nube Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (7.1 DTS-HD MA) Level - 3 Stars (109.67dB composite) Extension - 1 Stars (26Hz) Dynamics - 5 Stars (29.92dB) Execution - 3 Stars (by poll) Overall - 3 Stars Recommendation - Rent (by poll) PvA: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmercy Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Oh man.....that looks....terribly highpassed/shelved. JSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nube Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Yep. While it is a slight improvement over the 1st in The Hobbit series, what the hell are they thinking compared to the original LOTR trilogy? There was no good reason for them to change from the team who designed/mixed the original LOTR movies, as they were outstanding in nearly all respects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toe Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 WTH happened to the bass in these films??? What a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmercy Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 It's almost a 'Battleship' filter... JSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddman71 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 What a shame!! A wasted opportunity. Better than the Hobbit but not by much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravity Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Sorry for sounding stupid but I thought the 26hz listed as extension was the lowest the movie went? But the chart goes lower? Sorry just trying to make more sense of it. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nube Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 The explanation for the extension rating, as well as the other ratings categories, is in the first post of the Low Frequency Content Thread, below the ratings. Basically, the extension rating is the -10dB point of whichever results in a better rating, the green (peak) or red (average) trace of the PvA graph of the entire movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamEmperor Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I told you guys it was awful Hate to say but 1 star from me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmercy Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 For the budget and principals (and their sonic history) involved, no 'hate to say' is necessary. They simply allowed the highpass knob to be turned up....Predator (the first one) has a similar PvA. Seems like all that was cared about in this film was finding ways to include all the old cast and selling the HFR. JSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcstyvie Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 1 Star for me. Smaug hits as deep as a .... Bass guitar. How pathetic. Even more shameful because the surround mix is spot on otherwise, if it had good bass, it would just be superstardom... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nube Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 I gave it 2 stars and rent. It has more bass than the first one, but I still don't like the movie. Compared to some of ya'll, taking this mix as a whole, I didn't think the sound design and mixing was very good at all. There were several points in the movie where the surround sound field seemed to disappear for no reason. Remember the Balrog scenes from LOTR: FOTR? Epic, right? The Smaug scenes should have been designed and mixed like that. They weren't. I just re-read The Hobbit. It's a solid book with a pretty good story. These Hobbit movies are dumbed down trash. So much of the plot and dialog is contrived, and feels like a money grab. It's like the recent Star Wars reboot compared to the original three. This Hobbit trilogy (so far) has none of the qualities that made the LOTR trilogy great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcstyvie Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Hmm, I will have to rewatch for the surround field drop outs. Didn't notice them the first time around. Was too busy moaning about the lack of bass lol. Agreed on the money grab. This book was a part 1 and part 2 film at MOST. The extra writing and story telling is just fluff to stretch the story line out to three films. Almost like Peter Jackson thinks he can re-write the Hobbit better than Tolkien...NOT...even close. IMO, this is worse than the SW trilogy reboot (which was pretty bad as far as stories go, but the sound mix is pretty darn good considering how old they are now, and it at least has some demo worthy bass material to go along with it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmercy Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 FINALLY saw this. Man, this film sucks. The audio is just slightly better than the first Hobbit, but that's like saying it's the turd w/ the least flies on it. Agreed on the 'worse than the SW prequel trilogy' statement. Episode I and II had great LF/ULF effects for their time, this series has neither the plot to keep you interested nor the sound to make it real. This story was at most 2 films worth of time. No need to extend it to 3, and to change the story so much. I cannot imagine what an ass-whipping it would be to watch the 'extended cuts' of these films.... JSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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