Shout out to Dolby Labs.

[adogg4629]

I just wanted to say that the audio post work on this film was stellar. I didn't mention it in my "2 cents" review because I didn't want to get too technical. http://www.imdb.com/company/co0047023/. Dolby labs is where the film was mixed, and looking over their credits you have to assume that they have one hell of a room because I've not had audio mix issues with any of the films listed there. This is in stark contrast with what has come out of Skywalker Sound over the past decade . I'm not trying to disparage the mixers themselves, because they do great work. But there has got to be something wrong with out those mix stages are calibrated because many of those films seem to be burying the dialogue when translated to theaters or to home. I think that it would be wise for the techs over at Skywalker to take a look into this before their next slate of summer flicks hit the screens.

As for Dolby, you guys are doing something right with your rooms, because everything seems to translate really well. And yes...I am VERY envious of this. 

I also want to give a shout out to Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle  and the rest of the audio post team.  A room isn't everything, and it takes a great team like you guys to deliver a great sounding mix.

If anybody is in the LA area, Dredd is worth checking out at the Gurman's Chinese theater in Hollywood.  Even if you have already seen it elsewhere.  My guess is that the sheer size of the room combined with the top notch system installed there makes it one of the best sounding theaters I've had the pleasure to watch a movie in.

Best,

Aaron



Aaron Davies- audio NERD!

[Steve Green]

Definitely agree on that, it's the first film I've seen in a while where the dialogue hasn't been buried - was really impressed with it at the fan screening.

[adogg4629]

Being that I'm a mixer, I always hyper critical about these things.  However I am not the only person who has been noticing a trend over the past decade with the big blockbusters to stress the hyper-reality of the ambience, sound effects and music to the detriment of the dialogue.  I think I unfairly blasted Skywalker in my above post as there have been great sounding films that have come out of there.  The issue is not limited to Skywalker Sound, as it also seems to be a creative trend for the tentpoles to highlight the booms and blasts from a lot of films and ignore the dialogue.  The fact that many venues don't have properly calibrated rooms, compounds this problem.  If you have a sonically packed film that sounds great in a large perfectly calibrated theater with state of the art sound reproduction for the mix, yet cannot translate to the theatrical venues in which you distribute your films, then that is an issue you should account for.  There is no perfect system by any means.  But it is nice when a film take special care to give the dialogue the extra chance it needs to peek above the chaos of an action set piece.  The Avengers did a great job with this, as did Avatar (the later being mixed at Skywalker).