Building a new room in Lisbon

[Branko]

Dear friends and colleagues,

This week, I began a new adventure - one of the most important in my career - building of a new dubbing stage. You'll be able to follow it as it happens using this LINK. In the past years, I was working in a room that wasn't really up to the highest standards, and I've learned how to compensate for all problems generated by those imperfections and compromises. This new room won't be a perfect, flawless one, but I hope it will get closer to one I've been imagining all these years.

[danijel]

Branko,

congrats for the commencement of the works! I hope everything goes smooth, and that you will feel like a child on the playground every step of the way
I have to warn the other GS though, that when Branko says "a room that wasn't really up to the highest standards", he's probably talking theoretical limitations of acoustics, pure mathematics and applied rocket science Branko is a true GS and a perfectionist, and I'm sure this new stage will be the most brilliant of the ones he has built so far....

[Matti]

I´m willing to think I should make a movie for just to make a trip to Lisbon
in near future

Matti

[sheetKnows]

Congrats!
Lisbon needs a room like that It's still one of my favorite citys of the ones that i know.
What area is it located in?

[georgia]

COngrats dude!
Let me know if you want some help. we're just finishing a Dolby Certified Dub Stage in Singapore.

cheers
geo

[Steven1145]

Branko, congratulations! I wish you best of luck as buidling these things involves lots of hard work and courage.
Let us know how it goes

[Branko]

Thank you guys for your kind and encouraging words! We're still at the beginning of the saga and everything's running smooth for the moment.

sheetKnows: it's just above the EXPO zone, close to Cabo Ruivo Metro station.

[paulo m]

Always great news to see new studios opening in my country. The more, the better! Good luck!

[georgia]

Don't forget to send pix of the progress!

cheers
geo

[Branko]

Thanks, Geo, I'm keeping them here: STUDIO CONSTRUCTION BLOG
and here: GS construction diary

[Riku]

Hey Branko, good to see the new rooms are starting to come together. Can't wait to align the new dubbing theatre. Did you submit the new plans to James yet?

Richard S.
Dolby

[Branko]

Hey Richard, good to see you here!
Haven't spoken to James yet, although I'm planning to apply for Premiere certification. One of biggest dilemmas right now is whether to throw in a 35mm projector or not - haven't seen a print in studio for ages!

[ggegan]

Originally Posted by Branko

Hey Richard, good to see you here!
One of biggest dilemmas right now is whether to throw in a 35mm projector or not - haven't seen a print in studio for ages!

I wouldn't bother with the film projector. I haven't seen one used on a dub stage in years either. We used to sometimes do print checks on them, but we don't even do that anymore.

[paulo m]

Hi Richard,

give us a call when you come over. We can always go for a night out in Lisbon!

[minister]

Congratulations Branko!

Now I have even MORE reason to come back to Lisbon!!

I have to be in Amsterdam end of November....maybe then? i am sure it will take a while, though.

[Branko]

Thanks Minister, you're more than welcome! I'm not sure (one can never be sure with things like construction!), but hopefully, at least one room should be ready by November.

[Riku]

If you want to be premiere then you need to be able to play audio and video from print. It doesn't have to be a full proj, it can be a telecine and a sound head on something. But as you already have the projector then it'll probably be cheaper to keep that.
James is crazy busy these days so I'd get your documents in sooner rather than later as it might take him a while to look through them.

[Riku]

Originally Posted by paulo m

Hi Richard,

give us a call when you come over. We can always go for a night out in Lisbon!

Hey Paulo, a night out in Lisbon sounds perfect. Now I just need to wait for the next job over there ...

[paulo m]

Hey Paulo, a night out in Lisbon sounds perfect. Now I just need to wait for the next job over there ...

You never know, might be sooner than expected... :-)

[Branko]

Originally Posted by Riku

If you want to be premiere then you need to be able to play audio and video from print. It doesn't have to be a full proj, it can be a telecine and a sound head on something. But as you already have the projector then it'll probably be cheaper to keep that.
James is crazy busy these days so I'd get your documents in sooner rather than later as it might take him a while to look through them.

I'm not in such a big hurry to get the Premier Certification... OTOH, I have a feeling that very soon, at least in Portugal, we won't be able to see any 35mm print around, because everyone is finishing in DCP. I hope Dolby will follow the trend and adjust those regulations that define Premier Studio criteria. I could accept much easier e.g. a 2K 10.000 Lumen projector to be one of the conditions for Premiere certificate, than a 35mm projector...
Anyway, my primary goal is to hear some pink noise from speakers in December. Everything will be easier after that.

[paulo m]

I could accept much easier e.g. a 2K 10.000 Lumen projector to be one of the conditions for Premiere certificate, than a 35mm projector...

Although I like to have the best picture quality possible, I think that the emphasis should be on the excelence of acoustics and mixing environment.
Although DCP is changing the way people are handling their mix masters, one thing is not being changed and that is the cinema acoustics. While we may deliver discrete PCM files to DCP, we have to keep mixing and monitoring on a monitoring chain set to the X-curve, therefore certificated by Dolby. What is about to be bypassed is the Dolby Digital and SR on 35 mm print, not the mixing environment.
I´m much more interested in 7.1 discrete than Dolby Premier. At least in Portugal I don´t think that cinemas are able to reproduce Premier acoustics, so why bother? Having the ability to deliver uncompressed PCM to DCP authoring allows me to concentrate more on the signal path, sound quality and creative expression .

[Branko]

Originally Posted by paulo m

Although I like to have the best picture quality possible, I think that the emphasis should be on the excelence of acoustics and mixing environment.

