ABSTRACT
In movies, the picture and the sound combine to deliver the message. Pictures should be similar from venue to venue and soundtracks created in calibrated dubbing stages should sound similar in cinemas where they are reproduced. Recording engineers are expected to adjust their mixes to sound good in the dubbing stage, and everything being equal, customers in cinemas should hear what they created. High-frequency air attenuation progressively rolls off the direct sound at increasing listening distances. Real-world variations in cinema acoustics have a profound effect on the direct sound at lower frequencies when the steady-state sound is equalized to be flat. In order for cinema audiences to experience sound that is naturally balanced, neutral, the mixers must compensate for the frequency response peculiarities. All electronics are flat and loudspeakers are designed with a flattish on-axis performance target, thereby delivering a neutral direct sound to listeners.
