In-depth DVD and movie reviews - the JBL sound!

[JBL 4645]

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) is Data Artificial Robot Youth Lifeform towards the last 17 minutes of the film Daryl steals and SR-71 Blackbird here are few frequency spectrum charts.

D.A.R.Y.L. was presented in Dolby stereo 4:2:4 sw-re-mix was turned ON. If Dolby dts 5.1 is used the sw-re-mix is turned OFF.

The low end isn’t totally low end, but it’s still felt never the less.

A mild Marvin Hemlisch score brings D.A.R.Y.L. face to face with an SR-71 Blackbird. Afterburners fire-up in the aircraft hanger and then heard paned to the right while observers see the aircraft taxing out of the hanger.

Several flybys of the SR-71 and few mild sonic booms thunder around the room.

A built-in self-destruct-mechanism has been installed into the SR-71 just before the destruction of the aircraft D.A.R.Y.L. ejects and lands into lake, the impact into the water wasn’t very deep but it was good enough.

[JBL 4645]

Earthquake from (1974) LFE.1 only and "new, deep rumble" of this classic sub bass granddaddy Earthquake (1974) (((sensurround))) I saw this at least three times for 79p LOL.

House on the hill Earthquake goes for rolling down the hill!

The elevator lift sequence “new deep rumble” the Elevator lift sequence I patched the centre channel into the Spectrumlab as there is new, deep rumble in the centre channel. Always use matching LCR fronts! Turn off the gas! Some Muppet forget he’s chain smoker and takes out the whole house with an abrupt explosion! Just when the earthquake stops to and ear deafening stillness of silence!

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Arachnophobia (1989) sub bass low centre channel I’ve patched the centre channel into the audio mixer so I can switch between centre and LFE.1, where LFE.1 only comes into play a few times in the film, a good THX sound system cinema like UCI High Wycombe. Five-screen JBL 4675-A 2x JBL 4645 subs.

The opening at UCI High Wycombe was deep it was practically pressing on my chest and in my stomach, it was deep!

Bitten by the deadest lethal spider Manley goes into shock, that has deep Trevor Jones score.

Here is an LFE.1 moment and most of the LFE.1 in this film is sparingly used most of the low end is covered by the LCR fronts.

[JBL 4645]

What Lies Beneath (2000) is on kinder of Hitchcock thriller only with Robert Zemeckis at the helm with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer and deep mastery that lies in sub bass register low end that JBL does a nice job at reproducing the thrilling performance.

LFE.1 I knew this one sounded and felt low when I played it several years back. The bathtub sequence is freaky where Norman sees terrifying image that makes him jolt backwards and banging his head on the side bathroom sink, wham! Play this at soft level at first because the amount of low end just leaps out!



I patched the left and right into the audio mixer and monitored the level which carries enough low end to support the scene.



Again I patched the centre channel into the audio mixer similar levels its best to run the LCRS with its own sub bass to extend it further and several more for the LFE.1.



Centre channel only, Claire struggles with the door thumping it pounding it and the low end is just wow. That is until the sail on the boat slips though the windshield on the truck and falls to the bottom of the lake with huge deep low and level as well.



Playing what leads up to the last point only LFE.1 this time.

[JBL 4645]

Here’s spectrum waterfall sub bass extension LCRS from the original Star Trek the motion picture transferred from the laserdisc to DVD-RW, screen capture images taken from the region 2 DVD version. I used the sw-re-mix to divert the low end, if this where a Dolby dts 5.1 mix I’ll be using the LFE.1 directly.

A few nice pluses are felt though this Dolby stereo 4:2:4 similar to what I experienced in the Empire 1, the home is different situation and now I have visual representation i might try some improvements. “A whole new approach.”

[JBL 4645]

Coming soon Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan in full six-track Dolby stereo digital 5.1…

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The opening titles when first experiencing this in 70mm six-track Dolby stereo JBL THX sound system at the Empire Leicester Square 19 years ago is still very fresh in my head and on my body, in the home its different matter altogether.

I took a few spectrumlab waterfall graphs of the laserdisc for compassion of several scenes. What was felt in the Empire on October 8th 1989 is still very fresh in my head and on my body that was wicked bass and sub bass that I never thought could possibly get any deeper or louder.





