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

[nube]

Godzilla (2014) (7.1 DTS-HD MA)

 

Level        - 5 Stars (114.24dB composite)
Extension - 2 Stars (21Hz)
Dynamics - 4 Stars (25.17dB)

Execution - 3 Stars (by poll)

 

Overall     - 3.5 Stars

Recommendation - Rent (by poll)

 

Notes:  This is a decent reboot of the old & cheesy franchise.  However, it suffers from the blockbuster Hollywood loudness wars.

 

Mixers, probably at the behest of producers/directors,  sometimes feel the need to "turn it to 11" at the expense of dynamics and extension.  Godzilla suffers from that misconception.  It has very loud bass, but it's almost all 30Hz and above.  Without anything powerful below 30Hz, these giant monsters' footsteps feel weaker than the effect caused by closing your theater's door.  This says nothing of the destruction and havoc they wreak on screen.  All of it lacks the weight and impact that should accompany massive structures being destroyed.  Just dialing back the obvious low shelf filter by 10Hz would have fixed this one. 

 

And, it's not a very dynamic track.  Its dynamic range is compressed compared to many other big bass mixes we're seeing these days, which has the effect of making the big scenes seem less loud overall.  I think this might have been impacted to a degree by the sound team's reuse of some generic bass effects throughout the movie.

 

Long story short - yes, it's loud on average.  Yes, it sounds good on your ported subs, so you'll probably love it.  And, really, that's all that matters - whether or not you liked it.  But, here we're passionate about bass, and we want it to be amazing.  This is a one trick pony mix, and by no means is it amazing.  It doesn't feel convincing compared to many other movies. 

 

For instance, when thinking about VERY LARGE & POWERFUL things on screen, consider the impact each of these films had in your theater and then tell me which one's overall bass mix you prefer:

 

 

I know which scared the crap out of me, and it wasn't Godzilla.  That's not to say it's bad; it's just not close to the true MONSTER it could have been. 

 

EDIT:  maxmercy did a clipping analysis and found that the people who thought this was rough sounding were right: it clips pretty terribly.

 

PvA:

 

[Bossobass Dave]

I watched CATWS and then again in 3D. I liked the movie and the sound. I just randomly picked 3 scenes and haven't had time to isolate a couple of <20 Hz blips I felt while watching as of this post.

 

I ran the subs +5dB hot based on Nube's levels heads up.

 

 

 

 

Not a lot <20 Hz, but enough to add some weight and enjoyment with the low end kicked up.

 

Nube, can you please post the breakdown for the level star rating? I'll then do a quick compensation cal for watching the flicks for the 1st time. For example the above movie and tonight we'll screen Go-Zee-Rah with the subs calibrated flat based on your level star rating for that movie. It helps to avoid having to mess with it during playback, etc.

[nube]

Dave,

 

Thanks for the gorgeous scenecaps!    Everything is graphed from the frame of dBFS of the disc.  From the first post, and I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for, but:

 

Content is ranked according to the following categories:

Level - This is an average composite of the largest instantaneous peak (128dB possible on 7.1 content, 126dB on 5.1 content), the largest RMS peak (125ms window, maximum is 128dB with 0dBFS Square Wave on all channels in 7.1), and the overall RMS level of the entire piece. Star Ratings as follows:

5 Stars - >112.5dB
4 Stars - 110-112.5dB
3 Stars - 107.5-110dB
2 Stars - 105-107.5dB
1 Star - <105dB


Extension - This is the -10dB point of the piece, or 'how low does it go'? By reviewing both the Peak and Average Traces on the PvA graph (see below), we will use the lower of the two for the extension value, in Hz. Star Ratings as follows:

5 Stars - <10Hz
4 Stars - 10-15Hz
3 Stars - 15-20Hz
2 Stars - 20-25Hz
1 Star - >25Hz


Dynamics - This is a measure of the difference between the Instantaneous Peak Level and Average RMS Level of the piece, with Star Ratings as follows:

5 Stars - >27.5dB
4 Stars - 25-27.5dB
3 Stars - 22.5-25dB
2 Stars - 20-22.5dB
1 Star - <20dB


Execution - This category is entirely subjective, and will usually be polled. More stars for what sounds better to you in the low frequency department.

