Cinematic Sound Scene Description and Rendering Control

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE Mot. Imag J.
Volume: 124, No. 8, pp. 47–53
Abstract: Surround sound has been making cinematic storytelling more compelling and immersive for more than 30 years. The first widely deployed surround systems used magnetic recording. Later, optical recording became standard, enabling up to 7.1 channels of audio. Most recently, a new paradigm for distribution and playback of cinema sound has been deployed that carries audio streams as well as parameters (metadata) to render the audio customized to the available loudspeaker configuration. In the process of developing this system, it has become clear that the art of cinema sound requires more than a physical description of sound sources and the acoustic environment. The audio distribution format must allow the sound designer, mixer, and director to express their intent in ways that go beyond audio scene description and that include explicit instructions on how to render the content in exhibition. In this paper, we will describe the metadata characteristics that enable preservation of the essential elements of a surround mix to ensure consistent and reliable translation to cinemas. We also present data collected from recent cinema soundtracks to show how such data are used in practice.
Publication Date: 2015-11-01
DOI: 10.5594/j18640
ISSN: Print: 1545-0279 | Electronic: 2160-2492
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/j18640
Author(s): Charles Q. Robinson
bio
Charles Robinson, Dolby Laboratories, received BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Illinois, where he specialized in signal processing and began his professional career just as realtime digital audio signal processing was becoming a practical reality. Since joining Dolby Research in his 1995 areas of research have included, acoustics, audio coding, interactive audio and spatial audio with applications to broadcast, gaming and cinema. Robinson has authored or co-authored more than a dozen patents in audio signal processing, contributed to two Emmy-award winning products, and is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and the Institute of Electrial and Electronics Engineering. Most recently, as audio research lead for the Dolby Atmos program, Robinson was responsible for the conception of the audio format and loudspeaker layout embodied by Dolby Atmos.
Nicolas Tsingos
bio
Nicolas Tsingos, Dolby Laboratories, designed and prototyped the authoring and rendering tools for the Dolby Atmos cinema technology and the spatial coding tools for Dolby Atmos content delivery to the home. Tsingos received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France. He has more than 15 years of research experience in computer graphics, interactive audio rendering, and acoustic simulation. In addition to his current position at Dolby Laboratories, Tsingos holds a tenure research position at INRIA—the French National Institute for Computer Science—and previously was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories.
Keyword(s): Surround, Sound, Spatial Audio, Metadata
Copyright: © 2015 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Scalable Format and Tools to Extend the Possibilities of Cinema Audio [Active]
TU-R, “BS.2076-0 Audio definition model,” https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BS.2076-0-201506-I/en EXTERNAL
G. Dickins, M. Flax, A. McKeag, and D. McGrath, “Optimal 3D-Speaker Panning,” Proc. AES 16th International Conference: Spatial Sound Reproduction, Rovaniemi, Finland, pp. 42-426, April 1999. EXTERNAL
R. L. Klatzky, “Allocentric and Egocentric Spatial Representations: Definitions, Distinctions, and Interconnections,” in Spatial Cognition, Springer-Verlag: Berlin, 1998. EXTERNAL
D. de Vries, Wave Field Synthesis, Audio Engineering Society: New York, 2009. EXTERNAL
N. Tsingos, C. Q. Robinson, D. P. Darcy, P. A. Crum, “Evaluation of Panning Algorithms for Theatrical Applications,” Proc. 2nd International Conference on Spatial Audio, Erlangen, Germany, 2014. EXTERNAL
T. Lossius, P. Baltazar, and T. de la Hogue, “DBAP–Distance-Based Amplitude Panning,” Proc. International Conference on Computer Music (ICMC), Montreal, Canada, 2009. EXTERNAL
D. Kostadinov, J. D. Reiss, and V. Mladenov, “Evaluation of Distance Based Amplitude Panning for Spatial Audio,” Proc. International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), pp. 285-288, March 2010. EXTERNAL
Anon, “Dolby Atmos Specifications,” http://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-atmos/dolby-atmos-specifications.pdf EXTERNAL
R. K. Furness, “Ambisonics—An Overview,” Proc. AES 8th International Conference: The Sound of Audio, Washington, D.C., 1990. EXTERNAL
D. Begault and F. Rumsey, An Anthology of Articles on Spatial Sound Techniques: Part 2—Multichannel Audio Technologies, Audio Engineering Society: New York, 2004. EXTERNAL
V. Pulkki, “Virtual Sound Source Positioning Using Vector Base Amplitude Panning,” J. . Audio Eng. Soc., 45(6):456-466, June 1997. EXTERNAL

Source Data (JSON)

Full registry record with provenance metadata. Open directly: /api/doc/10.5594-j18640.json

Reference Tree

Explore all references and references to this document, as a navigable tree.

Open Reference Tree

Reference this Doc

Plain text (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Charles Q. Robinson and Nicolas Tsingos; Cinematic Sound Scene Description and Rendering Control, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 124, Issue: 8, November 2015); SMPTE, 2015. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/j18640

Snippet:

Charles Q. Robinson and Nicolas Tsingos; Cinematic Sound Scene Description and Rendering Control, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 124, Issue: 8, November 2015); SMPTE, 2015. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/j18640

HTML (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Snippet:

<span class="citation">Charles Q. Robinson and Nicolas Tsingos; <cite>Cinematic Sound Scene Description and Rendering Control</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 124, Issue: 8, November 2015); SMPTE, 2015. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/j18640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/j18640</a></span>

SMPTE's HTML Pub

Preview:

Snippet:

<li>
Charles Q. Robinson and Nicolas Tsingos; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j18640">Cinematic Sound Scene Description and Rendering Control</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 124, Issue: 8, November 2015); SMPTE, 2015
<span class="doi">10.5594/j18640</span>
</li>