Dedicated to the memory of Ray Dolby 1933 – 2014
The Dolby brand is a household name – and most of those households will be able to tell you that Dolby is a company immersed in the audio visual realms. But do you know exactly what Dolby built their multi-billion dollar brand on? No? Well, by the end of this article you’ll know all about Dolby – and their latest submission to the AV world: Dolby Atmos!
Before we delve into the nitty gritty of all things Dolby, first a very brief word on Atmos. Dolby Atmos is system which enables sound to come from all directions – even overhead. Intrigued? Us too. But first a little bit about the history of Dolby – and why they’re the raging successes that they are.
The History
It all began – as it so often does – with one man: Ray Dolby. Dolby is widely regarded as the artist’s inventor, the man who successfully joined the worlds of art and science with his inventions, which earned him a prolific presence in both worlds until the day that he died. Born in Oregon in 1933, later relocating to San Francisco. His fixation with audio and visual was cemented very early in his career, when he held down a number of summer jobs at Ampex in Redwood City, first coming to grips with an audio tape recorder in 1949 and even assisting in the development of the first video tape prototypes, his work contributing to the eventual release of the Quadruplex video tape in 1956: the first practical and commercially successful analogue videotape.
This aptitude lead to Dolby attending Stanford college in 1956, receiving a BS in Electrical Engineering. He subsequently secured a scholarship for physics in 1961 from the University of Cambridge, and during his time there he was a Research Fellow at Pembroke College. It was this link to the UK that lead to his setting up Dolby Laboratories in London in 1965, following a few years spent as a technical advisor for the United Nations. He started small – with just a staff of four. At that time, audio for cinema and television was single channel – which meant that producers were limited as to what they could present in the sound department of films and television programs. This was changing, but Dolby had a vision to improve matters. In the same year the company was founded, he had invented the Dolby Sound System. Since then, all improvements made in the field of cinema sound can be traced back to Dolby, and he’s universally credited with being the man who shaped the way we experience film and television to this very day.
The Dolby Noise Reduction System
The very thing that started it all was the Dolby 301, intended for use in professional studios, which incorporated Dolby’s Type A – the first in a series of Dolby Noise Reduction systems. It was designed for use with magnetic tape recordings, and was implemented during the recording process, combining two significant elements: pre-emphasis (during recording) and de-emphasis (during playback), which worked together in tandem to ensure a low signal-to-noise ratio and reduce tape hiss (most audible at a particular frequency.
Dolby A/B/C/S
Featuring within the Dolby 361, Dolby A was commonplace in professional studios within a short time of its release in 1966 – just one year after the formation of Dolby Laboratories – coinciding with the time that multi-track recording became the standard for audio recording. The success of this particular technique, lead to a push for a more commercially viable release. Dolby A was eventually replaced by Dolby SR in 1986 – the spectral recording system. This four channel noise reduction system is still used by recording and post-production engineers, broadcasters, and other audio professionals. It is included today on nearly all 35 mm film prints – regarded as the benchmark. On films with digital soundtracks, the SR track is used in cinemas not equipped for digital playback, and it serves as a backup in case of problems with the digital track.
In 1968, following a relocation of the company from London to San Francisco, Dolby B was released into the world. Designed primarily for cassettes, it went on to completely alter the way music was both recorded and received world-over. It was simple and cheap, and by the mid-70s it was the standard for all cassette tapes – and is the type of noise reduction and is still used to this very day. Yes – people still like their cassette tapes!
In the 1980s, the call for improved quality on the sound of cassettes was answered.Providing greater levels of noise reduction, Dolby C was implemented in all higher-end cassette players from 1981, starting with the NAD 6150C (pictured above).
Dolby S was the next level – offering a significantly greater level of noise reduction, but it came along in 1989 when the compact disc (… the CD), was replacing the cassette in the commercial market. Working as a cut down version of SR, it offered a level of noise reduction, it was used on higher end recording equipment but didn’t gain much popularity.