[Aj72]

Appreciate the graphs Bossobass on this one. I'm guessing chapter 11 is around the Helicarrier sequences?

[Trigen]

Scratch that...

[vfor91]

It may have just been my copy, but I am curious to hear whether anyone else detected any egregious audible clipping  on the dts 1.5mb track of godzilla. An example of this I have found to be (spoilers) when the male muto first meets up with the female and delivers the bomb to her, some of her cries seem have harsh clipping baked into the soundtrack itself.

 

The effect seems similiar to the dvd dts track on war of the worlds after the emergence scene where the tripod first lets out it's foghorn cry and very obvious/audible clipping is heard in what I presume to be the center channel track. To double check it not simply being my gear I lower the volume from -10 to -35 and still detect the clipping sounds.

 

Simply curious, if it is to much of a bother I totally understand.

[Aj72]

I'm not sure if it's clipping (it may well be) but I get exactly what your saying about the tripod foghorn cry. I used to think something was wrong with my centre channel until I heard that scene played on someone else's system and it did the same thing. I also noticed a couple of other scenes in that film do the same thing to the centre channel (one where "Tom Cruise yells at son Robbie" the same sort of scratchy sound emanates from the centre). These are pretty obvious too but only seem to happen in centre channel. Very annoying and makes the system sound terrible. Wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is what clipping is and why people find it so offensive. Occasionally notice more minor scratchy sounds coming from the centre during dialogue in other movies too. The better sounding films dialogue are crystal clear in the centre normally (no scratchiness at all) and it's a good reference for me as to whether I like the overall audio mix (bass excluded).

[SME]

It may have just been my copy, but I am curious to hear whether anyone else detected any egregious audible clipping  on the dts 1.5mb track of godzilla. An example of this I have found to be (spoilers) when the male muto first meets up with the female and delivers the bomb to her, some of her cries seem have harsh clipping baked into the soundtrack itself.

 

I will happily provide my subjective opinion once I have the chance to view this film.  Too bad it already looks like another let-down on the audio front.  Haha, I just remembered that I heard some pretty gross clipping on my system in the trailer.  I had just assumed that was done to make it sound cool on an iPod, but I guess it was a true preview to the nature of sound on this film.  Now that I think about it, I remember getting a huge grin when watching the trailer for Pompei.  Of course, it was obvious even then that it was going to be a terrible movie.  Perhaps previews have some usefulness after all.  (As an aside, we need a web page that details precisely how many bass sweeps are to be found in various movie trailers.)

 

It's always possible that the clipping heard was introduced intentionally.  However, usually such clipping gets processed to soften it and enhance certain aspects of it, and the effect itself gets mixed in at a reasonable level.  On the other hand, if the mix itself pushes beyond digital full-scale or another hard limit near digital full-scale, then the clipping will be very harsh.  Not only is there no filtering to remove some of the high frequency energy, but also the level of the sound level of the sound and its clipping is also very high.  How bad it sounds depends upon how much of the signal is exceeding the limit.

 

If the excursions are isolated and associated with strong transients in the program material such as gun shots, then they may go unnoticed.  When the clipping occurs with program material that is continuous but has strong micro-dynamics (i.e. high dynamic variation over short time scales) such as dialog, then one will likely here the clipping as a rapid succession of clicks.  The density of the clicks and severity of of distortion depends on how many peaks are pushing over the limit.  An actor yelling passionately may clip rather severely for the strongest syllable but still reveal a few clicks here and there on the parts of speech that are more emphasized.  If continuous program material with low dynamic variation is mixed into clipping, then a lot more of the signal will be pushed beyond the limits, and the sound will be very harsh.  This kind of sound can also fry tweeters quite readily if played back at high enough level for long enough.

 

I've seen arguments put forth that the clipping resulting from peaks limited to 20% *above* digital full-scale is inaudible, a statement I strongly disagree with.  In reality, this depends entirely on the program material, and crucially, the fidelity of the playback system.  In the idiotic quest to make things as loud as possible, it's not unheard of to purposely mix things a bit hotter than 100% full scale.  The loudness increases not just because of the increased sound level but also because of the psychoacoustic effect of harmonics contained in the "inaudible" clipping.  In reality, such clipping is only inaudible to the extent that it may be perceived as an increase in loudness instead of as clipping.  That said, a high fidelity playback system may more readily reveal its true nature.

