased
to a 8:5 ratio in cases where the theater ambient noise may be excessive. Both the VGA and the

to a 8:5 ratio in cases where the theater ambient noise may be excessive. Both the VGA and the
tone rectifier circuits employed a time constant of 15 ms. Disney engineers felt that if a future
Fantasound format was ever developed, it should include level-dependent equalization.

Disney's chief engineer, William Garity had the challenge of trying to simulate sound moving back
and fourth across the screen. He determined that fading between two speakers might be able to
create this illusion. A special 3-circuit differential junction network was created to accomplish the
task. Thus Disney could use it to mix down to a three track master. They called this device "The
Panpot". Later a two channel Panpot was created to vary the ratio between close and reverberant
sound while maintaining constant level. Mixdown required six mixers to control the various Panpot
in real time. The mix was performed much like a modern film scoring session with Stokowski
conducting pans and level changes. Stokowski had marked all of these level and pan changes
measure by measure in his musical score. A special three-color oscilloscope was employed to
monitor the levels of the mix. Each color of the oscilloscope represented a different channel of the
mix implementing translucent masks. At the time, there were no VU meters which we would now
expect.

When Fantasia debuted in New York's Broadway Theater on November 13, 1940, the surround mix
the audience heard was mixed live by a sound mixer operating under Stokowski's supervision.
Because of production factors, the true Fantasound format debuted later. During this screening,
surround channels were only utilized during the last piece, "Ave Maria". For the first time, an
audience was enveloped with surround information.

Only two Fantasound systems were sold to two theaters: New York's Broadway Theater and the
Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles. These installations cost $85,000 and included 54 speakers
placed throughout the auditorium. Because of this high cost, Disney devised a system known as the
"Fantasia Road Shows". Eight of these scaled back versions of Fantasound were produced. They
were $45,000 and weighed 15,000 pounds each. They toured a total 14 theaters and each one filled
up half of one freight car during shipment. Because of the cost, the roadshow did not include the
house (surround) speakers. The road show version used a separate mix. Instead of having the tracks
be screen left, right, and center, they were orchestra, choruses, and soloists respectively.

As the film toured the country, some refinements were made in the Fantasound Process. It was
determined that a series of edge notches on the film could be used to control a series of relays.
These relays could be used to turn various loudspeakers off and on to reduce noise as well as more
sophisticated dynamic automation. In 1942, the film was re-released with just a mono soundtrack
and 43 minutes cut out of it. It was not until 1956 that Disney restored Fantasia to its original length
and a four track magnetic format soundtrack. This 1956 version, although in stereo, contained no
surround information. In 1982, Fantasia was re-released yet again. This time it was a completely
new soundtrack. Engineer Shawn Murphy recorded a new digital recording of the original music
using a Soundstream four track digital recorder using a sampling frequency of 50 kHz. Although this
recording had better fidelity than was possible in the Forties, many consider it inferior. Fantasia
fanatics point to the fact that the original recording has a much better performance. In addition, the
panning was much more radical in the original. There is a certain nostalgia connected with the
original. Today, many consider the original panning information very ping pongy. However, we can
forgive them for this for bringing the Panpot into existence in the first place.

In 1990, Disney decided to re-release the film again. This time the movie had a restored picture and
soundtrack. A copy of the original master did replace the 1982 digital recording. Because the optical
master disappeared, the re-release used the 1956 magnetic master. The 1956 magnetic master was
made from the original Fantasound system. This was accomplished by transferring the original mix
to RCA's studios over Class A telephone lines. Disney's Terry Porter spent months studying the
original drawings, documentation, manuals, and notes from the original production. His first step
was to clean up as much noise, hum, and distortion. Porter had to clean up over 3,000 pops from the
1956 magnetic master. The transfer from the telephone lines left some artifacts that also had to be
fixed. Porter then did a Dolby Stereo SR mix of the cleaned up tracks. Because of complicated
phase relationships in the 1956 magnetic master, delay lines were employed to induce proper

phase relationships in the 1956 magnetic master, delay lines were employed to induce proper
steering of the channels.

For the 1990 re-release, Disney decided to develop Fantasound '90. This
format exhibited at the Cinerama Dome only in Los Angeles. It followed the
original Fantasound set up, except the mix was on 6-channel magnetic.
There was also a standard 70mm Dolby Six Track Stereo Surround format
released to other theaters. Because of the 5.1 nature of this particular 70mm
format, this could be used to make a DVD master. For the 1990 video
release, conventional Dolby Surround was employed.

Because of the work of Disney, RCA, and Bell Labs, Fantasia and
Fantasound were possible. Fantasound led to a variety of magnetic
techniques and eventually to Dolby Stereo. The new Digital film techniques
we have today use ideas first pioneered in Fantasound.

