What is Dolby Atmos?
I have heard about Dolby Atmos some years ago but actually didn’t try out. Finally, I had a chance to watch “Black Widow” at Dolby Cinema in Seoul. Before I talk about my experience of the Dolby Atmos, I would like to talk about what exactly the Dolby Atmos is.
We have watched movies with 2-channel audio(known as stereo audio) or 5.1-channel audio(known as surround audio). Then, what is the main difference between the old systems and Dolby Atmos? The old systems used “channels” in their terms but Dolby Atmos uses the term called “objects”.
The Atmos let a sound designer locate sound to a place. This means the sound designer can pinpoint where the sound is to show up as an object. This can be not only left and right but also can be overheard. The following image shows that how the listener can perceive the sound from the Dolby ATMOS.
So, the sound designer uses different mixing methods and. the Dolby ATMOS provides a technology for the decoding so that cinemas equipped with the Dolby ATMOS play the sound.
I definitely noticed the difference at the Dolby Cinema and could perceive much more spatial audio than conventional movie cinemas. The sound sometimes comes to me then fades away… or vice versa. So, it was quite good experience as an acoustic engineer and I hope to visit to the cinema again!
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