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I've been an audio/visual engineer and freelance projectionist for many years, and would like to touch on a couple things. The level of volume should be equalised to 80-83 decibels from each audio channel at a level of '7' on the sound processor. So, in theory, it should not be 'up to the projectionist'. There are, however, a couple problems. Most movie theatres do not have projectionists anymore. The movies you are watching on screen are being played by a manager on the other side of the building, that never once checks on it. At all. Frankly, it's irresponsible to not ever check inside of the theatre to make sure the picture and sound are ok. In fact, I've worked in many theatres where the manager doesn't even know where the projection booth is, or how to get there. If there's a problem, they only know about it when there's a complaint, and even then it's easier to just give out comp tickets to the people who complained, while they continue making money off the people who don't. Usually, they'll even continue running shows in that room before calling someone in to fix the problem. The other issue, is that studios, in an attempt to keep up with the audio level of pre-show advertisements, continue mixing their films even louder, disregarding a standard that is supposed to be set, to keep people's hearing safe. Which in turn has the theatre chain turn the volume up on their ads even further. Most of this is from neglect from theatre managers and higher ups, not projectionists who randomly decide to blow people's hearing. |