 

The effect seems similiar to the dvd dts track on war of the worlds after the emergence scene where the tripod first lets out it's foghorn cry and very obvious/audible clipping is heard in what I presume to be the center channel track. To double check it not simply being my gear I lower the volume from -10 to -35 and still detect the clipping sounds.

 

Simply curious, if it is to much of a bother I totally understand.

 

I have not yet watched WOTW, but a fog horn would probably have little micro-dynamic variation.  If this sound is mixed even slightly too hot, it's enough to cause clipping that's likely very audible.  The relative purity of the tone in the sound effect likely also makes it easier to hear the clipping.  Note that bass often continuous, strong, relatively narrow band effects with little micro dynamic variation, so the clipping introduced by bass mixed too hot is very likely to be audible.

 

I'm not sure if it's clipping (it may well be) but I get exactly what your saying about the tripod foghorn cry. I used to think something was wrong with my centre channel until I heard that scene played on someone else's system and it did the same thing. I also noticed a couple of other scenes in that film do the same thing to the centre channel (one where "Tom Cruise yells at son Robbie" the same sort of scratchy sound emanates from the centre). These are pretty obvious too but only seem to happen in centre channel. Very annoying and makes the system sound terrible. Wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is what clipping is and why people find it so offensive. Occasionally notice more minor scratchy sounds coming from the centre during dialogue in other movies too. The better sounding films dialogue are crystal clear in the centre normally (no scratchiness at all) and it's a good reference for me as to whether I like the overall audio mix (bass excluded).

 

From your descriptions, I'm quite confident that you are identifying clipping.  That's not to say that every instance of clicking or harsh sound is due by clipping.  For example, pushing a fader down too fast can introduce clicking that's not really clipping but is still unpleasant to hear.  As already mentioned, many harsh sounds may be made to sound harsh on purpose.  I don't completely object to this practice within reasonable limits, I mean artistic license is important, right?  The thing is, the processing that is used to make sounds seem louder is not much like any process in nature.  To someone with a less capable system, perhaps it might suggest to the listener that "something big is happening", since he/she is used to hearing distortion whenever "big things are happening", but the sound will be far from realistic.  On the other hand, if the sound is skillfully recorded and retains both strong dynamics (though not necessarily as high as in real life) and full-range bass capture, then on a capable reproduction system, it will sound quite natural, literally surprisingly so in fact.

 

What I am very curious about is if this clipping is mostly introduced in the theatrical production process, or if it's mostly introduced during the home release mastering process.  I wonder how much the loudness war practices of popular music really do influence film.  I also wonder if loudness is intentionally introduced into at least some home releases.  The reasoning might go something like this: most users play at home at reduced levels, say reference -20, but the director wants to make sure that the home viewer gets "the same experience" that he/she would get in the theater.  So the mixer sets about to create a soundtrack that sounds as loud at -20 as the one in the theater.  This is probably a bit extreme, not that people don't listen at -20 or even lower, but that anyone would attempt to create a film mix "referenced" to playback at -20.  I have heard previews that sounded like they used a -20 reference.  They sound pretty bad too.

 

The funny thing about dynamics on soundtracks is that the more heavily produced stuff (like big budget film releases) often sounds a lot less natural and dynamic; whereas, low budget work often has great dynamics.  It seems often that the more minimalistic the production, the better it sounds.  For example, the intro to "Beasts of the Southern Wild" depicts fireworks that, while not being especially loud, leave an impression.  They sound a lot more like the real thing than any simulated example.  I have come to enjoy the Danley recordings (fireworks, Harley motorcycle, parade, etc.)  I think the Danley fireworks recording may be one of the best "slam" demos in my room.  It's unbelievable how close to reality it sounds (and feels).  I like movie soundtracks that give me that impression, even though they are few and far between.

