The 49th edition of the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado was held in early September 2022. Meyer Sound returned as an active partner, with its cinema audio systems installed at four of the festival’s theatres. Meyer Sound has supported the festival with its cinema sound technology for more than a decade.
“The continuing partnership between Meyer Sound and the Telluride Film Festival is a great example of how audio technology and the cinema arts can come together for the best possible audience experience,” said Julie Huntsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival. “The creative possibilities of film sound have expanded enormously in recent years, and it is critical that we have systems here at Telluride that will faithfully reproduce what the filmmakers intended. The fact that Meyer Sound is a leading provider of monitoring systems to major film production studios gives us confidence that we are not compromising the aural experience for our audiences, even in temporary theatre environments.”
The prestigious Telluride Film Festival has presented eight eventual Academy Award Best Picture winners over the past dozen years. This year’s screenings included the global or Western hemisphere debuts (a few appearing only days earlier at the concurrent Venice International Film Festival) of films such as Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All and Todd Field’s TÁR, with a special tribute to its star, Cate Blanchett.
Showings of the films benefited from Meyer Sound cinema systems at three temporary venues: Warner Herzog Theatre, a transformed community skating rink seating 650; the Galaxy seating 500, otherwise a middle school gym; and the Palm (650 capacity), an auditorium on the town’s high school campus. The intimate Nugget Theatre, accommodating 165 and the town’s only permanent venue for film, is also equipped with Meyer Sound loudspeakers. Cinema sound systems deployed across the venues included Acheron 100 and Acheron 80 screen loudspeakers, Acheron LF low-frequency loudspeakers, HMS Series surround loudspeakers, and X-800 cinema subwoofers.
In addition, Meyer Sound public address systems were deployed at the Nugget Theatre (UPJ-1P loudspeakers and Amie-Sub subwoofers) and the Galaxy (UPJ-1P loudspeakers and 750-LFC subwoofers) to accommodate special presentations and panel discussions in conjunction with the film showings.
“At Meyer Sound, we are proud to carry forward our partnership with the Telluride Film Festival,” said Jay Wyatt, programme manager, cinema and residential. “We admire the way the festival continues to be bold, innovative, somewhat unconventional, and relentlessly focused on quality. Essentially, Telluride shares these same core values with Meyer Sound.”
Meyer Sound cinema loudspeakers are permanently installed at other influential venues for film screenings, including the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, operated by the Director’s Guild of America; and the Rose Theatre of Jazz at Lincoln Center, chosen for many New York film premieres.
Additionally, Meyer Sound monitoring systems are in use by post-production studios around the globe, including Skywalker Sound and the Newman Scoring Stage at Fox Studio Lot in California; Warner Bros. De Lane Lea in London, UK; Rotor Film in Potsdam, Germany; Semillero Estudios in Guadalajara, Mexico; Toei Studios in Kyoto, Japan; and Soundfirm in Melbourne, Australia.
Improving the quality of film sound has been a lifelong passion for Meyer Sound’s co-founder, president, and CEO, John Meyer. This commitment was recently recognised by SMPTE, the international society for media professionals, technologists and engineers, when Meyer was named a recipient of the 2022 Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal. According to an SMPTE statement, the honour was bestowed “in recognition of his contributions to the design, measurement and analysis of cinema speaker electronics for cinema mixing, review and exhibition facilities”.
