L to R: Tom Kodros, Blair Francey, Nick Iannelli — Toronto AES Section -- January 20 2015
Rob DiVito made the introductions and discussed the background for the meeting. He introduced the speakers presenting for the evening. Nick Iannelli (Deluxe Toronto), Martin Pilchner (Pilchner Schoustal International) and Thomas Kodros (Dolby Laboratories), gave presentations on the design philosophy and upgrade of the Deluxe facilities.
Mr. Iannelli spoke first discussing the change in location and the difficulties associated with that. The talk then moved on to the architectural challenges involved in the new space and the changes that took place in the new location. He feels the rooms are the best sounding — anywhere! He thanked the individuals involved for the change.
At the close of his talk he outlined the itinerary for the evening.
Mr. Pilchner's talk focused discussion on one room as it laid the foundation for the design of the other rooms. With the aid of slides, he outlined the architectural changes displaying the blueprints and photos of the construction process. The new rooms have much lower noise levels than the old rooms.
Mr. Kodros spoke next. After thanking everyone, he gave an overview of the Dolby Atmos system; also touching on how sound formats and technology have advanced over the years. Next topic was the history of immersive surround sound audio — going over the timeline of the various formats leading up to the Atmos system. Finally there was a technical overview of theatre design, mixing tools and workflow utilized for the Atmos system.
In response to a question concerning whether dialogue was confined to a channel or an object: the majority of dialogue is still in the bed channels, though some productions have dialogue in the surround regions.
After a break, the audience was divided into two groups for a tour of the facilities.
The tour consisted of a demonstration of the Atmos system in the main room via several demos over the 30-channel system. The panning was the focus of the talk. There are many panning template presets available. The tour included the other mix rooms where the audience could compare the translatability of the same demos on 5.1 and 7.1 systems. Also included were the computer rooms, shipping/receiving, ADR studio, and as well, a room dedicated to uncovering piracy on the Internet.
Chairman Blair Francey gave each of the presenters an AES certificate of appreciation and AES coffee mugs at the end of the meeting.