[Audiofan1]

I posted on this over on AVS referring to possible clipping in Godzilla (purchased disc) ! At least its good to know it may be indeed be imbedded in the mix itself, it was only maybe twice or so! once in the left rear surround and once up front, other than that it was clean with great dynamics. I went perhaps +3db! over 0 on the volume on some scenes and it was killer.

[vfor91]

Interesting posts. I'd like to further clarify that the nature of the clipping in the godzilla scene I described earlier, and the first foghorn played in war of worlds is different from other harsh clipping in other film soundtracks (which may even make use of said clipping for artistic purposes). The clipping experienced in godzilla and war of the worlds during the scenes I have mentioned may also have been an artistic liberty, but they are much more distinct in their clipping then most any other film I have heard (where one needs to look at actual graphs to confirm their suspicions of clipping resulting in a harsh soundtrack).

 

 The godzilla and war of world scenes I mentioned literally break apart into a static infused mess (even at low listening levels and lasts merely a second or two). These scenes however are unique in either film and may perhaps be the only instances  they are heard throughout the film, as we hear more foghorns in war of worlds with rich deep bass and zero audible aberrations. Godzilla also has more female muto cries without the same type of harsh sound as the bomb delivery scene cries. 

[maxmercy]

I will happily provide my subjective opinion once I have the chance to view this film.  Too bad it already looks like another let-down on the audio front.  Haha, I just remembered that I heard some pretty gross clipping on my system in the trailer.  I had just assumed that was done to make it sound cool on an iPod, but I guess it was a true preview to the nature of sound on this film.  Now that I think about it, I remember getting a huge grin when watching the trailer for Pompei.  Of course, it was obvious even then that it was going to be a terrible movie.  Perhaps previews have some usefulness after all.  (As an aside, we need a web page that details precisely how many bass sweeps are to be found in various movie trailers.)

 

It's always possible that the clipping heard was introduced intentionally.  However, usually such clipping gets processed to soften it and enhance certain aspects of it, and the effect itself gets mixed in at a reasonable level.  On the other hand, if the mix itself pushes beyond digital full-scale or another hard limit near digital full-scale, then the clipping will be very harsh.  Not only is there no filtering to remove some of the high frequency energy, but also the level of the sound level of the sound and its clipping is also very high.  How bad it sounds depends upon how much of the signal is exceeding the limit.

 

If the excursions are isolated and associated with strong transients in the program material such as gun shots, then they may go unnoticed.  When the clipping occurs with program material that is continuous but has strong micro-dynamics (i.e. high dynamic variation over short time scales) such as dialog, then one will likely here the clipping as a rapid succession of clicks.  The density of the clicks and severity of of distortion depends on how many peaks are pushing over the limit.  An actor yelling passionately may clip rather severely for the strongest syllable but still reveal a few clicks here and there on the parts of speech that are more emphasized.  If continuous program material with low dynamic variation is mixed into clipping, then a lot more of the signal will be pushed beyond the limits, and the sound will be very harsh.  This kind of sound can also fry tweeters quite readily if played back at high enough level for long enough.

 

I've seen arguments put forth that the clipping resulting from peaks limited to 20% *above* digital full-scale is inaudible, a statement I strongly disagree with.  In reality, this depends entirely on the program material, and crucially, the fidelity of the playback system.  In the idiotic quest to make things as loud as possible, it's not unheard of to purposely mix things a bit hotter than 100% full scale.  The loudness increases not just because of the increased sound level but also because of the psychoacoustic effect of harmonics contained in the "inaudible" clipping.  In reality, such clipping is only inaudible to the extent that it may be perceived as an increase in loudness instead of as clipping.  That said, a high fidelity playback system may more readily reveal its true nature.

 

 

I have not yet watched WOTW, but a fog horn would probably have little micro-dynamic variation.  If this sound is mixed even slightly too hot, it's enough to cause clipping that's likely very audible.  The relative purity of the tone in the sound effect likely also makes it easier to hear the clipping.  Note that bass often continuous, strong, relatively narrow band effects with little micro dynamic variation, so the clipping introduced by bass mixed too hot is very likely to be audible.

