Meyer Sound getting an industry award– it’s kind of a dog bites man story. John Meyer for his many technical innovations, and Helen Meyer for her pioneering role in the industry– we’ve seen them (along with many of their employees) garner dozens of well-deserved awards over the years. Meyer is one of the iconic organizations in the audio world.
But this news is interesting for two reasons: it puts the spotlight in the cinema world back on audio and away from just the projection/video side. And the award was presented SMPTE President Wendy Aylsworth– another pioneering woman who last year showed remarkable leadership in the HFR (high frame rate) rollout for cinema. (See story from July, click here)
Congrats to Meyer Sound. And as for cinema– we’re heading into a new era where audio innovations will be one of the next big drivers in the quest to differentiate the commercial movie theater experience.
Here’s the press release today, about SMPTE’s award to Meyer Sound:
SMPTE Presents Journal Certificates of Merit to Meyer Sound’s Schwenke and Soper
SMPTE (The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) has just awarded the Journal Certificates of Merit to two Meyer Sound staff for their technical paper “Further Investigations into the Interactions between Cinema Loudspeakers and Screens.” The paper was co-authored by Meyer Sound’s Roger Schwenke, staff scientist, and Pete Soper, engineer, along with Brian Long, engineer at Skywalker Sound, and Glenn Leembruggen, principal of consultants Acoustic Directions and ICE Design in Australia.
- L to R: Pete Soper, Brian Long, and Glenn Leembruggen
The 27-page paper presents an investigation of the acoustical interaction between loudspeakers and cinema screens of both perforated and woven construction. By employing both large sections of screen in front of loudspeakers in an anechoic chamber and smaller sections inside a plane wave tube, the authors were able to present a detailed evaluation of the screen materials’ effect on sound transmission into the room, as well as any effects of sound reflected back into the loudspeaker.
The results of the research should lead to improved optimization techniques for cinema sound by providing insights into the selection of screen materials, setting of distance between loudspeaker and screen, and DSP tuning and measurement procedures.
The awards were presented by SMPTE President Wendy Aylsworth at the society’s annual Honors and Awards Ceremony, held on October 24 at Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles.
