Earliest Films with Multichannel Soundtracks (1 Viewer)

[David Olstein]

I'm fairly certain that Fantasia (1940) was the first commercially released film to feature a multichannel soundtrack (at least at limited roadshow engagements). The "FantaSound" system utilized three screen channels as well as auditorium speakers (although I'm not exactly sure whether there was a discrete surround channel or whether there was selective panning of one of the three main channels).

The next commercial release I'm aware of that featured a multichannel soundtrack was This is Cinerama (1952).

Does anybody know whether there were any films released after Fantasia and before This is Cinerama that had multichannel soundtracks?

Also, does anyone know how many non-CinemaScope 35mm films during the 1950's were presented with multichannel soundtracks? I was certainly aware that some CinemaScope films had a magnetic four channel soundtrack, but I was surprised to learn that From Here to Eternity used a discrete three channel soundtrack for large venues.

 

[Carl Johnson]

thats a very interesting question. i'm the farthest thing from an expert but if i would have guessed what year was the first multi channel film i would have missed the mark by at least 20 years.

 

[SteveP]

PORTRAIT OF JENNIE(1948) had some first run engagements where the climatic storm sequence was shown on an enlarged Magnascope screen with multiple-channel sound.

After THIS IS CINERAMA(1952), magnetic stereo prints were used on a number of feature fims in 1953 prior to the introduction of CinemaScope in September of that year, particularly on films in the 3-D process.

Joe Caps, I believe, would have full details on this subject.

 

[Peter Kline]

Marty Hart's Widescreen Museum has an interesting section on film sound. Go here:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/sound/sound01.htm

 

[Leo Kerr]

With respect to Fantasound, I believe the interlocked optical soundtrack had three soundtracks on it. Really stretching my memory here, I believe I also recall hearing that there were pilot-tones for each track that would steer them throughout the auditorium. (I recall hearing that a proper Fantasound setup had something like 36 speakers. Seems high, but...)

Leo Kerr
[email protected]

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I don't think there were 36 speakers, it was more like 8. I can't remember the exact number but 36 is way too high.
Possibly three in front, two on the sides, two in the rear, and one overhead. The optical soundtrack had four tracks, three were audio and the fourth did have tones which controlled faders to steer the three tracks in any combination to any of the speakers.

Fantasound also had a few other innovations which were required to reach the goal. To smoothly pan audio from one speaker to the next, the Disney engineers had to invent the panpot. They found that you get a smooth pan if the total power level of the two channels remains constant during the pan, it isn't linear but rather logarithmic. Also, they were the first to do multitrack recording which allowed them to put a single musical instrument such as a flute on one track with the rest of the music on another track, so that the flute could move by itself around the auditorium.

 

[Douglas R]

Also, does anyone know how many non-CinemaScope 35mm films during the 1950's were presented with multichannel soundtracks?

It's certainly not easy to get information about these. I was also surprised to learn that FROM HERE TO ETERNITY was shown in stereo. JULIUS CAESAR (1953), GIANT and THE GLEN MILLER STORY are three others. Quite a few 3D films were in also stereo such as IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, HOUSE OF WAX and HONDO. There were, of course, a large number of Cimemascope films in stereo and the book Wide Screen Movies (Published by McFarland) lists them. The book lists many VistaVision films as being in stereo but I think the authors are completely wrong about that. The only 50s VistVision films which seem for sure to have been in stereo as far as I can gather are HIGH SOCIETY, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, FUNNY FACE, THE BUCCANEER (I think) and possibly WHITE CHRISTMAS.

 

[Peter Kline]

Here's one of three papers, this one on setting up Fantasound in theatres:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/sound/Fantasound3.htm

Also, based on the following article it seems the only VistaVision film to use a true stererophonic soundtrack (music only) for exhibition was "The Ten Commandments". Sound effects were in Perspecta sound.