 

 

From your descriptions, I'm quite confident that you are identifying clipping.  That's not to say that every instance of clicking or harsh sound is due by clipping.  For example, pushing a fader down too fast can introduce clicking that's not really clipping but is still unpleasant to hear.  As already mentioned, many harsh sounds may be made to sound harsh on purpose.  I don't completely object to this practice within reasonable limits, I mean artistic license is important, right?  The thing is, the processing that is used to make sounds seem louder is not much like any process in nature.  To someone with a less capable system, perhaps it might suggest to the listener that "something big is happening", since he/she is used to hearing distortion whenever "big things are happening", but the sound will be far from realistic.  On the other hand, if the sound is skillfully recorded and retains both strong dynamics (though not necessarily as high as in real life) and full-range bass capture, then on a capable reproduction system, it will sound quite natural, literally surprisingly so in fact.

 

What I am very curious about is if this clipping is mostly introduced in the theatrical production process, or if it's mostly introduced during the home release mastering process.  I wonder how much the loudness war practices of popular music really do influence film.  I also wonder if loudness is intentionally introduced into at least some home releases.  The reasoning might go something like this: most users play at home at reduced levels, say reference -20, but the director wants to make sure that the home viewer gets "the same experience" that he/she would get in the theater.  So the mixer sets about to create a soundtrack that sounds as loud at -20 as the one in the theater.  This is probably a bit extreme, not that people don't listen at -20 or even lower, but that anyone would attempt to create a film mix "referenced" to playback at -20.  I have heard previews that sounded like they used a -20 reference.  They sound pretty bad too.

 

The funny thing about dynamics on soundtracks is that the more heavily produced stuff (like big budget film releases) often sounds a lot less natural and dynamic; whereas, low budget work often has great dynamics.  It seems often that the more minimalistic the production, the better it sounds.  For example, the intro to "Beasts of the Southern Wild" depicts fireworks that, while not being especially loud, leave an impression.  They sound a lot more like the real thing than any simulated example.  I have come to enjoy the Danley recordings (fireworks, Harley motorcycle, parade, etc.)  I think the Danley fireworks recording may be one of the best "slam" demos in my room.  It's unbelievable how close to reality it sounds (and feels).  I like movie soundtracks that give me that impression, even though they are few and far between.

 

 

Terrific post and emerging dialogue.

 

JSS

[maxmercy]

Godzilla's Center Channel:

 

 

It clips.  Horribly.  That is not a small amount of red.

 

Godzilla's LFE:

 

 

Not exempt either.

 

 

Someone said Surround Left.  They were RIGHT.

 

Godzilla's Left Surround:

 

 

Wow.  This has to be a new record.  That is some craptastic stuff right there, WarnerBros/Legendary Pictures.....

 

 

JSS

 

 

[djbluemax1]

It may have just been my copy, but I am curious to hear whether anyone else detected any egregious audible clipping  on the dts 1.5mb track of godzilla. An example of this I have found to be (spoilers) when the male muto first meets up with the female and delivers the bomb to her, some of her cries seem have harsh clipping baked into the soundtrack itself.

 

The effect seems similiar to the dvd dts track on war of the worlds after the emergence scene where the tripod first lets out it's foghorn cry and very obvious/audible clipping is heard in what I presume to be the center channel track. To double check it not simply being my gear I lower the volume from -10 to -35 and still detect the clipping sounds.

 

Simply curious, if it is to much of a bother I totally understand.

I tried watching that scene in Godzilla again and while there was a little, I didn't hear any particularly objectionable clipping in the female Muto's cries although I did hear some clipping, oddly enough, in an exhalation just before a cry, when the male Muto first presents it with the bomb.

 

As far as the first foghorn blast in WOTW, I'm willing to call that one artistic license as it's much more obvious even at lower volumes. I'd like to think that it was the mixer's intent to make it sound like that to emphasize the loudness/harshness/impact of that first blast, (especially since our ears can distort very loud sounds in real life too).

 

 

Max

 

P.S. as an aside, while I sometimes hear clipping and distortion on various tracks at various times, it's objectionability seems to be related to how it's used, i.e. in some cases, I find it seems to fit with the visuals/situation (like when they use clipping for jet sound effects etc.), and at other times, it just seems to be an unintentional lapse on the mixer's part (like some of the channels being clipped in the Air Battle near the end of Tron: Legacy).