For further reading

Blake, Larry. "Re-Recording and Post Production for Disney's Fantasia." Film Sound Today: An
Anthology of Articles from Recording Engineer/Producer. Ed. Mel Lambert. Hollywood: Reveille
Press, 1984. 19-24.

Blake, Larry. "Mixing Dolby Stereo Film Sound." Film Sound Today: An Anthology of Articles
from Recording Engineer/Producer. Ed. Mel Lambert. Hollywood: Reveille Press, 1984. 1-10

Klapholz, Jesse. "Fantasia: Innovations in Sound." Journal of The Audio Engineering Society, Vol.
39, No. 1/2 (1991): 66-70.

The fifties were a time of tremendous innovation in

film

and picture formats. The

onslaught of television caused panic in the film industry. Because television adopted
the same

aspect ratio

as the academy 1.33:1 ratio, the film industry felt the need to

become wider. Hence, the widescreen formats we have today are a direct result of this
fear.

On September 30, 1952, the film

This is Cinerama

premiered as the first Cinerama film. Cinerama was
the first real

widescreen

feature film format and was

invented by Fred Waller. Engineers Hazard Reeves
and Wentworth Fling carried out tests to determine
the number of channals necessary to have for the
format. Reeves and Waller realized that at least 5
channels would be necessary behind the screen. A
7-track head stack was created to employ the
soundtrack. These seven tracks feed eight speaker
channels, five behind the screen and three around the
auditorium. Tracks 6 and 7 are manually switched
between stereophonic surround and monophonic
surround plus rear surround for selected scenes in the
film. In other scenes an "umbrella" configuration was
employed. The umbrella configuration sent one track
to both the left and right walls and the other to a
speaker in the middle of the rear wall. This was
commonly used to make sounds pass over the
audience.

The sound was handled by a 35mm magnetic full-coat
piece of film run in interlock with three projectors for
the 75-foot long, 146 degree curved screen. One of
the advantages of Cinerama was the fast speed that
the fullcoat piece of film. At over 29 IPS, Cinerama's
fidelity was height. Because of the expense and
difficulties of the system, it was abandonned in 1963.
Super Cinerama was later adapted for the Todd-AO
format using an anamorphic lense. In 1993, a
museum in

England

started a Cinerama theatre. Then

in

Dayton, Ohio

, another cinerama theater was

opened in 1996 because of

John Harvey

at the

New

Neon Movies

.

CinemaScope

On September 16, 1953, The Robe debuted as the first CinemaScope film. This anamorphic,

widscreen

format used an anamorphic lense to get its wide aspect ratio. This 4-track, discrete

magnetic format used an LCRS speaker set-up and was striped right on the film. The first
CinemaScope film, The Robe, was released on September 16, 1953. CinemaScope used a technique
which had the dialog on screen follow the action on the screen. To accomplish this, production
dialog was captured with three microphones. This practice continued for some years, but later
abandoned. In addition to the four magnetic strips, there was one small optical track on the film.
The magnetic tracks wore down quickly and production of them was difficult. Each reel had to be

The magnetic tracks wore down quickly and production of them was difficult. Each reel had to be
magnetically striped and recorded individually and each checked in a movie theater. Starting with
the Cinemascope process, the Academy curve was no longer used. CinemaScope was later replaced
with Panavision which uses an optical soundtrack typically with a Dolby Stereo soundtrack with
noise reduction.

Warnerphonic

Warnerphonic was a separate sprocketed magnetic tape that played in interlock with the film.
CinemaScope's combined film and magnetic stripe put Warnerphonic out of business.

Todd-AO

The first Todd-AO movie was called

Oklahoma!

and it opened on October

13, 1955. Much like the CinemaScope format, Todd-AO is used five
speakers behind the screen and a mono surround channel. Todd-AO

widescreen

format was originally conceive by Michael Todd and the

American Optical Company. Todd-AO's 65mm negative is printed on a
70mm release print. The extra 5mm is devoted to the soundtrack with
2.5mm alocated on either side of the film. Starting in the early 1970's, most
70mm films were shot in 35mm and then blown up to 70mm for release. In
1997, Kenneth Branaugh's Hamlet brought back people shooting in 65mm
for 70mm blowup. The Todd-AO format was used by Dolby Laboratories
in the 1970's and applied their own EQ curves and noise reduction.

Dolby A-type noise reduction, the original professional Dolby system introduced in
1965, is used on Dolby movie soundtracks. Dolby's first technology was Dolby
A-type noise reduction, introduced in 1965. It was designed for use by professional
recording studios to make quiet master tape recordings. In the early to mid 1970's

its use was extended to film recording studios and motion picture release prints in order to make
films sound better.