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/vvstory.htm

 

[David Olstein]

The book lists many VistaVision films as being in stereo but I think the authors are completely wrong about that. The only 50s VistVision films which seem for sure to have been in stereo as far as I can gather are HIGH SOCIETY, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, FUNNY FACE, THE BUCCANEER (I think) and possibly WHITE CHRISTMAS.

I thought VistaVision, unlike CinemaScope and Todd-AO, did not use magnetic multichannel soundtracks. Instead, I believe it used an optical soundtrack which included, with some films, perspecta tones that could provide directionalized sound effects. It's too bad that VistaVision films didn't feature discrete stereo soundtracks -- a lot of great films were shot in that format.

 

[SteveP]

The stereo versions of HIGH SOCIETY and NORTH BY NORTHWEST were created in recent years from the original stereophonic recording sessions.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, I believe, is the only VistaVision film that had some original roadshow engagements in genuine stereo.

 

[Peter Kline]

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, I believe, is the only VistaVision film that had some original roadshow engagements in genuine stereo.

Yup, that's what the article I referred to above stated.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Abel Gance's 1935 reissue of Napoleon included "perspective" sound.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I think the reason why Fantasound didn't become popular (besides this thing called World War II) was the fact the setup was almost Rube Goldberg-complicated in order to get it to work properly.

I feel that multichannel sound didn't really become fairly widespread until Dolby Surround became available in the mid 1970's, mostly because the soundtrack was stored on a magnetic stripe on the filmstrip itself (I think).

In my opinion, it took the competition between Dolby Digital, DTS and Sony's now-phased out SDDS system in the 1990's to get everyone to put in multichannel sound systems in theaters on a really wide scale.

 

[Peter Kline]

Early Dolby Stereo soundtracks were available as optical ones as well as magnetic. Dolby was really a way to reduce background noise (hiss, pops, whatever) and had nothing to do with stereo sound per se. Many soundtracks were/are Dolby mono as well as stereo.

 

[SteveP]

IMHO, Dolby Stereo could never hold a candle to Todd-AO six-track magnetic from the roadshow days of the fifties and sixties.

 

[Patrick McCart]

...and nothing has matched the 7-track magnetic sound of Cinerama.

 

[David Olstein]

...and nothing has matched the 7-track magnetic sound of Cinerama.

I'll second that. When I saw This is Cinerama at the Hollywood Dome last year, I was actually more impressed with the sound quality than I was with the visuals (which weren't too shabby either).

It's amazing just how much of a quantum leap Cinerama was (Disney's FantaSound experiment notwithstanding). To go from a 35mm 1.33:1 film with mono optical sound to a massive widescreen presentation (using 4.5 times as much negative) with seven channels of full-range audio. And in nearly fifty years, the quality of presentation has rarely been matched, much less surpassed.

I really envy the filmgoers of the 1950's, getting to watch huge Cinerama and 70mm spectaculars in lavish movie palaces. I'd gladly pay a premium over the already exorbitant $10 ticket price in Manhattan to experience something like that.

 

[SteveP]

I feel very lucky to have experienced the tail end of the roadshow era as a child in Connecticut and a teenager in New York City.

The loss of the roadshow theatres in Times Square (the Rivoli, the Capitol, the Warner Cinerama, the Loews State, the DeMille and the Criterion) were historic desecration at its worst and something that New York City has yet to (and may never) recover from.

 

[Peter Kline]

I saw all those roadshow films at the venues SteveP mentioned (all were actually above Times Square between 45th and about 59th Streets) when I was growing up in New York City. Steve left out the Roxy and Radio City Music Hall, the former closing down around 1959 the latter still around but not showing films much anymore.

 

[Damin J Toell]

IMHO, Dolby Stereo could never hold a candle to Todd-AO six-track magnetic from the roadshow days of the fifties and sixties.

Well, it probably wasn't meant to sound better than those soundtracks, anyway. I think the main goal of Dolby Stereo was affordability. That Dolby Stereo caught on as it did is a testament to that goal.

DJ