Film nerd Wilf Guyatt recently discovered how Wiltshire plays an important part in the movie industry worldwide.  He loved what he saw and heard at the Dolby Laboratories European Headquarters in Wootton Bassett, but now feels inadequate about his own home cinema.  

If you’ve been to see Star Wars Episode 2 or  Minority Report at the flicks, it’s highly likely that the cinema sound equipment was lovingly built and tested right here in Wiltshire.

Sound maestros Dolby Laboratories have had their European base for manufacturing, marketing, sales and technical support in the county since 1993.

Dolby Labs

The technology Dolby produces is full of terms like AC-3, Discrete 6.1 EX and Magneto-Optical.  In simple terms, the boffins at Dolby are world leaders in making sound more ‘exciting’. 

Since 1965 the company has made hundreds of audio innovations.  From reducing the hiss on cassette tapes to splitting sound into separate channels and producing the "surround" effect - Dolby are continously developing and refining industry standards.

Dolby Laboratories has recently passed another important milestone – it has recently sold its one billionth piece of licensed equipment.  This means that, from hi-fis to DVD players and from Walkmans to Playstation 2- the instantly recognisable “Double-D” logo is probably already somewhere in your house or car.

Banks of equipment in the projection room.

Whilst Dolby licenses out its technologies for consumer products to companies like Sony and Panasonic it still produces its own range of professional audio equipment, namely for cinema and broadcast usage.

The most popular item for cinema built at its Wiltshire factory is the Dolby CP650, which enables equipped cinemas to play films that use Dolby’s sound technologies.  Costing a cool £7000 the unit has now been installed at more than 5000 cinemas worldwide and powers the sound for future box office smashes; Austin Powers: Goldmember and Men in Black 2.

Dolby technician

Staff at Wootton Bassett are responsible for far more than the manufacture of the equipment – they also help “shape” film soundtracks. Dolby’s “sound consultants” are responsible for helping film studios get the best out of the technology. 

Dolby's 'consultants' travel internationally from Bollywood to Hollywood, ensuring that the soundtrack that gets shipped with the film meets their high standards.  

The purpose built offices, opened in 1993 by Princess Anne are littered with items from Dolby’s rich cinematic history – posters for blockbusters like Batman, Indiana Jones and Apocalypse Now are proudly displayed – acting as reminder of the importance of their technology to the film industry.

There appears to be a genuine love for film at Dolby, the modestly titled ‘screening room’ shows films, often way before release dates, for staff and their families who make a donation to the ‘Cinema and TV benevolent fund.’

Unlike home cinema equipment the ‘projector room’ reminded me of a World-War 2 war film.  Admittedly there were no valves or ticker-tape strewn across the room but the racks of sound equipment looked far more like the vintage Colossus “super-computer” than the nice little chrome effect home cinema set-up I have beneath my TV.

The screening room at Dolby Laboratories in Wootton Bassett.

The ‘screening room’ itself would easily put the best of the UK’s cinemas to shame – not only is the equipment installed by the experts who design the technology but the room is actually suspended within a concrete shell.  This means it has one of the world’s lowest ambient noise ratings for a cinema, despite being directly underneath an impressive water feature in the car-park and the flight path of planes heading for RAF Lyneham. 

Although Dolby’s research and development is carried out in San Francisco, members of staff at Wootton Bassett seemed characteristically enthusiastic about the future of the world’s leading cinema sound providers – looking forward to the day when the huge reels of film are replaced by secure digital transfer into computer projectors at the cinema. Hopefully in time for Star Wars Episode 3.

The next time the loud sound effects at “The Ritzy” cause your girlfriend to spill her popcorn over the floor think about the Wiltshire connection – because if the film features a Dolby soundtrack, the chances are the good people of the Dolby Lab's Wootton Bassett facility have been involved.

Now, can someone lend me the cash to extend my front room and replace my home cinema kit?

Wilf Guyatt