Godzilla (2014) Discussion & Poll - CLOSED

[nube]

Toe,

 

I dunno if it's artistic intent or not - I'm guessing not because it's there in every loud sound in the mix - but I think a great test is to view Godzilla right after listening to something you KNOW has a great, clean mix.  Something like Oblivion, or Scott Pilgrim, or even CATWS.  The difference across the entire mix, from the score to dialog to effects to surround sounds is DRAMATIC.  That's not overstating the difference, either - Godzilla's that bad.

[Audiofan1]

All in all the rest of the mix has no noticeable clipping (at least by ear!) to more accurately describe it, its the sound of the speaker bottoming out which is a bit frighting. As for the rest of the track its all good and a superb mix that really draws you in   

[Toe]

Thanks guys. Watched this last night and not sure if I should be thanking you guys or not!  I have never been sensitive to clipping as I mentioned above, but I actively listened for it last night and heard it several times throughout the film, mainly in the front channels. At least I can only assume what I heard was clipping which came across as a slightly harsh and distorted type sound. Not pretty. Now that I am conscious of it, I am guessing I will be noticing it more now and am curious to take some of the other known clipped tracks for a spin again like Tron Legacy.

 

LFE extension was clearly lacking compared to many tracks I have watched over the years, but at least they got the level right and hit mostly hit in all the right spots (a few missed spots, but nothing major). Even though not as deep as I would have liked, the bass that was there hit HARD which was a lot of fun! Even a little more depth though would have made it even better and more convincing.

 

All in all I still had a blast watching this in the HT at -1 from ref with my subs running hot 45hz and below and neither issue was enough to ruin the experience or keep me from future viewings, BUT you cant help but wonder how this would have been with these issues ironed out. Thanks again Nube/Maxmercy for the measurements.

 

Did Pacific Rim have bad clipping as well out of curiosity? I know PR and Godzilla are similar in the LFE area, so just curious if they also share clipping in common?

[Bossobass Dave]

This movie is just plain bad.

 

IMO, clipping is never an artistic choice. It's just bad production. There are infinite sound design choices in the 'artistic' folder. Intentional digital clipping is not one of them.

 

Lame script, dopey missile-eating monsters, super-dumb navy brass asking the scientific theorist what to do, parachute guys in with M-16s... yeah, that'll do it, single guy with spilled fuel kills the radioactive ova... and lives, of course. The rest is up to GO-ZEEE-RAH!!!, who then swims away quietly while the happy ending unfolds.

 

I did a lot of fast forwarding.

 

The only reason I'd even comment on all of that is there is no low end in the sound track. Exploding nuke plant, mega huge creatures smashing tall buildings, train wrecks, bridge destruction, fighter jets... so many missed opportunities. This is the type of flick that you buy strictly for demo scenes. You know, like "Holy S%$#!!, wait until you see/hear the '__________' scene!!!!" is the missing ingredient here. It's the one ingredient that's expected from this type of flick.

 

How loud the knob jockeys pushed the levels to is irrelevant. I wish someone would tell them that.

[Rowan611]

Watched it last night. Thought it was pretty ok; worth a buy for me for mindless fun. As for the audio part, wasn't so impressed. Even though I can't produce the really low db's, they still should be there; and it's painfully obvious they aren't. Kinda of disappointing.

 

I'm looking forward to Xmen DOFP and GOTG. I do hope that Edge of Tomorrow has some good audio. Until then Winter Soldier will have to do.

[Trigen]

This movie is just plain bad.

 

IMO, clipping is never an artistic choice. It's just bad production. There are infinite sound design choices in the 'artistic' folder. Intentional digital clipping is not one of them.

 

Lame script, dopey missile-eating monsters, super-dumb navy brass asking the scientific theorist what to do, parachute guys in with M-16s... yeah, that'll do it, single guy with spilled fuel kills the radioactive ova... and lives, of course. The rest is up to GO-ZEEE-RAH!!!, who then swims away quietly while the happy ending unfolds.

 

I did a lot of fast forwarding.

 

The only reason I'd even comment on all of that is there is no low end in the sound track. Exploding nuke plant, mega huge creatures smashing tall buildings, train wrecks, bridge destruction, fighter jets... so many missed opportunities. This is the type of flick that you buy strictly for demo scenes. You know, like "Holy S%$#!!, wait until you see/hear the '__________' scene!!!!" is the missing ingredient here. It's the one ingredient that's expected from this type of flick.

 

How loud the knob jockeys pushed the levels to is irrelevant. I wish someone would tell them that.

 

Other than the messy home version mix and the dark video transfer, this movie story is better than the previous Godzilla movies (except 54, 93, 95 and maybe 85). The Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel does provide some back story to the movie.

 

But, compared with modern day movies such as Guardians it does fall short.

 

It did become a generic action flick once Cranston's character died. Ken Watanabe (Dr. Seriawa) whould have taken the lead instead of Ford Brody.

 

However, for the current copy of Blu Ray, avoid or rent is the best option, until WB re-releases an fixed version.

