Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
The Sound of How To Train Your Dragon
Topic Started: 14 Apr 2014, 16:45 (1531 Views)
Zer0x
User avatar

[b]Banhammerdragon
[/b]

Everyone is talking about the awesome animations and scenes shown in HTTYD, but no ever said something about the sound. It is also a fact which makes the movie unique. This topic is to discuss about the acoustical facts.


I will start with the Sound Effects Design of the LFE channel. After reading this, you will probably listen to the movie with different ears.


It is well known that humans can hear frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. But in the nature, there are many sounds which go far deeper than 20 Hz, maybe you can feel the vibrations on your body if it is loud enough but you will never hear it. That’s why the frequency range of the most audio formats (like MP3 for music or 5.1 Dolby Digital for movies) is limited to 20Hz – 20kHz. There is no reason to increase the spectrum of audio for media, or is it?
Since 2008 exist two audio formats which supports all frequencies between 1 Hz and 100kHz. They are called “Dolby TrueHD” and “DTS-HD Master Audio” and use a lossless PackedPCM or MPEG-4 SLS modulation. With this increased range the sound editing and mixing is much harder. The most studios still use the normal frequency range but there are some movies which uses at least a part of this frequencies.
The Sound Effects Design of ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ is something special. While the most movies which use the high frequency range of the HD audio codecs have a straight fall off at around 15 Hz, ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ goes linear down to incredible 3 Hz in some scenes.
The following picture shows a relative frequency measure from the LFE (subwoofer) channel from one of the scenes at the beginning when Toothless attacks Berk.

The green graph is the peak level and the red graph is the average sound presure level of this scene.



And here is the temporal progress of the same scene. The violet color means that the relative level is around the maximum.





The volume between 5 and 20 Hz is up to 10 dB(A) louder than the zone between 40 and 60 Hz which is mostly used for explosions.
That is why many people say that the bass in ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ is a little quite in some scenes. The truth is that the bass is at the maximum output level but you can’t hear the frequencies and your subwoofer can’t generate it. Even subwoofers for multiple thousand dollars in perfect sized room fall off at 16 Hz. So why are they there if it is even with high end equipment not possible to use these frequencies? In my opinion there are only 3 effective ways to make them perceptible:


1. A Double Bass Array (DBA) with at least 8 subwoofers with high moving mass and cone area. For this opportunity you will need a large acoustic optimized room, a lot of amplifier power to move the subwoofers and a room correction DSP to push some frequencies. The biggest problem is the size of the subwoofer enclosures. They have to be as large as possible (around 300 liters) and that makes them very heavy (around 200 kg each). Another problem is to find the right “driver” (the individual transducer). Drivers with such a high moving mass are mostly very imprecise and need a lot of power. On the other hand you will get the ultimate combination of loudness and vibration and a sound even high class cinemas can dream of. But it is the by far the most expensive solution with the highest expenditure.





2. A new sort of sound reproduction device called “Rotary Woofer”. It looks like a fan but in an enclosure it is able to produce frequencies between 1 and 20 Hz with a high output level, so loud that it makes you hear (and feel) even this frequencies. The problem is, at the moment there is only one woofer on the market: the Eminent Technology TRW-17 and it costs around 25,000 $. And you will need other subwoofers which produce all other bass frequencies with the same volume. But it will be the solution with the best results in sound quality and it has the easiest way to install.




3. A high powered Tactile Transducer with a minimum of 5 kg of moving mass. A tactile transducer or “bass shaker” is a device with the same operating principle like a normal loudspeaker but instead of a cone which produces sound it have only a moving mass which produce vibrations to emulate the effect of low frequencies. The problem is that all devices on the market are only work with frequencies above 25 Hz because of the low moving mass (only a few 100g). To go down under 20 Hz you need at least 5 kg but a normal voice coil of a tactile transducer can’t handle this mass or the efficiency is too low. What you need is a voice coil build for high input power and a maximum stroke like the ones from subwoofers or rather a car hifi subwoofer. You simply remove the cone and the outer suspension and link as much mass as you can on the voice coil. You also need a stronger suspension to increase the stability. It should be made of acrylic glass or inflexible metal. Than you just screw the device somewhere on your sofa or chair and undock it from the ground (with spikes or a carpet). It won’t make any sound but it will rattle the shit out of you.



I made this one by myself. I'm probably the first one who ever made a Tactile Transducer in such dimensions. It is still a prototype and works not really stable, but I'm working on it.
If you want I can link you to my construction thread (in german).


So you see, HTTYD isn't a movie for casual sound systems like the most of the other movies, it is optimised for equipment used in Ultra-High-End Homecinemas to create a completly new experience.



I apologize for bad english in this article.
UNAMUSED

No, I'm serious....stop it..
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
Gh3ttoKinG.
User avatar

[color=red]
[b]Mr. Insane Insanity
[/b]
[/color]

Wow, this makes me curious. I am pleased for the link :D
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
ggamer77
User avatar
Hatchling

Wow, that's pretty awesome.
I love how they put all this extra work into things that aren't necessary. Especially the sound.
I've been thinking of getting into sound design myself.
irc://irc.caffie.net/HTTYD
My YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ggamer77
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
barracuda
Member Avatar
Who's afraid of the big, black bat?

Speaking of sound design: in case someone hasn't seen it yet, there's a SoundWorks episode about HTTYD.
and this is our dragon
(oh no not again)
oh isn't it sweet
(i think i have to go)
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
Faerie_Dragon
User avatar
Dragon Bassist

barracuda
15 Apr 2014, 06:01
Speaking of sound design: in case someone hasn't seen it yet, there's a SoundWorks episode about HTTYD.
Thanks for this, downloading this puppy :3
I challenge you to be lazier than me!

Sub me. Sub me. Sub me. Sub me. Sub me. Sub me. Sub me.
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
AndyMay
User avatar

[b]
[color=#d51c1c]The Lemon God
[/color]
[/b]

Interesting. Thanks for the post!

If I had the money I'd buy all this stuff in a heartbeat.
Top Poester for 6 Months Award :D
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
Zer0x
User avatar

[b]Banhammerdragon
[/b]

Oh, I totally forgot this topic. :P
Gh3ttoKinG.
15 Apr 2014, 00:20
Wow, this makes me curious. I am pleased for the link :D
Here is the link:


http://www.hifi-forum.de/index.php?acti ... stID=49#49



I would like to know if the shorts and series have the same badass sound. I will make some measurements in the next days. :)
UNAMUSED

No, I'm serious....stop it..
  PM (offline)     Profile     Quote  
 
Users browsing this forum:
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests
Print view
« Previous Topic · How to Train Your Dragon · Next Topic »