What is surround sound, a question often asked, we will cover this in this article. A crucial part of any movie experience is the sound. Since the very beginning of ‘talking pictures’ content creators have sought to connect the image and audio to envelope audiences in an all-consuming believable world.
Since the dawn of modern human evolution our hearing has been a key driver in first and foremost, our survival, listening for danger and sensing where the threat is coming from, as well as finding valuable resources.
The way our hearing is ‘directional’ is a vital part of human make up and helps create deeply felt emotional responses. Movie and content makers have learnt to tap into these emotions through audio, but the audio must be of high quality and in the correct place within the room to deliver the desired response.
Modern movie fans are in luck because today world-class home cinema creators such as ourselves have access to ‘surround sound’ technologies such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and IMAX Enhanced. Some of these names maybe familiar, but what do these technologies actually do and why does it matter?
The Evolution of Sound
Without going into too much technical detail, all these technologies basically seek to do the same thing, place sound in a space and match it precisely to what is happening on the screen.
Imagine how your ears work in the ‘real world’, sounds come from all angles, someone talking in front of you, the sound comes directly at you, a bird singing in a tree the sound might come from above and to the right of where you are standing, surround sound audio technologies seek to mimic this.
This is achieved by placing speakers in specific locations around the room. These speakers then receive signals from the rest of the home cinema equipment telling them what to play and when. In this way we create surround sound that mimics the real world.
To achieve genuine surround sound, certain parameters have been established by the technology’s creators such as Dolby and IMAX. Builders of home cinemas must precisely follow these parameters which include guidelines on where the speakers must be placed in a given space, what volume they should be able to play at etc. Following these rules means we create 21st century sound that matches the ambition of any content creator. Here at Prestige Audio, we use our skills and experience to go even further and tweak/tune the audio to squeeze every last drop of performance from these fantastic solutions.
So, if you ever see a cinema being described as 7.1 or 7.1.4, you will know this merely refers to the amount of speakers or audio channels that are being used to deliver the sound.
But don’t worry, our experts will take care of creating the very best sound, all you do is choose which seat you prefer to enjoy the very best in surround sound.