[maxmercy]

Fixing Godzilla:

 

To go from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

Do the following:

 

Use a DSP solution (miniDSP nanoAVR is very powerful and can handle this processing) and add the following filters to these channels:

 

 

LFE:

 

1. Output Gain -7dB

2. Low shelf - Frequency 15Hz, Gain 5dB, Q of 0.707  (6 filters stacked, total of 30dB correction)

 

 

LCR and all Surrounds:

 

1. Output Gain -7dB

2. Low Shelf - Frequency 21Hz, Gain of 5dB, Q of 0.792  (6 filters stacked, total of 30dB correction)

 

 

Now Godzilla is as good as it is going to get.  It is a startling difference for those capable of reproducing <20Hz content.

 

You will have to turn up your master volume up by +7dB to have dialogue at the same level as the original.

 

NanoAVR config attached below

 

 

JSS

Godzilla BEQ.xml

[vfor91]

Though the clipping is bad and clearly detectable, I still enjoyed the film for what it was. Certainly could have been done a lot better.

Any interest to be had in ford family affairs perished along with cranston's character and the charisma he provided (though serizawa was cool but the burden was too much to carry).

 

   Loved the monster design and the unique sound effects offered throughout the film (if the clipping was not present and content went deeper would have been magical). The clipping to me was even felt through tactile sensation. An example this would be when godzilla first stomps his foot in Honolulu, a deep sensation is certainly present (think it goes down to 27 hz?) but it feels like it hits a wall and turns into a crunch as opposed to a wave sensation. Feels like it was purposefully done, as though it matches the circumstance (godzilla's foot smashing into concrete) a deeper unclipped sensation along with the midbass would have provided much more visceral impact imo.

 

Muto sounds were very cool, godzilla's roar could have extended deeper, atomic breath also could have extended much deeper then what it was, and clipping should not have been present at all.

[MKtheater]

I watched Godzilla at reference and thought the bass was OK and knew going in it did not go deep.  It was better than the recent filtered tracks though.  Now having said that I just watched a demo of WOTW to test my new setup and then thru Godzilla back in and the missing extension is so obvious.  At least it was loud to 20hz and really loud above. I thought the whole movie and effects were better than PR but I grew up watching Godzilla.  I still feel Cloverfield is the champ when it comes to monsters and bass.  Godzilla was ok but I remember saying holy shit when I watched Cloverfield.

[maxmercy]

You will say it again if you implement the correction above.

 

JSS

[MKtheater]

I don't understand the output for the Channels and LFE. My LFE or sub output on my NanoAVR is already calibrated for reference at -20 dBs. Do you mean turn down all channels 7 dBs then apply the low shelf? That makes sense with needing to raise the volume 7 dBs. Can we just add the filters and leave the output alone since every channel is the same at 7 dBs?

[maxmercy]

You may clip the nanoavr if you don't turn it down. Only way to know is to monitor it. If your master volume on the nano is -20dB, you should be good.

 

JSS

[Aj72]

This could have been incredible. Whilst I didn't mind the film I thought the magnitude wasn't conveyed well enough by the bass to really immerse me. Sure there were some moments there but the bass felt muted (as it probably was). I love it when there's a really clean and powerful feel but didn't get that with this one especially Godzilla's roar. I love a good roar (think Hulk, Hellboy 2 Mr Wink, Percy Jackson Minotaur) that gives the impression of blowing the hair back and creating it's own weather pattern but from a creature as big as that well it wouldn't blow out a candle. I marked four but in reality it's 3.5 rounded up and oh my what could've been with this one.

[maxmercy]

Apply the DSP correction above and that roar will improve.

 

JSS

[SME]

Just got around to watching this one.  This wasn't as bad as I expected.  It wasn't that loud either, except for the bass.  The bass was very loud, why?  Just because.  Not only were the bass effects repetitive, but they seemed to present themselves at completely inappropriate times.  This was especially true of the mid and upper bass which was, persistent and droning.  Note from the PVA that the highest peak is 117 dB at 85 Hz, and there's material > 100 dB all the to and beyond 150 Hz.  I felt my chest resonating a lot throughout those scenes.

 

Now about that clipping.  I noticed a pop when the nuke goes off at the beginning, which may have been on purpose.  I noticed some mild clipping during the airport tram scene.  I noticed more serious clipping in the scene on the train bridge.  This scene is, IMO the worst of them because the sound consists largely of very loud very clean bass.  The clipping in the left surround was the worst, but I had plenty of issues in the front channels too.  After that scene, clipping becomes more frequent, but not quite as easy to hear.

 

Unlike most movies I hear with bad clipping, this one actually seemed to have a reasonably high mix level.  I played it at -6, and felt the dialog was still a bit low.  Movies with clipping like this are usually too loud for me to want to play higher than -9.  I think this one was probably made to have near full-scale bass to begin with and then got remixed at -3, just enough to introduce some clipping.  Or it's possible that the clipping was in the theatrical mix, but so far no one has reported having heard clipping in the theater.  That doesn't mean it's not there.  I bet the loud bass on this challenged many theater playback systems out there.

[eljay]

"Droning" describes much of the LFE pretty well.  Overall, though, it was better than I expected, although not nearly:

- as plentiful as in T:AoE; or

- of as good a quality as in CA:TWS.

 

As for the movie, well, it was pretty dumb.