Other Technologies
Alongside the revolutionary noise reduction system, there have been a number of other technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories which are significant. In 1975, they released Dolby Stereo which could contain additional centre and surround channels matrixed from the left and right, as well as implementing noise reduction. This was implemented in thousands of cinemas worldwide – and was eventually replaced by the Dolby Surround for cinematic released and Dolby Pro Logic for domestic use.
Dolby Digital was released in 1992 – intitally developed for laser discs. Anyone who knows their AV history knows that that format didn’t take off – but it was eventually implemented into DVD specs as standard. By 2010, Dolby had released Dolby 7.1 – which was implemented in cinemas across the globe and proved exceedingly popular, paving the way for Atmos in 2012.
Dolby have dabbled in – and often excelled in – pretty much every niche in the sound recording industry, their unique and revolutionary approach to noise reduction, sound reproduction and video processing left deep marks in a number of fields. But we’re most interested in their involvement in domestic surround sound – particularly their most recent developments.
Dolby Atmos
Like most of Dolby’s technologies, Atmos was first developed for professional use – specifically in cinema. It uses revolutionary technology that enables producers to use virtually unlimited audio tracks – so each sound is an single entity, allowing for broad, full and detailed sound in cinema like never before. We’ve come a very long one since single channel audio!
‘Dolby Atmos is the first audio format based on audio objects rather than channels. In Dolby Atmos, any sound—the helicopter, a blaring car horn, a yelling child—can exist as an independent audio object, free of channel restrictions. It can be placed and moved anywhere, including anywhere overhead. Filmmakers can now focus on telling the story. They can place sounds where they would occur naturally in a scene, rather than compromising the artistic intent by having to place them into channels. Sounds move in multidimensional space—flowing above and around you in step with the visuals to bring a new sense of height and reality. Dolby Atmos puts you in the middle of the action—in ways you have never before experienced. – Dolby
This approach is the first of its kind – and renders the audio to be completely immersive – by nature! There are no tricks within the technology to make it sound as so, the format itself is geared towards being naturally open, rich and detailed. One of the reasons why Dolby is as phenomenally successful as they have been is they have enabled film makers to recreate their intentions. Many famous film makers have directly accredited Dolby’s inventions with helping to bring their creations to life.
If you think Dolby have reserved their latest – and finest creation for the silver screen – you’d be wrong! True to form, they have been trickling Atmos into every listening environment – most significantly (for us!) into home cinema! If you wish to experience this new level for yourself you will need a current Blu Ray Player that meets full Blu Ray industry specifications, or a media streamer with the current HDMI spec (v4 and beyond). Next, you’ll need a AV/Receiver which supports Atmos. Now, this can be where things get a little tricky as there aren’t too many of these. But luckily, we happen to stock a few that do, with plenty more to come. Dolby’s advances are never too far away, and leading manufacturers are implementing the technology as I speak. Watch this space… or this one, for announcements on that front.
Another important thing to note is the implementation of overhead speakers is a very important factor in getting the full Atmos experience. At least two speakers, but four are the optimum. Combining four overheads with a traditional 5.1 system – or a 7.1 system, which we can arrange – enables the sound to be completely multi-dimensional – in a very literal sense. The audio objects come from all directions – quite literally, taking the notion of ‘surround sound’ to the closest it has ever come to being… well… real!
What Dolby understood, from the get go, was the purpose of the cinematic experience. It it so much more than just entertainment, it’s about creating a world that is utterly different from the one you inhabit and fully immersing the audience into that world so they experience it as the characters within do. It’s escapism, the ultimate distraction. And in our hectic (and often difficult) lives, distraction is mandatory for a happy life. Atmos is the next step towards full immersion in the plethora of worlds that cinema allows us to explore at the press of a button. Not bad for a young lad from Portland, Oregon. Not bad at all.