[nube]

Just went back to Godzilla very briefly to check out the 0:50:00 - 0:59:30 mark that shows tons of clipping on the graph, and it's just downright atrocious.

 

 

Every footfall of Muto in the jungle is clipped; the tsunami is clipped; the score is clipped when Godzilla finally shows up to meet Muto at the airport; the train derailment is clipped; the plane explosions are clipped; Godzilla's roar is clipped.

 

 

It's pretty egregious, and it's ALL audibly harsh, distorted, and/or crunchy sounding.  I'm guessing that all the big effects are clipped throughout the whole movie, if that scene is any indication.  I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention the first time we viewed it because I would have been a lot more denigrating of the perfect audio scores this mix has received all over the internet.

 

At this point we've conclusively disproven the following assertions made by paid review sites:

 

Godzilla's mix has very deep bass extension.  It's doesn't.  It's just loud. 

 

Godzilla's mix is very dynamic.  It's not.  It's just loud.

 

Godzilla's mix is crystal clear, reference quality audio.  It's not.  It's just loud.

 

I think this stuff proves that even the pro reviewers think louder = better.  Sad, really.

[maxmercy]

 

Max

 

P.S. as an aside, while I sometimes hear clipping and distortion on various tracks at various times, it's objectionability seems to be related to how it's used, i.e. in some cases, I find it seems to fit with the visuals/situation (like when they use clipping for jet sound effects etc.), and at other times, it just seems to be an unintentional lapse on the mixer's part (like some of the channels being clipped in the Air Battle near the end of Tron: Legacy).

 

Agreed.  It can be used to great effect at times, but not when a significant portion of the audio in the center channel is kissing 0dBFS, and some waveforms get chopped off pretty terribly and reversed to a certain extent....

 

JSS

[djbluemax1]

Just went back to Godzilla very briefly to check out the 0:50:00 - 0:59:30 mark that shows tons of clipping on the graph, and it's just downright atrocious.

 

 

Every footfall of Muto in the jungle is clipped; the tsunami is clipped; the score is clipped in when Godzilla finally shows up to meet Muto at the airport; the train derailment is clipped; the plane explosions are clipped; Godzilla's roar is clipped.

 

 

It's pretty egregious, and it's ALL audibly harsh, distorted, and/or crunchy sounding. I'm guessing that all the big effects are clipped throughout the whole movie, if that scene is any indication. I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention the first time we viewed it because I would have been a lot more denigrating of the perfect audio scores this mix has received all over the internet.

 

At this point we've conclusively disproven the following assertions made by paid review sites:

 

Godzilla's mix has very deep bass extension. It's doesn't. It's just loud.

 

Godzilla's mix is very dynamic. It's not. It's just loud.

 

Godzilla's mix is crystal clear, reference quality audio. It's not. It's just loud.

 

I think this stuff proves that even the pro reviewers think louder = better. Sad, really.

Just went back to view these scenes again and you're right, there's quite a bit of audible clipping in the track.

 

Once again though, I found it oddest when the Muto takes a breath after swallowing, probably because the other occasions are accompanied by loud sounds that could potentially clip our hearing IRL (although the clipping during the swell of a wave was also out of place).

 

I'll have to try watching this again when I'm not so tired. The first time I tried watching it, I fell asleep by the father & son reunion. Tried watching the rest when I woke up, but with the sound turned down and drifting in and out of sleep LOL.

 

Didn't get the best impression of the movie aside from the bass reminding me of PR. I think I actually enjoyed the Matthew Broderick reboot's entertainment value a little better overall. Maybe that might change if I'm not dozing off during the movie.

 

Definitely sub-par for bass (and entertainment value overall) vs CATWS.

 

 

Max

[SME]

Anyone see Godzilla in a theater with decent capabilities?  Clipping that bad would almost certainly be audible in a movie theater, provided that it isn't running out of headroom for those passages.   I know audio memory isn't very reliable, but I'd really like to figure out where most of this clipping is getting introduced.

