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The Low Frequency Content Thread (films, games, music, etc)


maxmercy

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Crazy!  How does "Ragnorok" compare to "Kon Tiki" in terms of sound design?  I loved the bass in "Kon Tiki" in the storm scene, but after that, the bass just overly gratuitous.  I commented to my wife that it sounded like a guy at the console just shoved the 20 Hz fader up to max.  Overall, it was great for a full body massage, but aside from the storm, I don't feel the bass execution was particularly good.

 

Is "Ragnorok" better in this regard?

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On the subject of movies with both insane bass and terrible execution, has anyone watched "The Neverending Story"?  It was a relatively low budget kids movie made in 1984.  I believe the one I saw was a Blu-ray re-release.  Right away, I could tell something was weird about the sound.  The bass line in the cheesy 80s pop song at the start was enormously slow and heavy.  By the time the movie got going, I had it figured out.

 

They took the soundtrack and rammed it through a subharmonic synthesizer.  Presumably they neither had a clue nor the proper monitoring equipment to know what they were doing.  There's nothing like hearing huge bass hits accompany rather mundane scenes.  It's just a cheesy kids movie, not an action flick.  Oh yeah, the subsonic analog synthesizer that pops up in the score at various points is quite a thrill!

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Wth718. So I have compared the beach scene in EOT and the flyover beach scene in BATTLE LA. I did think it was good but not in EOT league IMO. To me EOT has more weight, feel and massive impact to its big effects which convey better what's happening on screen. There's a real magnitude. B:LA has maybe a touch more content but no jaw dropping moments like EOT does (this is only the beach scene being referred to). The overall LFE presentation in EOT sounds cleaner too, less muffled and draws you into the action. I think I would rate this as the best LFE movie of 2014 retrospectively.

 

Also revisited Star Trek (romulans) this evening. Great bass ride and would rate this higher than I previously did.

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Also revisited Star Trek (romulans) this evening. Great bass ride and would rate this higher than I previously did.

I re-watched ST the other week - kind of a last chance saloon before the new downstairs neighbours moved in (and seemingly never went out again - wtf?  How are they in all day and all night??  Weirdos... :rolleyes: :mad: )

 

I really do think it is a go-to reference-quality track - well balanced between LFE and mains, with real weight and full-bandwidth effects, and the fact the story/film is good is just an added bonus.

 

I think I am getting just a hint of the really low stuff that Bosso says in on the track, so I can only hope I can eventually achieve it and enjoy the film even more!  (If my bloody neighbours ever actually leave the flat...)

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I know it's not out yet on BD / DVD, but has anyone else picked up the Interstellar soundtrack CD?

 

I bought it the other day and have listened to it tonight - seems to have some good dynamic range with some suitably heavy bass hits and organ chords :)

 

I'm not sure how low it goes but if anyone is able to graph it and work out the dynamic range as well, that would be cool :)

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Wth718. So I have compared the beach scene in EOT and the flyover beach scene in BATTLE LA. I did think it was good but not in EOT league IMO. To me EOT has more weight, feel and massive impact to its big effects which convey better what's happening on screen. There's a real magnitude. B:LA has maybe a touch more content but no jaw dropping moments like EOT does (this is only the beach scene being referred to). The overall LFE presentation in EOT sounds cleaner too, less muffled and draws you into the action. I think I would rate this as the best LFE movie of 2014 retrospectively.

 

Also revisited Star Trek (romulans) this evening. Great bass ride and would rate this higher than I previously did.

I respect that. I wonder how much of this is a function of our respective FR? By an objective reading, BLA has a much better low end, especially if you consider how much of the sub 20 stuff is the sine wave-type stuff in the first 30 seconds of the movie.

 

I'm flat to ~5Hz and really don't feel the weight that people talk about with EOT compared the BLA or a few others. And I've rewatched it several times, asked my brother (who's on suspended floors) his thoughts. Neither of us get the hype. Yes, it's clean, and varied, but....I dunno. Maybe I'm just crazy. lol

 

 

post-17-0-49206300-1413143945.png

 

post-20-0-20858900-1383750007.jpg

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Here's EoT without the intro and Battle LA:

 

EoT (no intro):

post-20-0-95661300-1416087609.jpg

 

Battle:LA:

post-20-0-20858900-1383750007.jpg

 

For the ULF capable, Battle:LA has a bit more content.  The avg graph gives it away.  More effects have more ULF in B:LA than EoT.  I like both films' sound designs.  The helicopter ride to the FOB in B:LA is one of the hardest hitting sonic scenes there is.