The prototype for the

IMAX

system is exhibited at EXPO '67 in Montreal, Canada, where multi-

screen films were the hit of the fair. A small group of Canadian filmmakers/entrepreneurs (Graeme
Ferguson, Roman Kroitor and Robert Kerr), who had made some of those popular films, decided to
design a new system using a single, powerful projector, rather than the cumbersome multiple
projectors used at the time. The result: the IMAX motion picture projection system. IMAX
technology promiered at the Fuji Pavilion, EXPO '70 in Osaka, Japan. The first permanent IMAX
projection system was installed at Ontario Place's Cinesphere in Toronto in 1971.
IMAX Dome (OMNIMAX) debuted at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre in San
Diego in 1973. The theaters tauted images of unsurpassed size, clarity and impact,
enhanced by a specially-designed six-channel, multi-speaker sound system, projected onto giant
rectangular screens, up to eight stories high. The IMAX image is ten times larger than a
conventional 35mm frame and three times bigger than a standard 70mm frame. The key to the
projectors is the "Rolling Loop" film movement devolped by Australian Ron Jones. The projector
advances the film horizontally in a smooth, wave-like motion. The sound system is generally run by
10,000 to 20,000 watts of amplification, with most theaters possessing six-track stereo
surround-sound and a 3,200 watt 3,000lb subwoofer. The sound is on 35mm magnetic 'dubber' film
(today this is back up for the 3 compact discs that are used). Most shows are run at 85db.

In 1971, Stanley Kubrick's

A Clockwork Orange

was released. It was

the first movie to use Dolby noise-reduction on all magnetic generations
up to the magnetic print master. The final release, however, was
academy mono.

In 1972, Dolby's X-curve EQ standard for theaters and mix rooms was formalized by the
International Standards Organization (

ISO 2969

) to replacethe Academy curve of the 1930's. Using

pink noise, the X-curve specifies a 3 dB per octave roll-off above 2 kHz. That same year A Quiet
Revolution premiered, which was the first film to have Dolby A noise reduction on the release print.
The movie had been made to show the advantages of noise reduction to exhibators.

In 1974, Eastman Kodak, RCA, and Dolby released an optical, stereo variable soundtrack (SVA).
This was made possible because of Dolby A noise reduction. Before the advent of this noise
reduction, it was too noisy to have two optical channels on a piece of 35mm film. They
demonstrated a reel of Stardust that was remixed for the new technology at a 1974 Society of
Motion Picture and Television Engineers meeting. That same year The Little Prince was released
with 35mm magnetic release prints with Dolby A noise reduction. The only other releases in this
format included

The Song Remains the Same

and N ashville.

Later that year Sensuround, a system developed by W. O. Watson and Richard Stumpf at Universal
Pictures, was released. This format injected tones from 5 - 40 Hz at 110 - 120 dBbased on control
track information on the film. Sensurround Some Sensurround movies included

Earthquake!

,

Midway,

Battlestar Galactica

, and

Rollercoaster

.

In 1976, A Star Is Born became the first Dolby Stereo film. Dolby Stereo was a 4-channel format
phase matrixed into a two channel format. This was a sensible solution because it allows the four
channels to be encoded into any stereo format including FM radio, record, tape, CD, etc. The
format uses a left, center, right, surround speaker array and was first utilized by the stereo variable
area soundtrack. The two encoded channels are known as the Left total (Lt) and Right total (Rt).
Everything mixed to the left channel is heard on the left and everything mixed on the right will be
heard on the right. The center information is taken from everything that is in both channels and 3
dB down. The surround information is recorded down 3 dB on both Lt and Rt channels so that one
channels is plus 90 degrees and the other is minus 90 degrees. Dolby used the matrixed surround
format to avoid the pitfalls of having four optical tracks on the film. In addition to the added noise
there were problems with mis-alignment due to very narrow gaps between the tracks. The
narrowness of the gap makes alignment more critical.

In 1977,

Star Wars

, revolutionized film sound with

Ben Burtt's

award winning sound effects. This same year, Dolby unveilled
the 70mm "Baby Boom" format. Baby boom used the same
70mm format as Todd-AO with some slight modifications.
There were three speakers behind the screen designated left,
center, and right. There was also one surround channel and two
low frequency effects channels that excepted frequencies below
200 Hz. Dolby relized with the release of both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
how important thaving a separate low frequency effects channel was.

