How The THX Noise Was Created 243
devilsbrigade writes "The blog MusicThing is running an interesting interview with Andy Moorer. Mr. Moorer is the man who created the sound called Deep Note, now heard in every THX-enabled movie theatre. The interview is originally from last year, but the tech-heavy discussion is still a timeless analysis of a great sound." From the article: "The score consists of a C program of about 20,000 lines of code. The output of this program is not the sound itself, but is the sequence of parameters that drives the oscillators on the ASP. That 20,000 lines of code produce about 250,000 lines of statements of the form "set frequency of oscillator X to Y Hertz. The oscillators were not simple - they had 1-pole smoothers on both amplitude and frequency. At the beginning, they form a cluster from 200 to 400 Hz. I randomly assigned and poked the frequencies so they drifted up and down in that range."
Now the art is (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now the art is (Score:4, Funny)
was how I was always told to spell it in Kindergarden.
er, um... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:er, um... (Score:4, Funny)
(I couldn't find the original link at The Onion, alas.)
Re:Now the art is (Score:3, Insightful)
No, no. You're confused. That's the old Current Affair [ustacould.com] sound...
W
Obligatory Grandpa Quote (Score:3, Funny)
Turn it uup!"
Re:Obligatory Grandpa Quote (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Now the art is (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Now the art is (Score:2)
pfft ... 20k lines of C (Score:5, Funny)
Re:pfft ... 20k lines of C (Score:3, Funny)
Re:pfft ... 20k lines of C (Score:3, Funny)
Super Mario World's keyhole sound (Score:5, Funny)
deepnote.mp3: No such file or directory (ENOENT)
I would plug in Super Mario World (either on cartridge or on an emulator), head to Donut Plains, grab the cape, fly up near the end of the stage, and stick the key in the hole. This causes the game to play a humorous sped up version of "Deep Note" [ytmnd.com].
Re:pfft ... 20k lines of C (Score:3, Funny)
I didn't realize Hollywood enployed so many coders...
Re:pfft ... 20k lines of C (Score:4, Funny)
Blasphemey (Score:3, Funny)
Now I'm just going to sit back and wait for somebody to tell me I'm wrong and it could be done in 3 lines with AJAX
Re:OMG! Welcome to CompSci101: Intro to Algorithms (Score:4, Insightful)
You also have no idea how many lines of the 20,000 are data tables. Note the part where he says "the frequencies of the big chord (which had been typed in by hand - based on a 150-Hz root)..."
I'll tell you what: I'll give you 4 days to write your 5 lines of Perl. When it executes, it should algorithmically create (not download off the internet, or some bullshit) a wav file which 8 out of 10 people can't distinguish from 'Deep Note' based on a side-by-side sound test. If you succeed, I'll send you $300 through PayPal.
Until then, STFU. Some of us are trying to enjoy the show.
I always thought it was (Score:5, Funny)
You know, a slowed down version of the sound of what happens after George Lucas unzips his fly.
Re:I always thought it was (Score:3, Funny)
George Lucas is filing papers against you for copyright infringement for using the THX(tm) sound in your post.
He's doing it using the loose change that dropped out as he was unzipping his fly.
Re:I always thought it was (Score:2)
Re:I always thought it was (Score:2)
Nah, that's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Scream [wikipedia.org]
This Is Very Old (Score:2, Funny)
Re:This Is Very Old (Score:5, Funny)
They created it by (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They created it by (Score:2)
Some tangential "Deep Note" trivia (Score:5, Interesting)
Dr. Dre is furious that people are using Napster to download his song "Lolo" without permission or license - an obvious "copyright infringement". The irony is that the prominent feature of that song is a sound that Dr. Dre appropriated without permission or license - an obvious "copyright infringement"?
Re:Some tangential "Deep Note" trivia (Score:2)
Re:Some tangential "Deep Note" trivia (Score:2)
Slightly offtopic but a friend of mine is a producer who at one time worked at the Plant, a famous studio Metallica has used to record albums. Lars was visiting my friends private studio one day where he showed Lars this great new program that you could use to download free music and software. Lars was fascinated. We all
Yeah but... (Score:2, Funny)
He was a Gentoo fan... (Score:4, Funny)
None of them. Not a single one. I'd guess that there probably isn't any branching or looping logic in the entire program...
Talk about -funroll-loops!
Could you add one more line of code (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:2)
one dvd and you wouldn't believe the # of phone calls I got telling me to turn that damn thing down.
