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Boolywood,wake from your 'sound' sleep
Suresh Nair, Bombay
THERE is a funny story doing the rounds of tinsel town. Chris Fellows, a Hong Kong-based freelance sound
engineer, was flown down to Madras by Prasad Laboratories to train its technicians in Dolby recording
techniques. It so happened that Subhash Ghai landed up at the lab one day and told him, I want my film
Trimurti mixed in outstanding quality and I want it done in three days.” Chris looked at Bollywood’s biggest
showman and said that he could only have either of the two — outstanding quality or three days. And to think
that Trimurti, which boasts of a Dolby Spectral Recording (SR), didn’t have even a single memorable sound
effect.
This incident is a reflection of how serious filmmakers in this country are about the value of sound in their
films. two or last years biggest hits, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Rangeela, made use of Dolby
technology. But neither had even a moment when the sound astounded you. Like, for example, the shattering
glass in Die Hard, the exploding aircraft in its sequel or the squealing tyres of the Speed bus. Strange that we
have had 18 films making use of Ray Dolby’s ground-breaking audio technology and none have come
anywhere close to international standards.
The reason is that sound is never considered a serious ingredient by our Bollywood badshahs. Unless, of
course, it’s a song. And when you have loud, bombastic soundtracks, how will Dolby ever make a difference?
The effect of sound comes through only when there is silence preceding or following it. But Bollywood
believes in high-pitch cacophony. So a film like Barsaat fails to make an impact, despite its comparatively
superior Dolby soundtrack.
Quite frankly, it’s the audience who are the losers in the bargain. Because they are shelling out exorbitant
sums of money to buy a ticket at a theatre equipped with Dolby Stereo, while the film itself fails to live up to
the requisite audio standards. Check out a film like Ran
geela, which has an interesting soundtrack, and you will notice the variation in sound from reel to reel. Which
is obviously due to the lack of care taken during the processing of the film (and labs must tighten up their act
in this regard). Sadly, there is only one recording studio, Prasad Laboratories at Madras, where mixing can
be done at present in Dolby. Two more, Sunny (Bombay) and AVM (Madras), are likely to be ready within the
next couple of months. It’s an uneven ratio when you consider that there’s been 18 films in Dolby and a
hundred theatres across the country equipped with the technology.
Ironically, the origins of the Dolby trademark can be traced back to India. When Ray Dolby came to India on a
two-year stint as a United Nations adviser in ‘63, he also brought his lifelong passion for audio recording with
him. He set up a studio in his home and invited Indian musicians in to be recorded. All the while, he pondered
on a problem that had beep plaguing scientists for three decades: how to rid audio recordings of tape hiss.
And then one day, in a moment of sudden understanding, he realised where other scientists had erred.
Certain he had a solution and eager to prove it, Dolby and his fiancee Dagmar began a cross-continent car
trek from India back to England.
It was from Afghanistan hat Dolby filed his first patent for the noise-reduction system that would flake his
name a household word. Star Wars in 1977 was the first film o be released in Dolby Stereo and since then
every Oscar winner for he best sound, down the years has been made using Dolby technology. The
technology has been used in over 12,000 films and installed in 27,000 theatres across the globe. But it isn’t
just a question of Dolby when it comes to our filmmakers. Most of the films that have been made using the
technology were last-minute decisions. By which time it's too late even for Dolby to rectify distorted
soundtrack. lt's only the song recordings that take place first, sometimes even before a film is conceived!
Actors who dub for a film also are part of the problem when they speak so close to the mike, making them
sound quite unnatural.
No wonder that in a Hindi films all dialogues are up front and even a whisper is a scream. But the worst
offence is the usage of old and worn-out pre-recorded effects tapes. So a punch sounds like a bomb
explosion in our masala masterpieces. If that’s all bad, what do you say about places like Mehboob Studios
where recording is done with obsolete equipment and just one speaker.
- Wanted: more quality conscious sound engineers, who are exposed to the latest in international cinema.
Well, it’s time the world’s largest film industry woke up from its ‘sound’ sleep.