It looks like the movie theater is finally catching up with the home theater. What's that? Heresy you say? Well it's true. We've had the option for 7.1 channel surround (and more) at home for years while movie cinemas have been limited to 5.1 channel mixes. Oh sure, most movie theaters have more than five speakers plus a subwoofer (in some cases, a lot more), but even with ten speakers and four subwoofers, the sound actually mastered for the movie theater includes just five discrete channels plus the LFE (Low Frequency Effects) channel. When some of these 5.1 channel films make it to the home theater on Blu-ray Disc, creative sound mixers are taking those 5.1 channel "stems" as they are called and simulating side and rear channel surround tracks from that 5.1 mix in order to get a 7.1-channel soundtrack for home. But now the theater is once again leading the way on the audio front and Dolby is ensuring that you can get that same cinematic experience at home.
Last year, Toy Story 3 became the first theatrical title with a real 7.1-channel theatrical mix courtesy of Dolby Surround 7.1. This was followed shortly thereafter with Step Up 3D, which also appeared in true 7.1-channel surround in select theaters. Due to studio engineering choices and less than ideal mastering tools available for Dolby TrueHD at the time, these two films did make it onto Blu-ray with the 7.1 channel mix intact, but they were released on Blu-ray Disc in the competing surround format, DTS-HD Master Audio. As DTS-HD Master Audio is a lossless surround format, there was nothing to really complain about in these Blu-ray soundtracks. In fact, each was well regarded by critics for their powerful and dynamic soundtracks. See our Blu-ray reviews of Toy Story 3 and Step Up 3D respectively.
But now, with the Dreamworks animation film MEGAMIND, a film has been crafted right from the beginning for Dolby 7.1 Surround in theaters and has made it to onto Blu-ray Disc with that 7.1 channel soundtrack fully intact in a lossless Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel mix.
To celebrate the occasion, Dolby threw a Megamind Blu-ray release party and screening event in their Los Angeles headquarters. On the guest list were Erik Aadahl, Supervising Sound Editor of Megamind, as well as Brenda Ciccone, V.P. of Publicity for Paramount. Erik brought some neat toys to the party, namely reproductions of some of the sound props he and his team created in order to get the unique sounds used in the film. One was a sort of home made arc-welder/Van De Graaf generator. This buzzing, crackling gadget was used to generate the voices of Megamind's flying robot army. For the sound of a powerful laser death ray, Erik's Team created an enormous coil of copper tubing which generates a cool sort of high-tension wire sound in the studio without having to climb a 50 foot power line tower with a full array of microphones.
Erik espoused the benefits of Dolby Surround 7.1 in giving him the artistic freedom to generate an immersive soundscape that perfectly complements the on-screen action, drawing viewers into the reality of the film. He cued up a few segments in the film to demonstrate the effectiveness of this, including a slow 360 degree pan that happens while Megamind rotates his wheeled office chair while taunting his kidnapping victim (unsuccessfully I might add). The sound, while subtle, exactly conveyed the on-screen action without drawing attention to itself.
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