Sony SDDS Print Master, Manuallines

Page 1: ...SDDS Print Master Guidelines Revision 2 October 2001 ...

Page 2: ...lti format print masters 8 2 4 Foreign language print masters 8 2 5 The importance of checking SDDS masters 9 3 DASH Machines Care and Use 10 3 1 Models 10 3 2 Head cleaning 10 3 3 Pre striping 10 3 4 Number of reels on a tape 10 3 5 Punch ins 10 4 DT RS Machines Care and Use 11 4 1 Models 11 4 2 Levels 11 4 3 Clean air 11 4 4 Errors 11 4 5 Compatibility 12 4 6 Maintenance 12 4 7 Cleaning 12 4 8 H...

Page 3: ... the Big Screen 17 6 5 Further details Why is it the best sounding system 18 6 6 Testimonials 19 7 Dolby level versus operating level Historical notes 20 8 Subwoofers 21 8 1 Introduction 21 8 2 Setting the acoustical reference level on the dub stage 21 8 3 Setting the subwoofer acoustical gain using a screen speaker as a reference 21 8 4 Why we do it this way 22 8 5 What it means 22 8 6 Setting th...

Page 4: ...in Use USA DT RS Hi8 DASH 6 track magneticfilm Akai DD8plus MO UK DT RS Hi8 Akai DD8plus MO T he rest of Europe DT RS Hi8 or as specified locally 1 2 T rack assignments Audio Channel DASH Channel DT RS MO Channel LEFT 1 1 LEFT C ENT RE 2 2 C ENT RE 3 3 RIG HT C ENT RE 4 4 RIG HT 5 5 SUBWOOFER 6 6 LEFT SURROUND 7 7 RIG HT SURROUND 8 8 LEFT T OT AL Dolby SR 11 N A RIG HT T OT AL Dolby SR 12 N A OPT ...

Page 5: ...e g for reel 1 pip at 1 00 06 00 first frame at 1 00 08 00 1 4 Audio and levels Operating level is 20dBfs Wide band pink noise at the same RMS value as this will produce the following SPLs in the cinema Please note to compare levels of tone and pink noise a true RMS voltmeter must be used C onsole meters will read differently for tone and pink noise Channel SPL C Weighted measurement LEFT 85 LEFT ...

Page 6: ...T he timecode frame rate T he film speed T he track assignment Details of tones T imecode start time T otal footage 1 6 Checking It is strongly recommended that all SDDS masters are played back with picture after recording before the optical transfer is made A digital clone could be also made at this time 1 7 T est tapes T est tapes are available from the Sony C inema Products SC P office details ...

Page 7: ...ead operating level unity gain through the machine at the console If no test tape is available Send 1kHz at house operating level to the master machine make sure it reads 20dBfs at the machine meters C heck for unity gain through the machine back at the console Measure the output of this machine with a true RMS voltmeter and then send pink noise at the same level For 0VU operating level this is 1 ...

Page 8: ... audio will not equal 30 frames of code and 24 frames of picture Obviously if a 48kHz master is required then similar rules apply but the recording sampling frequency would be 47 952kHz in this case 2 3 Multi format print masters T he SDDS format has been carefully designed to enable it to fit in well with other digital audio print master sessions as the monitoring standards are compatible T he RM...

Page 9: ...rors such as Head errors age or dirt Alignment problems Losing sync Slipping syncon playback Faulty patch leads T ape drop outs Weird noises from faulty converters or aliasing It is therefore vital to listen back to all masters with picture T his will avoid costly reshooting of negatives T he master may not be monitored when it is transferred to film as all soundtracks are shot in one pass ...

Page 10: ...ck 3 3 Pre striping Although you can manage with advance record mode it is far better to pre stripe all tapes Format at single speed using advance record with all tracks armed SC PCdoes not recommend using the PreStriping function which formats at 4X speed 3 4 Number of reels on a tape It is best to have one tape per reel as this makes replacing reels much easier However tape costs are high If mor...

Page 11: ...put trims can be used If in doubt check using the SDDS DT RS test tape T he DA98 has software selectable levels for 4dBu 16 18 and 20dBfs 4 3 Clean air T here is a cooling fan in the DA88 and PC M800 which sucks air through the machine T here is no filter and the only entry hole is the cassette drawer T his means that any dirt cigarette smoke etc in the air is pulled directly over the heads which ...

Page 12: ... pass of the cleaning tape will reduce the head life by approximately 5 to 10 hours Manual cleaning does not reduce head life but there is a danger that the head will be damaged turn anti clockwise only and also the strong possibility that the tape path alignment will be altered It is therefore always advisable to check the alignment after manual cleaning 4 8 Head hour display T o invoke the head ...

