I don't know what it does, but I want it (Part 37)

This is the Dolby Lake Processor. I have only the vaguest idea what it does (seems to involve eq and crossover for PA systems), but it looks incredible - there are four of these little circular glowing displays surrounded by buttons. The other question it raises is, of course: "Dolby? Are they still around?"


Comments:
its a good thing we still can make sure our recordings are in dobly.
 
wha? dolby never went anywhere.
 
looks like a very high-tech crossover network.
 
Uh, surround processing?

You know, like, uh, Pro Logic? That Dolby technology that's in, like, every stereo on the planet now?
 
She means Dolby!
 
does it go to eleven?
 
...next to that, Dolby Digital(AC3) is on every DVD out there, next to maybe some other soundtrack like DTS or more exotic formats... a DD-decoder is in every home-theatre-receiver maybe next to DTS-decoders and such... DD is the standard on DVDs...

So... are they still around? They never been away! :-)
 
Engineer: Do you wan't to use dolby?
Singer: Yeah, but not too much, ok?
 
I DO know what it is and I still want one
 
Still Around? Are you kidding, Dolby is the Don Corleone of cinema soundformats. And rich as hell too. Dolby E is also becoming standard for HD braodcasting with 8 Ch of audio. 5.1 + stereo.
 
Dolby is lucky that, with digital audio killing the need for B & C hiss reduction, they got into the surround sound market fairly early. most people i know prefer DTS than AC3. what WILL kill Dolby is when HD DVD technology no longer requires decoding of surround signals, i.e., when you can stream 8 channels of 24 bit / 96khz audio directly. maybe this box is dipping another toe into the future.
 
Sorry, not sourround processing - it's a bit more than that.

Guys, this is serious audio. This thing is meant for sound engineers who set up HUGE speaker systems at concerts. You thought it was difficult to set up your home audio system...? Try hooking up 10's of thousands of watts and try to optimise that!!

It is your job as a sound engineer to make a band sound good. They can be at their best - if the sound engineer screwed up the crowd will hate them.

When you're sitting with speaker systems that create more decibels than 5 jumbo jets, you better know what you are doing. You have to take every tiny little thing into account. If some advertising company comes and puts a huge advertising board to the side of the stage - mid crowd, you have to take that into account. If there are buildings next to the stage, you have to take that into account.

With this huge amount of power, you have to take things like ressonance and phasing seriously. (you know, when two wave forms clash with each other to form a new amplified waverform... or worse, a distorted waveform). Everyone must hear good audio, and sometimes there are huge "deadspots" where the crowd is standing. It's one huge game of comprimise. You kill the deadspot in one area, only to loose quality in a previously good area.

Now... this is where this Dolby beast comes in. (Hell I hope so cause I need something like this). I pretty sure you must program the entire surroundings of the stage and seating/standing area into it. (That is why they mention "optimise sound for any seat in the house"). If they did a good job at it, it will automatically process and slightly change the sound signal so that you avoid things like ressonance and phasing. That is why they say the sound engineer will be left to focus on the more important tasks.
 
Thanks, Werner, great explanation
 
Well, since I work for Dolby I can tell you for a fact that Dolby never went anywhere. Joshi said Dolby is rich as hell and he's right! Think about what technology licensing fees on every DVD player in the world gets you! A lot of money, that's what. The great thing is that money is funding research on amazing things that you'll get to appreciate in a few years. Just you wait. This Lake processor is just the beginning.

The naysayer who waved the HD DVD doomsday stick didn't realize that Dolby TrueHD (lossless compression) is a requirement for all HD-DVD players and DD Plus is on BluRay. Why put uncompressed audio on a disc when you can compress it and still get the same perfect audio out on the other end?

OK. End Dolby advertisement. Now on to the Lake processor.

Werner got it right. Lake has (since before Dolby bought them) been in the business of serious SERIOUS live sound EQing and speaker array preprocessing. This unit allows you to have consistent sound every night of a tour in vastly different venues. Every room sounds different, so quite a lot has to be taken into account.

Lake are absolutely the best at this stuff and I'm blown away by the technology they develop. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these and behold it's glory. It kind of makes me want to see if I can transfer to their office in Australia!
 
I think this is what Khan used to activate Genesis in Star Trek II.
 
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