KHANNN! KHANNN! KHANNN!

[JBL 4645]

Just played a few moments from the region 2 DVD six-track Dolby stereo digital is good enough for me that good enough low end.

Played the first few moments over a few times, one at LFE.1 0db the other at -10db and its more or less the same, expect it would be far less, louder in the room.



The freighter-ship passing by was deep and low 0db LFE.1.

[JBL 4645]

Presumed Innocent (1990) Dolby stereo 4:2:4 had a few lows or two now and then, but this is mostly a dialogue orientated film, but I do seem to remember this playing at the Warner West End in THX when reading though Time Out magazine.

Chapter 4 the elevator scene

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Space Cowboys (2000) Centrifuge trainer has a few deep pulses that whip by while most low end is carried over the LCR, I’ll monitor that part later on.

[macaroonie]

Ashley , whats all that coloured stuff ? Oh and the lines ?

[JBL 4645]

Ashley , whats all that coloured stuff ? Oh and the lines ?

macaroonie

afternoon there.

Like Roy Batty in Blade Runner said “questions.”



Well it’s called “waterfall” that the technical term given to the large colour area that has numbers traced above from (0Hz up to 120Hz). it was kinder hard for me to understand how it worked hen I first glanced at it on the AVS site??

I always referred to has “predator vision” because it reminded me of that systematic killing alien running around that had this (heat vision) that allowed him to see a light spectrum that wasn’t quite visible to our own.

The pink areas show a hard bass sub bass or infrasonic frequency range, in the frequency spectrum. In a way its seeing a lot lower than my basic Technics SH-8055 EQ (RTA).

For the direct link to the download page of the file itself!
http://dl4yhf.SSL7.com/speclab/install_speclab.zip

I think this program was originally designed for (Ham the radio amateur) use as it has LSB and USB Upper Side Band and Lower Side Band and I remember using these (modes) when I was on the CB radio back in the 1980’s.

The red arrows and the images from my rough account, is pointing to more or less where the frequency starts at.

One of the frightening ones is What Lies Beneath (2000) I knew this film had wicked low end when I played it back in (2001) but I always fought it was down to around 25Hz. in most cases its got common frequency range down to 25Hz, but in some cases it goes a bit further and no wonder my Kenwood KRF-9050D THX select kept shutting down, due to the centre channel or the LCR fronts, where being overdriven and the thermal heat protection was shutting down the AVR.


I hope that more or less put it into perspective for you, because I’m not fiddling around with anything else on this program its way more complicated than my Cobra 148GTL-DX CB from the 1980’s and I don’t what to have to uninstall the program and reinstall it because I can’t remember what button I pressed?


To get a spectrum graph chat from any of your music or film sources, just upload the program and adjust the colour frequency spectrum that is indicated on the (left-hand-side) it has some variable numbers above like (-60.0db -35.0db).

If you left click it should bring up menu of colours, I personally selected (too_many_colours) and adjusted the contrast and brightness controls above the (colour spectrum) indicated as (B and C) contrast and brightness until it matched close or near to what everyone else was using to show there own frequency analysis of film and music soundtracks low end.

There are some numbers that need to be inputted below the (colour spectrum) left click and you’ll see a little box pop-up! I key in the numbers that most had displayed on there graph charts as, -60 and -20 in the top left-hand-side smaller boxes and applied.

A basic lead from the subwoofer output or even the left and right output of tape CD 8 track laserdisc DVD or even (microphone and preamplifier) connected to the microphone input on the pc will work.

There is (pause) and (continue) button indicated on the (left-hand-side) that will allow the spectrum to move downwards, while tracing the frequency spectrum frequency response.

What I do after I’ve captured the (data) is use print screen while the spectrumlab is on full screen. The (print screen) button should be indicated on the keyboard of pc, just press once and then go to (paint) and (paste) it and what I use next to edit the image down is the following…

(Select) a little square box that is dotted outlined I click on then apply it over the area that I want to save or capture the image as is. Then I click (copy) than click paint off. Save click NO. then open (paint) again and paste and what you should have is smaller area of the frequency spectrum that you copied.

Then I have to take the DVD from my DVD player after analyzing the frequency and mind you, I have at least 10 or 15 frequency graphs saved on the desk top screen by this time!