Page 13: ... tape whilst recording using read after write heads Bear in mind the following T he audio output of the DA98 is delayed by 6 frames T he projector must be advanced to compensate for this T he tracks are armed in pairs in this mode Please ensure that no noise hiss etc is recorded on unused tracks especially in a 5 1 format film T racks 2 and 4 LCand RCare still played back in the cinema so any nois...

Page 14: ...nised with a C B electronics Bi phase to timecode converter T he easiest and safest method is for the camera facility to make a straight across transfer without re assigning tracks changing syncetc Please bear this in mind when making masters 5 4 T rack assignment It would greatly help the transfer facility if the standard track assignment is adhered to T his can be found at section 1 2 on page 4 ...

Page 15: ...Bu or 0VU 20 4dBu 20dBfs 0dBu or 4VU 16 0dBu 20dBfs 2dBu or 2VU 18 2dBu 20dBfs 4dBu or 8VU 12 4dBu 20dBfs T o change the setting on the DD8 perform the following Press SYST EM MORE LEVELS T he level can now be changed Press EXIT T he new setting must be saved either in the project or as a default in the Flash ROM recommended Please remember that it is important to listen back to the SDDS master to...

Page 16: ... can only be performed by a specialist MO drive servicing company Moreover it is absolutely vital to have no smoking in the same room as these drives T hey are incredibly susceptible to airborne dust and dirt C igarette smoke combines the worst of all environments as it is also sticky If you have problems with MO drives and smoking occurs in the same room this is almost certainly the reason for th...

Page 17: ...ilm format comprised of the SDDS soundtrack optically printed on both edges of 35mm film and the SDDS playback hardware a reader and processor As the film is projected the SDDS soundtrack is scanned its data is processed and ultimately converted into analogue audio signals for the cinema s loudspeakers and amplifiers 6 3 SDDS Products Sony manufactures a range of products that fit the exhibitor s ...

Page 18: ...re separated from each other by about 17 frames T he data rate off film is 2 2Mbits sec rather than 370kbits second T he data compression is Sony s acclaimed AT RAC used in broadcasting and in minidisk players T he compression ratio is only 5 1 rather than 10 1 or 13 1 T here is no data sharing between channels all channels are full range 20kHz even the subwoofer T he track is printed in the cyan ...

Page 19: ...ch as Erin Brockovich I always find that just having three screen speakers on intimate films forces me to play too many elements in the centre horn otherwise it s distracting to have sounds banging around the exit signs near the left and right speakers With SDDS I can use the left centre and right centre speakers for a natural feeling narrow stereo image throughout the whole movie going wider as n...

Page 20: ...s usually 0dBu PPM4 T he maximum broadcast level is then PPM6 8 dBs above reference level PPMs catch all the peaks so give a truer picture of the level T ape flux levels can be set much higher 0dBu 200nWb m was the standard agreed on for magneticfilm T hese meters are very convenient for mixing engineers dialogue peaks about 4 and musicabout 5 is a simple maxim When Dolby began their involvement w...

Page 21: ...at the electrical reference level also known as Dolby Level Using a real time third octave analyser the monitor system is adjusted for the preferred acoustical response at each loudspeaker given the properties of the loudspeaker the room the screen and the X curve of SMPT E 202M T he electrical gain of each channel in the monitoring system is then adjusted to give an acoustical reference level in ...

Page 22: ...fer loudspeaker 8 5 What it means T he consequence of having 10dB more acoustical gain in the subwoofer monitoring channel is that the dubbing engineer will tend to turn down the electrical recording level of the subwoofer by about 10dB compared to what she would have done without the increased monitor gain However unlike the screen speaker channels the engineer does not use a console meter to che...

Page 23: ...a signal containing frequency components which overlap those being sent to though not necessarily reproduced by the screen speakers In Hollywood the dubbing engineer may not have listened to this signal on the dubbing stage in part because the DS4 without a cat 160 card does not create it and so made no artisticdecisions based on it It is merely an enhancement created in the cinema to give the eff...

Page 24: ...er used for the measurement A subwoofer signal with a wider bandwidth may measure the same as another with a narrower bandwidth but higher level as indicated by analyser bands within the pass band of the subwoofer using the same speaker cabinet C onsidering the DFP D3000 the bandwidth of the pink noise sent to the subwoofer is affected by a low pass filter that can be adjusted from 80Hz to 330Hz a...

Page 25: ...anguage specific dialogue Dialogue premix DX premix Only the dialogue Left total Right total LtRt SR SVA Matrixed analogue track C onfidence pass C ontrol Playback check Overlap Pull Up Audio after the end of a reel from the start of the next reel to facilitate manual reel changeovers SPL Sound Pressure Level Level of acoustic sound in the air dBfs DB full scale Level of a digital signal where 0dB...

Page 26: ...9 G lossary of T erms SDDS Print Master G uidelines Page 26 of 26 WWW SDDS COM Sony SDDS are registered trademarks of the Sony C orporation Dolby and SRD are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories ...