Interview with Sound Editors Eddy Joseph, Ray Merrin, and Graham Daniel of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

When the first Harry Potter film was in postproduction at Shepperton Sound Studios in England, the experienced production team of Eddy Joseph (supervising sound editor) and Ray Merrin and Graham Daniel (rerecording mixers) took a short break from their frantic schedules to talk to us about the Dolby® Digital Surround EX™ mix they were busy creating.

How does creating the soundtrack for a film set in this magical fantasy world differ from soundtracks for the more real-life environments you are used to?

It creates a huge but exciting challenge for us, especially as this is the first of several films in the same series. We have to create and set the sound standards for all these new environments, for example how being inside Hogwarts will sound, keeping in mind these effects and ambiences will become the basis for all future Harry Potter films.

The crew has done a great job laying up the effects for the mix and has spent many hours talking about how things should sound. The flying effects for example during the Quidditch game sound absolutely amazing just on their own, and what we had to do at the dub stage was to create a suitable balance of effects with music so that the two really complement each other.

This is obviously an extremely complicated mix. How did you set up the studio to mix in the Dolby Digital Surround EX format?

We are using three Surround EX encoders, one for each of the different elements. Our main goal is to retain compatibility between the regular Dolby Digital cinemas and those with Surround EX. We need to keep the flexibility of the three encoders because we are not always sure how the surround information of program material we receive has been created. We will also have an encoder at the final 32-track print-mastering stage, which we keep in reserve in case any surround effects need to be adjusted then.

The effects were laid up with the three surround channels in mind. One scene we're particularly excited about is the room full of flying keys. These are fast pans between different discrete channels and the effect on the audience is great—we had people looking up to the ceiling in amazement as keys flew 'above' them when the temp mix was played to test audiences.

I know that you are all passionate about how your films are replayed in the cinemas. Where do you see the future of sound in the cinema going, and what future developments do you predict?

In terms of the number of channels, with the Dolby Digital Surround EX format, we feel fairly confident that we can now place both discrete sounds and ambiences anywhere we like in the cinema to create the effect we want for the audience. We do feel that for the future we need to see the standardization, alignment, and maintenance of sound systems in the cinemas improving. Even if high-quality loudspeakers are used, we often find many of the older large cinemas could certainly benefit from acoustic improvements. We want to travel anywhere to hear movies, close our eyes, and feel we're back in the dubbing theatre.

The loudness of the soundtrack is a problem we feel needs improving. Even though the Dolby LEQ program has helped control the level of trailers and cinema advertising, many feature films are still too loud, especially movies designed for children and the family. We are often all under pressure to increase the loudness in our mixes, but the effect on the audience really must be considered. The majority of cinemas decide on the second option and lower the listening level and subsequently the dialogue suffers. We felt that Dolby has always been at the forefront and perhaps discussion should be encouraged to attempt to rectify this problem.