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:3, Funny)
My date was mortified; still got laid, though.
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:2)
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:5, Funny)
Do you know for sure that she got laid? She might only have told you she did out of spite
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't belong here. Move along.
Re:Could you add one more line of code (Score:2)
Turn it uuuup! Turn it uuuuuup!
--Abe Simpson
I like the THX signature sound so much... (Score:5, Funny)
Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:5, Interesting)
However every theater I've been in with THX has for some odd reason put the audio level up to 11 to "enhance" the effect. So instead of a nice clean silly-sound followed by a clear and rich sound, I am treated to the sharp buzz of overmod followed by the grating pops of briefly exceeding the specifications of the speakers during the exciting parts of the films.
Fortunately, home theaters are cheap and it is quite easy to peg the audio at a level that doesn't stress the speakers. But it's a sad commentary when $60 walmart home theater has better sound than the real thing simply because some undertrained lacky failed to properly adjust the sound levels.
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.thx.com/mod/cinema/survey.html [thx.com]
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:4, Insightful)
Volume has to be the most irritating problem in a movie theater. Granted, the 14 year old lackeys don't give a rat's ass what they set it at, but if enough people complain through the THX survey, those 14 year old lackeys will be the most educated in town on the definition of 'audiophile.' THX will work hard to preserve its reputation vs. DTS and competitors. They'll come down hard on theater management, who will have no choice but to train and weed out failing staff. With keeping a uniform or theater clean, or keeping food safety in mind, a theater's reputation spreads. So too does "that theater's too loud, let's go to the one across town."
I had no idea until now that THX had a public survey. I'll have to use it.
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:2)
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:2)
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:5, Funny)
But there actual goal was to get everybody in the theater to SHUT THE FUCK UP and listen to the movie, which requires a burst of sound so loud that nobody can talk over it.
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Blasting Speaker Noise (Score:2)
This doesn't follow. He is complaining about how an unnecessary attempt to make something sound "better" made the media distract him from the film. If distractions are bad, shouldn't he dislike distractions?
Brown note... (Score:5, Funny)
No luck finding the Brown note, I presume? Somehow "poked" and the "brown note" bring colorful images to the mind.
MythBusters busts it (Score:3, Interesting)
MythBusters confirms it: Brown note is dying [wikipedia.org]
And I always thought (Score:3, Funny)
Doing it the hard way. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nothing beats creating a sound from scratch.
It takes a lot longer than pressing a preset button on a synth.
An instrument like a guitar is simple in a way, but with practice, people get so many sounds from it. C-sound is a bit like that too, you start off just making beeps and then eventually it sounds a bit like music.
Re:Doing it the hard way. (Score:2)
They Didn't Sue FLA (Score:2)
Re:They Didn't Sue FLA (Score:2)
Wow! A one pole smoother... (Score:4, Informative)
Occasionally called a resistor and a capacitor.
Re:Wow! A one pole smoother... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wow! A one pole smoother... (Score:2)
you know, like how an IDE is a compiler, linker, editor, and debugger, or something.
Re:Wow! A one pole smoother... (Score:2)
Of course, at the time I thought it was potentiometer and couldn't figure
out why it worked in the radio but not for me.
Re:Wow! A one pole smoother... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's it. You've done it. I officially feel old now.
THX, DTS, etc. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:THX, DTS, etc. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:THX, DTS, etc. (Score:3, Interesting)
But I do distinctly remember the Jurassic Park DTS intro... it seems like around that time was when Dolby Digital, SDDS, etc, surround sound intros started becoming really prominent. I had always thought that the THX intro was a lot newer than 1983 myself,
So, in other words ... (Score:5, Funny)
He fiddled with it until it sounded nice.
Re:So, in other words ... (Score:2)
Everyone here really should read this one, the guy mostly writes it himself. It's a really interesting peek at Lucasfilm Computer Division in the 80s -- a bit of movie technology I'd like to hear more about -- and the state of computer music right before everything went fully digital.
The saddest part:
>> "The ASP [LCD's crazy sounding mainframe-driven analog synth] was decommissioned in 1986 and later sold for scrap."
Re:So, in other words ... (Score:2)
it can't be that complicated... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, it's, it's really a combination of... I used celery. I broke celery sticks, and then pitched it down, and I added lots of reverb. I guess I'm giving away some trade secrets here.
But nobody will ever really know exactly how much celery you used.
