What content will help you quickly test surround sound

Sound in movies is an integral part of storytelling. Surround sound systems help reveal the director's intention to the fullest extent. Today we have prepared a compact selection of movies, the scenes of which will help to evaluate the capabilities of the audio system of the home theater [for example, in the showroom before buying].
The authors of the pictures assembled a big team of sound designers and used interesting effects, so their works are worth seeing. [We've put links to excerpts, of course, for easy content search and clarity

"WALL-I" (2008)

What to watch: the scene where WALL-E and Eve fly into outer space

There is relatively little dialogue in this film, so the main emphasis is placed on the soundtrack and sound effects, which are responsible for conveying emotions. This fact is particularly well reflected in the scene when the main characters fly into space. The background melody is a mirror of the characters' feelings, while even such details as the low rumble of the spaceship's engines complete the scene. You can watch this part of the movie with your eyes closed, as the audio perfectly conveys what is happening on the screen - it is easy to imagine the picture in your head.
Sound designer Ben Burtt was responsible for the sound in the film. It was he who created the voice of the droid R2-D2 from Star Wars, blaster shots, Darth Vader's breathing, and other legendary sounds. Interestingly, it was his processed voice that eventually made WALL-E speak. Although the team considered other options as well. At first, they wanted the robot to communicate with sounds (like Astro droids) unlike human speech.
The choice of sounds to create background noise was also unusual. For example, the rustling of the wind on Earth was generated from audio recordings made near Niagara Falls. Hal the cockroach's tinkling footsteps are the clicks of handcuffs.
All in all, the sound team collected over two thousand audio files while working on WALL-E. By comparison, only 800 sound files were used in Star Wars: A New Hope.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015)

What to watch: car chase scenes.
That's the case when it's worth recommending a film from start to finish [although a few minutes in the showroom will suffice]. Without surround sound, it is difficult to feel the atmosphere of the desert, which is pervaded by stormy winds and the roar of cars.

Two divisions of sound directors and sound editors were formed to work on the film - twenty people in Australia and another fifteen in the United States. They concentrated on creating unique audio samples using various tools, including adobe After Effects templates. For example, the sound of a harpoon hitting its target is a processed whale moan, and the roar of the engines is embellished with the roar of bears and the hum of a flying swarm of bees. In the scene with the explosion of the huge Furiosa truck, the noisemakers used animal screams to raise the emotional bar, layering them with additional effects created from After Effects templates.

Photo: Erik Witsoe. Source: Unsplash.com
In addition to the sound effects, the musical accompaniment is of course also worth paying attention to. The furious soundtrack consists of rumbling drums, accelerating the chase to extreme speeds, and riffs of a mad guitarist, with flames bursting out of his instrument. Junkie XL wrote royalty free music for the film. He worked on it for a year and a half, which, according to the composer himself, is unheard of. But in the end, the audience got an almost modern rock opera, where every tune complements what's happening on the screen. Interestingly, Junkie XL recently confirmed that he is writing music for a Furiosa-themed spin-off. So maybe soon we'll get another movie with a delightful sound and soundtrack.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018)

What to watch: the scene of Queen's performance at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
The sound directors' main achievement is to revive the sound of Freddie Mercury. The film uses archive recordings of the Queen frontman. Several fragments were prepared by the Canadian rock singer Mark Martel, whose voice is very similar to that of the icon of British music. At the same time, the main character, Rami Malek, also had to sing the songs live. He put himself out so much that he almost lost his voice during the filming. Rami's recorded vocals were combined with recordings by Mercury and Mark Martel during editing.
The team of sound directors concentrated not only on the lead singer. They tried to convey the atmosphere of the stadium performance. To get a surround and authentic sound, the filmmakers played Queen tracks and recorded the sound using dozens of microphones placed around the stage and in the stands.
The hum of the crowd singing along at the concert was also recorded live. Initially, 600 people took part in the recording, but already at the post-production stage, Fox launched a special application. Everyone could record his performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody". As a result, the sound engineers had at their disposal tens of thousands of voices, from which they gathered the sound of a singing stadium.

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