CINEMA SOUND
Film sound is much more than dialogue, music and song. It conveys mood, ‘atmosphere’ and effects, all of which are a vital part of the whole presentation, and with large loudspeakers and powerful amplifiers cinema sound has a great deal more presence than its TV counterpart. The cinema industry latched on to stereo and multi- channel systems very early on, starting in the 1930s to build a sound- field which matched the size and depth of its moving pictures. By the 1950s 35 mm film prints carried at least a stereo soundtrack, and 70 mm prints typically had six separate sound strips for multi-channel reproduction via loudspeakers spaced around the viewing area. Magnetic-stripe soundtracks, while giving good performance, gave way to optical soundtracks because of the latter’s ease of duplication with the picture, and its cost and maintenance advantages in individual cinemas.