I also added corn starch, and then we went and crashed our van. And recorded that. And I mixed it in.
It sounds incredible.
Simpsons (Score:5, Funny)
http://media.putfile.com/The--Simpsons--THX--Paro
Re:Simpsons (Score:2)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-50155465
Links to the original THX sound (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.digital-audio.net/sounds_o.shtml [digital-audio.net]
Many Variations on a theme. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Many Variations on a theme. (Score:2)
Thanks for bringing that memory up. Now I have to find it.
Re:Many Variations on a theme. (Score:2)
Re:Many Variations on a theme. (Score:2)
Re:Many Variations on a theme. (Score:2)
I bet he's a real party anmal (Score:5, Funny)
"Hey, I invented this really really famous sound - it goes like...well..actually I have it here on my iPod, or you can come back to my place to hear it on my home theatre if you want? Here take this copy on CD, it's free..."
Think Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters!
Re:I bet he's a real party anmal (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, but then when he gets them home he's screwed because he locked himself out...
Re:I bet he's a real party anmal (Score:2)
Actually, you apply that thought to pretty much any Rick Moranis movie!
TODO: log random number generator seed (Score:5, Interesting)
I was in a somewhat similar spot a few years back, where a script I'd written to generate random data for load testing a server, used date and time as a rand() seed. One set of data I generated uncovered a weird threading issue, and it was pretty reproducible with that dataset. Then a disk crash wiped the dataset. I still had the script, but couldn't seem to get another dataset that would repro the issue.
In addition to being better about backups, I now log whatever random seed is used to generate a dataset like that.
Talk about feeling left out... (Score:2)
Re:Talk about feeling left out... (Score:2)
So take advantage of the newly evolved Netflix envelope [slashdot.org]... The THX sound is at the start of many rentals too.
Nothing beats the Boston Imax theatre Noise... (Score:2)
Found the right line.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Nothing beats the Boston Imax theatre Noise... (Score:2)
I know what it really is. (Score:4, Funny)
So they sampled that, air-balled it once, and patented it.
Cameo appearance in anime (Score:2)
I doubt Lucasfilm or THX authorized that usage.
Here's how it *really* went down (Score:5, Funny)
Andy Moorer: We electrocuted a sperm whale.
George Lucas: God damn that sounds great.
Andy Moorer: [Giggles} I *know*
George Lucas: Thing is... we need a story that's not going to bring those Greenpeace punks down on top of us.
Andy Moorer: I coded the sound with 20,000 lines of C?
George Lucas: Nice. Let's go with that.
Re:Here's how it *really* went down (Score:2)
Re:Here's how it *really* went down (Score:2)
Something cool to try... (Score:2, Interesting)
(Uh... not that I'd know what a nuclear reactor would sound like... yeah, uh, you can get back to dealing with Iran now...)
Nice guy (Score:2)
I ended up playing his sound samples for his talk through the auditorium sound system. I didn't know he was involved with the THX sound, and when he mentioned it, I realized I now had an interesting (somewhat) story. "I ran sound effects for the guy who invented
I'm picturing the source code... (Score:2)
Have a listen... (Score:5, Informative)
For those who want to give it a listen, the trademarked THX sound is available on the USPTO's web site here [uspto.gov].
They have a whole bunch of others here [uspto.gov]. It's kind of a fun page to click around on.
Do we really need more advertising? (Score:2)
Imagine if every technology involved in movies got a 30 second ad at the start of the movie.
Strangely similar to an "Asia" intro (Score:2)
On Purpose? (Temporal Masking) (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:On Purpose? (Temporal Masking) (Score:2)
Re:On Purpose? (Temporal Masking) (Score:2)
Re:Two words: Styx & Krakatoa (Score:2, Informative)
Sheesh, man, learn your rock history. Styx wasn't even close.
Re:Two words: Styx & Krakatoa (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Two words: Styx & Krakatoa (Score:3, Interesting)
Wasn't it called an "orchestral freak out [wikipedia.org]". I actually thought of the same thing. Besides, it ends with the chord that sounds conspicuously like the Macintosh boot chime (I guess that's the source of the bitter fight between Apple Computer, Inc. and Apple Corp.) Now I read about this Xenakis guy. Fascinating...
I guess we could even bring up Johann Sebastian Bach, who is widely regarded as among the most brilliant (if not the most brilliant) composer of all time. Bach's works have been analyzed for mathemat
Re:Two words: Styx & Krakatoa (Score:5, Informative)