 

As for using clipping intentionally to imitate a very loud real life effect, I don't think it works well unless it's done very skillfully.  The thing is, digital clipping sounds nothing like ear clipping, which involves both mechanical and psychoacoustic mechanisms.  In any case, most of the really loud sounds in real life like jets and rockets are dominated by lower frequency energy, enough that you'll be feeling intense pounding in your body before your ears start distorting significantly.  I'm rather glad movie sound effects aren't as loud as their real life counter parts, but in the interest of realism, I believe getting the bass right goes a long way.  I think the Hell Carrier engines were done well in this respect.  The real life event would likely be loud enough to damage internal organs, but we can suspend our disbelief very well when we hear the same sound as we would from a safe distance.  In the Space Shuttle launch recording I posted, I believe SPL peaked well above 120 dB with the highest energy in the low 20s Hz and the bulk of the energy lying below that.  There is no ear clipping at all, just a lot of pounding bass.

[Aj72]

If deliberate the first clipping Foghorn cry after tripod emergence in WOTW didn't add to the realism at all IMO. Just made me question the integrity of my centre channel and cringe a bit. Other than that the movie for bass was just okay I guess.........

[3ll3d00d]

I've recently been trying to get speclab working & I think I'm almost there. I'm doing it primarily for in room measurements but thought I'd go back through some old films that I remember being heavy hitting to see what they look like on paper. I'm JRiver user so have been using desertdome's method (http://www.avsforum.com/forum/113-subwoofers-bass-transducers/1333462-new-master-list-bass-movies-frequency-charts-221.html#post23468771) to extract scenes and put them through speclab. 

 

The first one I tried is a Korean war film called Taegukgi ( I remember being pretty intense to watch, albeit it was a few years ago. I haven't set levels correctly yet (just bumped it up so it was close to the max for the scene from 28-31 mins) but it looks like it has pretty serious extension, or at least the effects look to be at the same level through the full frequency range.

 

 

btw, is this the thread for questions on how to get this setup correctly or is there another one I should post in? I did extract the -0.5dB tone from the soho54 disc in the same way but if I set the scale to hit -10 on that and then play taegukgi back then the level is at -40 ish.

[nube]

I think anywhere works to ask questions.    That's an interesting looking scene - great extension, but hard to tell what the real levels are.  Wish it was on Blu-ray here in the USA.

 

Some notes:  You're running it too hot.  If you're measuring the digital mix, and not measuring the output from your AVR or disc player, then you don't need to bump levels with an offset at all.  That's how maxmercy does scenecaps, and it's the purist's way - SpecLab will present exactly what's on the disc at exactly the levels they're mixed at. 

 

I add an offset just to get nice colors that match the old way people used to do it, but it's important not to overemphasize them too.  There are almost no scenes in any movie that are hot enough to show up as all purple, or even close to it.  In fact, the loudest effect typically found in any movie mix is -12dBFS, or thereabouts.  That's because the mixers have to leave room in the mix for other frequencies in the entire bandwidth. 

[maxmercy]

I think he just needs to modify the color bar.  The signal is not very hot at all on the right.

 

JSS

[nube]

True!  Man, I'm slipping these days. 

[3ll3d00d]

OK right, this is with no amplitude offset and just fiddling with the colours.

 

 

Does that look correct now? I put the wav on my gdrive (in case that helps get the setting right)

 

The scene in question is a rather visceral artillery bombardment. It is from the DVD btw, this one - http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/656483/-/Product.html

[Trigen]

Having watched the movie (Godzilla) twice in a movie theater (ex-Imax 15/70, now with Dolby 6.1) when it was released, I do not remember the audio mix sounding as harsh, muddy or compressed and sounds like a different mix for home release.

 

Are all the graphs for the movie from the actual blu ray/lossless version/torrent or a lossy version?

[nube]

Having watched the movie (Godzilla) twice in a movie theater (ex-Imax 15/70, now with Dolby 6.1) when it was released, I do not remember the audio mix sounding as harsh, muddy or compressed and sounds like a different mix for home release.

 

Are all the graphs for the movie from the actual blu ray/lossless version/torrent or a lossy version?

 

All maxmercy and my graphs are the actual retail lossless Blu-ray disc's mix, unless otherwise noted.