I agree with most of the above, but you'd be surprised if you knew how much the picture size, distance and quality affects our mixing decisions...

one thing is not being changed and that is the cinema acoustics

Allow me to disagree. I've been around for quite a long time, enough to see dramatic changes in this area. Theatres are less reverberant than 20 yrs ago. They are smaller, too. X-curve has been modified... the list goes on and on...

Mixing rooms are nothing more than tools - if an engineer learns how to use it properly, the results will be as expected. Standards were implemented to allow others to share the listening experience with the engineer, so that directors and producers can immediately hear how is it going to sound in an average theatre.

At least in Portugal I don´t think that cinemas are able to reproduce Premier acoustics, so why bother?

In Portugal, cinemas have difficulty even exhibiting Portuguese films!

[georgia]

great pix... looks like its starting to come together. can't wait to see more.
Are you going for Dolby Premier or Dolby Certification?

cheers
geo

[paulo m]

I agree with most of the above, but you'd be surprised if you knew how much the picture size, distance and quality affects our mixing decisions...

I´m not surprised, I do audio for picture for 22 years. I was just refering to the priorities :-)

Allow me to disagree. I've been around for quite a long time, enough to see dramatic changes in this area. Theatres are less reverberant than 20 yrs ago. They are smaller, too. X-curve has been modified... the list goes on and on...

Of course they have changed and keep changing, so I expect that the mixing rooms are calibrated as such...

In Portugal, cinemas have difficulty even exhibiting Portuguese films!

No wonder...usually sound and picture are crap and the content itself in most cases is not that appealing at all, at least in my opinion.

[Branko]

Originally Posted by paulo m

No wonder...usually sound and picture are crap

Thanks for a sincere opinion about my work (in the past 15 or so years, I mixed about 75% of the national production)

[paulo m]

Originally Posted by Branko

Thanks for a sincere opinion about my work (in the past 15 or so years, I mixed about 75% of the national production)

Dear Branko,

Is my strong belief that, with a few notable and talented exceptions, the portuguese movie industry is in the hands of a bunch of state subsidy dependants that live and make films at the expenses of the tax payer.
If it was for their talent and return on investments, they would be finished a long time ago! They only survive due to their political status quo and connections. If you mixed so many films on the last years as you say, you´ll probably now them all.

Having said that, my comments were only based on my personal perception of the portuguese movie industry as a whole. They were not targeted at anything or anybody in particular. I don´t even know you, so don´t take it personal.

Best regards,

Paulo Mendes

[Branko]

Originally Posted by georgia

great pix... looks like its starting to come together. can't wait to see more.
Are you going for Dolby Premier or Dolby Certification?

cheers
geo

Thanks Geo. The room will be Dolby certified for sure, and we'll see if the Premiere is worth the extra effort. At this moment, Premiere certification is conditioned not only by the room quality, acoustics and projection, but also number of physical faders (they ask for 48), and a film projector, which I'm seriously considering getting rid of, as we're rapidly moving towards digital cinema releases only. Throwing in a 35mm projector with a DD reader can set you back for some 35.000 EURO, and I'd like to spend these on something else.

[thierryd]

Originally Posted by Branko

Allow me to disagree. I've been around for quite a long time, enough to see dramatic changes in this area. Theatres are less reverberant than 20 yrs ago. They are smaller, too. X-curve has been modified... the list goes on and on...

Mixing rooms are nothing more than tools - if an engineer learns how to use it properly, the results will be as expected. Standards were implemented to allow others to share the listening experience with the engineer, so that directors and producers can immediately hear how is it going to sound in an average theatre.

Hi Branko, congratulations with the new build.

Your quote above is absolutely true and I've read the articles by Philip Newell (in which you did take part) in Resolution magazine with great interest. The questions raised about 1/3 octave EQ are very interesting, especially with the tests conducted with several engineers and studios. There's room for debate there and I've been experimenting with these ideas for years. One of the rooms we mix in doesn't have EQ in the monitoring, but the latest premix room I built has a Yamaha DME in the monitoring chain with 1/3 octave and parametric EQ. I tuned this system over the course of 2 months to an analyzer and my liking and it sounds very close to a bigger studio or theater. Although after reading those articles and mixing for 2 years in that room, I'm now modifying the DME again to correct the things I've noticed during mixing and comparing with other rooms. One of them is the active cross-over setting, which normally exist in every filmmix theater (2, 3 or 4way) and also has an influence on the monitoring chain.

Do you intend to move the whole company or are you going to keep using your current studio (just me being curious and wondering if you are building the new studio, to bring the ideas gathered by you and Philip Newell to a new place :-)?

Cheers,

Thierry

[Branko]

Originally Posted by thierryd

Hi Branko, congratulations with the new build.

Do you intend to move the whole company or are you going to keep using your current studio (just me being curious and wondering if you are building the new studio, to bring the ideas gathered by you and Philip Newell to a new place :-)?

Thanks for nice wishes. I'm also glad you've noticed those articles in Resolution - they are a part of papers presented at Institute of Acoustics annual conferences.

We'll be moving the whole company - our previous partner, who owns the space where the old studio was built, is not a part of the new project. This led to a decision to build the whole complex - something like a small post-production center, with Dubbing Theatre, Recording Studio, two editing rooms and one picture processing suite. The editing rooms will be "universal" type, so one can use them both for picture and sound editing. They will have the same monitoring and same type of image display.

Building this new film dubbing studio will allow to apply all the knowledge Phil has gathered along these years and to experiment a bit more. Acoustically, it will be very close to "Non - Environmental" room type.
The monitoring system will be Reflexion Arts 234, designed by Phil and Keith Holland.
I'll keep you updated in GS studio building thread.

[K5000]

Suddenly I want me some Portuguese espresso.