 

In EoT, I distinctly remember Emily Blunt's 'backpack rail guns' or whatever they were packing one hell of a punch.  It's like asking which is better, mustard or ketchup? 

 

JSS

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The graphs and Max's comments put things in perspective. I have dual 2400 Captivators so I would be missing the content below port tune (17.5Hz). The beach scene in B:LA could well be different on a system capable of fullbandwidth. I agree though splitting hairs. I would find it hard to sit through B:LA again but not so much for EOT.

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EoT= Evil overrated Track......evil because of that stupid, dangerous/sub threatening out of place opening scene. Nothing in EoT is as fun and impressive sound/LFE wise as the last ~15 minutes of BLA which leaves your jaw on the floor. Just my opinion.

 

Has Transporter 3 ever been measured? It won't be a 5 star track, but I would be curious to see the measurments since there is a fair bit of LFE.

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When comparing different systems there may be a huge difference in experience even if they measure equal in frequency response, because the systems are not equal in impulse response and tacitle feel properties like velocity potential.

 

Watched EOT yesterday, and found it to be a very good sound design, especially the bass - full frequency range, hard upper bass hits, heavy blasts with that wind effect experience, and lots of detail down low.

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I've been screwing around with square waves lately and all the EOT talk made me go back and mess around with the intro of death.  Never realized how much distortion is generated by using a square wave for the signal. 

 

Also thought it was weird how different the stereo full range waveform is from the re-directed filtered sub out.  I believe maxmercy posted something explaining this phenomenon in his 7.1 ULF potential thread.  http://data-bass.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/352-measuring-equipment-for-71-ulf-potential/?p=6235 -#76&77 posts.

post-1247-0-50426000-1426359998_thumb.jpg

post-1247-0-11845700-1426360007_thumb.jpg

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Which Panasonic are you using, Shred?

 

 

 

When comparing different systems there may be a huge difference in experience even if they measure equal in frequency response, because the systems are not equal in impulse response and tacitle feel properties like velocity potential.

I think I was with you till 'velocity potential' :blink: lol

 

Is that in specific reference to nearfield subs??

 

 

Regardless, 125dB of bass is pretty bonkers - I've had an indicated 126dB measured (close-mic'd) on a Radioshack SPL Meter thingy, giving an indicated 119dB at the seats, and I reckon it really is not something that anyone could realistically get away with unless in a detached house with good insulation properties or neighbours a long way away!!  I managed about 10 minutes of the opening of Art of Flight before I was scared the neighbours in the next block of apartments were going to call the cops :ph34r::lol:

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The PvA is not enough information to objectively compare bass in movies like EoT and B:LA.  If EoT has more wide-band content, it may be perceived to be more powerful than B:lLA despite the PvAs on a system with smooth frequency response.  I have a hunch that wide-band content sounds less impressive on systems with messy frequency response for various reasons.

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I've been screwing around with square waves lately and all the EOT talk made me go back and mess around with the intro of death.  Never realized how much distortion is generated by using a square wave for the signal. 

 

Also thought it was weird how different the stereo full range waveform is from the re-directed filtered sub out.  I believe maxmercy posted something explaining this phenomenon in his 7.1 ULF potential thread.  http://data-bass.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/352-measuring-equipment-for-71-ulf-potential/?p=6235 -#76&77 posts.

 

Unfortunately, due to many different lowpass settings based on players and AVRs and such, here at d-b we only measure the digital track before any processing that could make it have even greater amplitude.  Imagine if the EoT track included the LR channels....

 

JSS

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I was just wondering - has anyone bought the Interstellar soundtrack CD? 

 

I picked it up the other day and am impressed with the dynamic range on it - I can play it at something like -10 as the quiet bits are so quiet, yet the loud bits are LOUD!

 

My trusty radioshack SPL meter seems to vary between around high-50s dB in the quiet bits (my noisefloor with the noisiest amp in the world in the room lol) to around 91dB, seemingly (when played at -15MV and all settings as audyssey set them).

 

I'd love to see some hard data on it!  (I wish I had more time so I could learn speclab, but I'm struggling enough with REW... lol)

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