Operating instructions

G-6
Making Films Sound Better
Dolby format release prints and the equipment which reproduces them
are only links in a chain that extends from the original location, through
the dubbing theater, to the laboratory, and finally into the theater.
Developments like Dolby SR and Dolby Digital ensure that the
soundtrack itself remains one of the strongest links. But just like high-
quality CDs played on the best home stereo equipment, Dolby formats
are capable of carrying a higher fidelity “message” than previously–and
so can reveal the quality of each step in the recording, mixing, and
dubbing processes. Taking advantage of the new formats has thus
required new approaches to soundtrack production. Admittedly, the
results can vary–the final reproduced soundtrack can be no better than
the elements it comprises–but Dolby film sound at its best means not
only better quality sound, but sound in the theater that consistently
realizes the director’s original intentions.
While Dolby’s involvement with film sound first achieved wide
recognition with the spectacular audio effects of such films as Star Wars,
it has long since come to mean more than just special or dramatic effects.
The objective is high quality sound reproduction overall–dialogue and
music, as well as effects. Dolby technology is a means, not an end. It can
be likened to an artist’s palette that provides the director with a full
range of colors, where before there were but a few. Above all, Dolby
formats have been developed to enhance that very special experience of
going to the movies.