In 1979, with

Apocalypse N ow

, Dolby debuted the Dolby 70mm "Split Surround" format. Like the

Baby Boom format, Split Surround is based on the Todd-AO format. It was actually the first 5.1
format as we think of it today. It had a left, center, and right, left surround, right surround, and low

frequency effects channel. Like the genius behind other Dolby products, Split
Surround wass backwards compatable to previous formats. In this case, Split
Surround was compatable with the Baby Boom format. Like Baby Boom, Split
Surround had the same left, center, right, mono surround, and two boom tracks.
The added left and right surrounds were put on the same tracks as the two boom
tracks. This was accomplished by limiting the boom tracks to under 200 Hz and the

tracks. This was accomplished by limiting the boom tracks to under 200 Hz and the
left and right surrounds were limited to about 500 Hz. If a theater was set up for

the Baby Boom format the mono surround would be used and the split surround information on
tracks 2 and 4 would be ignored. In a Split Surround theater, the mono surround would be ignored
and the left and right surrounds would be employed. Other Split Surround channels included
Superman II,

Pink Floyd: The Wall

, and

The Jazz Singer (1980)

. With Apocalypse N ow, Walter

Murch coined the title "Sound Designer".

Return of the Jedi, in 1983, was the first motion picture to be released in
concordance with the new "Lucasfilm Seal of Approval". The

THX

theater

sound reproduction system grew from an idea to install a state-of-the-art
monitoring system for Lucasfilm's new re-recording stage. The system's
unequalized frequency response was extended down to the 40Hz third-octave
band, down one and a half dB, which was an octave better than most theater
loudspeaker systems. Treble response was also extended in the octave above

8kHz. Not only were the crossover and sound system marketed, but also a
complete theater inspection package that would be marked under the tradename
of the

THX System

. Theaters who pursue THX approval must meet several

criteria. They must meet specifications for reverberation time versus volume,
picture sharpness, noise limits, and screen properties. In addition, 70mm film
houses were required to install a Kintek KT-9 subwoofer.

In the early eighties ('81-'82), Peter Custer and Dr. George Bird developed and patented Digital
Fluorescentsound, one of the earliest attempts to incorporate digital sound with motion pictures.
Digital fluorescent soundtracking is a high-data density digital sound record multiplexed with the
picture -- the digital information was actually printed on the picture. It was invisible on the screen,
but when excited by long-wave ultraviolet light in a readout stage that retrofits into the magnetic
track penthouse position on the projector, the surface of the film emits bright blue visable light, with
that image scanned, corrected and reproduced as six channels of analog signal without distortion or
noise.

Dolby SR was introduced in 1986 as Dolby's second generation professional
recording system. Not only was it designed to provide more noise reduction but it
also provides a number of other technological innovations that extend the
recording's dynamic range and gives the user a master recording that is

indistinguishable from live sound. SR is therefore referred to as a signal processing system rather
than just a noise reduction system. Dolby began to manufacture equipment which incorporated SR
and began selling it to the recording and film industries. In 1987,

Robocop

and Innerspace were the

first films to be released with Dolby SR.

In 1990, Kodak introduced

Cinema Digital Sound (CDS)

with the premiere of

Dick Tracy. The CDS system was a technology which used Delta Moduation
compression with a data reduction of 4:1. CDS was a 5.1 system with a left, center, right, left
surround, right surround, and low frequency effects channel and was available in both 35mm and
70mm formats. CDS was an optical technology with an array of pixels in place of the analogue
soundtrack. Unlike its successors, CDS had no analog backup. It failed in several screenings and
that seemed to mark its doom.

In 1992,

Dolby Laboratories

released

Dolby Digital

with the movie

Batman Returns. Dolby Digital is a 5.1 format based on Dolby's

AC-3

data reduction algorithm. The digital data is placed between the sprocket
holes, which allows the retention of the analogue tracks. This allows

only one release print to be made for each theater as well as an analogue backup. Dolby Digital has
been know under several names including Dolber Stereo SR*D in the theaters and Dolby Surround
Digital AC-3 for the home. Dolby Digital has been chosen as the sound standard for

DVD

released

in the United States as well as the new

DTV

standard for US television.

In 1993, two new digital sound formats were released: DTS and SDDS.

Digital

Theater Systems (DTS)

premiered with the film Jurassic Park. It involves

synchronizing a CD-ROM with the film by using a timecode track between the
picture and analogue soundtrack. It uses a data reduction algorithm they call
"Coherent Acoustics" to reduce the data required for this 5.1 system. Coherent Acoustics seems to
be a variation of Adaptive Delta Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). DTS is the first system since
CDS that is available for both 35mm and 70mm. Like Dolby Digital, DTS uses the analoug
soundtrack as a backup.

Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS)

premiered with the film Last Action Hero.

SDDS is unique in that it supports 7.1 sound. In has left, mid-left, center, mid-right,
right, left surround, right surround, and low frequency effects channel. It's is the first
system to exceed Cinerama as far as number of channels are concerned. The SDDS

digital data is on both edges of the 35mm piece of the film. This is redundant information to provide
added error correction. If that fails, the analog soundtrack provides additional support. SDDS uses
the

ATRAC

data reduction system originally developed for the Minidisc.