I then placed the DVD into the pc and start screen captures and once I’ve captured and detailed the everything out I have to go to the file where the DVD images are saved and stored and start editing down the size of anamorphic images (1.85:1 W/S and 2.35:1 scope) using the same functions more less like (paint).

There is button indicated called image I click on image and select (Stretch/Skew) and apply to vertical 75% to reduce the height to more or less the correct shape, then I repeat the process again and apply (50% to horizontal and 50% to vertical) to reduce the image down further.

I then save the image with basic name (Firefox DVD1) or (Space Cowboys centrifuge LFE.1 DVD1).

Next I pop over to the desk top and select the first frequency spectrum graph and go to Edit and select (Paste From) and search for the image file and then press Open and the image is applied to frequency graph chat while moving it around to find the best home for it on the page, and I repeat this until its okay.

I then hath to apply all this data to (photobucket) and I’ve created a new folder file now on my desk top, along with the dedicated (photobucket) link under new username so I can upload the files to share online.

The whole process from frequency spectrum analyst to DVD screen capture and editing as well as my naff text grammar, LOL takes me around an hour to several hours it depends if I’m do a few minutes or the entire feature length of motion picture soundtrack.

[JBL 4645]

Dramatic moment from Firefox (1982) Gant now securely in the cockpit starts the aircraft up and fires up the powerful twin-main engines with thunderclap LFE.1 support, as soon as the warmed up he taxies it out of the aircraft hanger and then opens up the afterburners., and gets the hell of there. Go Gant!

The visual effects by John Dykstra is rush for the day and just barley still hold today, but this was the photochemical world, long before CGI.

So there’s a bit of low end down to 25Hz region which is more than loud enough. These where the days of the Road Show 70mm six-track Dolby stereo or Dolby 5.1, because I don’t want to confuse the issue.

[JBL 4645]

The LFE.1 only comes into play a few times during this tense sequence.

I gave L.A. Confidential another play in the early hours of today because I knew I could see huge peak on my (Technics SH-8055 RE RTA) around 40Hz and wanted to see what the spectrumlab can see also.

I played the scene over a few times chapter (18 into chapter 19) one was with the LFE.1 devoid from any other interruption like (bass management) the narrow lines show where the LFE.1 kicks in for few brief moments and should blend in with LCRS low end.


The other frequency graph shows the LFE.1 blended into or with LCRS or sw-re-mix has it is called on the (Kenwood KRF-9050D THX select) there is slight confusion that can be misleading because it has the Jerry Goldsmith score and Foley effects and sound effects of weaponry gunshots and shotguns, where some cover the LCR and on few other shots the LFE.1 comes into play to support the scene with bit more low end.

The sub bass extra was only supported by the 70mm six-track Dolby stereo “Baby Boom” Star Wars and Close Encounters of the third kind where among the first to support this track that was covered by two tracks that where played over the five-screen as left-centre right-centre Dolby format 42.

During the later years it was reduced to a single sub bass track because why use two tracks to play the same signal when you can have a stack of sub bass speakers to reproduce it! 1978 saw Superman the movie with stereo split-surrounds and singular sub bass track or Dolby format 43.

From what I can remember as projectionist looking at Dolby CP65 that only supported Dolby 42 as well as Dolby A and SR and none-sync and few AUX buttons, was that a few films where still being produced ether for Dolby format 42 or the rare Dolby 43 that had stereo split-surrounds, and only a few handful where produced since 1978 and the late 1990’s until 70mm phased out of the grand Road Show realise, leaving Dolby SR-D securely assured for future film playback and its competition like dts and SDDS8.

Dolby digital cinema is the new wave to the future now and I’ve only seen two films “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Leatherheads.” I somehow miss the Road Show 70mm there was something special about the way it sounded on magnetic.




Sw-re-mix used again on the same scene it’s a combination of LCRS effects and Jerry Goldsmith’s trilling score pounding away with brilliance.

[JBL 4645]

Here is frequency waterfall graph from Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan, Khannn! Khannn! Khannn!

There’s a mild part dropping below 25Hz and slightly below 20Hz and it feels like an earthquake and volcano eruption on the Enterprise as explosions go off at left centre right and few on the surrounds at different intervals while the LFE.1 adds shuddering depth of low end authority.