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cation of the surround speakers. The sur- round speakers are located along the side walls of the theater in addition to the back wall. "The speakers along the left side wall combined with the left speakers on the back wall are all considered to be the left sur- round," says Bolt. "And the speakers along the right side wall combined with the right speakers on the back wall are all considered to be the right surround. So, depending where you sit in a theater, it's possible to have the surrounds in front of you.That's be- cause the front rows need to have sur- rounds, too. The only way that is possible is by having speakers along the sides within the range of the audience in the front row." To compensate for this difference, the audio timing for the surround speakers is taken into account. "In the theaters, the sur- round speakers are timed on a delay to match what is coming out of the front speakers," he says. "Otherwise, the surround sound would get to you first because those speakers are closer to you. And the far ther back you go in the theater, the larger the time delay is for the surrounds simply be- cause it takes longer for the sound of the front speakers to reach you." Star Trek was mixed at Fox Studios using all three dubbing theaters, the Howard Hawks, the John Ford and the Rober t Wise. Each theater is equipped with the AMS Neve Digital Film Console and Pro Tools. "The com- pressors on the DFC are great, ver y gentle, soft and not abusive," repor ts Bolt, who also uses the Cedar DNS3000 noise reduction system and mixes on a 5.1 Genelec monitoring system. A variation of 5.1 for the home and the theater is called Dolby EX. The main difference is that it includes a center surround channel for a total of seven chan- nels, or what is called 6.1. This format has limited sup- por t in the field. "It's a total of 7 channels," says Bolt,"so, you have to specifically pre- pare a surround mix for 6.1 when you are working. It can affect the levels and imaging of the surrounds if you are not technically pre- pared for it." I M A X S U R R O U N D & K E N T E A N E Y IMAX has become more and more com- mon over the years, but there is a very im- por tant distinction to make. Todd-AO's (www.toddao.com) premiere IMAX mixer, Ken Teaney, explains how not ever y film is fully produced in the IMAX format from be- ginning to end. "I have done more IMAX mixing than any other person, with 35 or 36 films on my credit list, including my most re- cent one called Grand Canyon Adventure: River At Risk. All of these films, right from the star t, were shot in IMAX and cut the way IMAX is cut. For example, compared to a normal film, IMAX shots tend to be a little longer. The concept is to give the audience the time to look around. The frame is so large that it takes time to take it all in. Generally speaking, most of the action happens on the bottom par t of the screen. That's where people's heads and line of site normally rest. "Another impor tant dis- tinction is that during shooting, the film loads are ver y, ver y shor t," he continues. "A smaller, lighter, specially-designed IMAX camera, like the one used on location on Everest, may only have one minute of film in each load. So, for a standard feature film, this would not be practical. When it comes to a true IMAX film, done from the ground up, directors like Greg MacGillivray truly know how to use the immensity of the shot in their framing and panning. Pans tend to be slower paced because people need a chance to look at ever ything. Panning too quickly can make people who are prone to motion sickness get sick. Now more and more IMAX is done in 3D, so it is all shot differently and paced differently. Almost always, a true IMAX film is www.postmagazine.com October 2009 • Post 35 Tomlinson Holman: "Ultimately, 10.2 is 14 electrical channels, but I call it 10.2 speaker locations."