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4) Some of these technological advances are obviously maturing into meaningful improvements.
5) The laboratory engineers are making a focus on incorporating the invention into the digital audio systems.
6) The new generation audio systems are growing in number successfully.
7) Modern surround sound tools are certainly whetting the consumer’s appetite for adding extra units to their home listening environments.
8) The new device is also finding its way into gaming consoles.
Vocabulary work
10. Write a list of key words for text 3. Compare your list with the classmates’ key words. Use them in your own sentences.
TALKING AND DISCUSSING POINT
11. Explain these words and expressions from the text. Paraphrase them; give synonyms or/and antonyms to them where possible.
Conduct research, industry standard, equally important, proliferation of digital audio systems, become a commonplace, gradually, nascent industry, whet appetite, professional studio, integral part, enable.
12. Write a list of five questions to the text. Exchange your list with your classmate and answer their questions.
13. Think of a plan to the article. Make a summary of the article according to your plan.
14. What information about audio systems today would you add to the article?
15. Talk to your classmate. Express your attitude to the following quotation:
Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.
Christian Lous Lange
Report your idea to the class. Discuss, compare and contrast your points of view.
WRITING
16. You want to enter a short story competition. The rules say that your story must start or end with the words: «There is music everywhere…» The story should contain 120—180 words (FCE Writing).
17. Make a report, do an electronic presentation or a project on one of the topics:
– The International Telecommunications Union
– Development and usage of digital audio systems
– High Definition Television (HDTV)
– Home theater (home cinema). History and later development
– DVD format
– Audio systems today
CHECK POINT
18. What have you learnt from the text in Unit 1, Part 3 about the following?
– The document «Recommendation for Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System With and Without Accompanying Picture»
– Achievements in the audio and video practices throughout the 1990s
– Surround sound systems in common use today
Unit 2
The history of Dolby Laboratories
Text 4. Dolby Laboratories. Historical events and personalities
PRE-READING
1. Name some words and expressions related to the subject.
2. What do you know about Dolby Laboratories? Can you answer these questions?
1) When and where was the company founded?
2) Who started it?
3) What does Dolby Labs do?
4) Name some of the company’s most significant achievements.
5) What Dolby formats do you know and use?
Dolby Laboratories (often called Dolby Labs for short) is an American company which specializes in audio encoding/compression and audio noise reduction. Dolby Labs was founded by an American Ray Dolby in London in 1965. In 1976, it was moved to San Francisco, the USA. The first issue it manufactured was a simple compander, Type A Dolby Noise Reduction. The compander was distinguished from the others of the kind by capability to process only the quiet sounds that would be veiled by tape noise. Henry Kloss (a prominent American engineer and businessman) persuaded Ray Dolby to produce a consumer version of his noise reduction. In 1968, Dolby Company made an introduction of a compounding system Type B.
Dolby also searched to develop film sound. The company’s history writes:
Upon investigation, Dolby found that many of the limitations in optical sound stemmed directly from its significantly high background noise. To filter this noise, the high-frequency response of theater playback systems was deliberately curtailed… To make matters worse, to increase dialogue intelligibility over such systems, sound mixers were recording soundtracks with so much high-frequency pre-emphasis that high distortion resulted.
A Clockwork Orange (1971) was the first film with Dolby sound that utilized Dolby noise reduction on all pre-mixes and masters, but with traditional optical soundtrack on release prints. Callan (1974) became the first film with a Dolby encoded optical soundtrack. In 1975 Dolby introduced Dolby Stereo including a noise reduction system as well as more audio channels (it could have additional center and surround channels matrixed from the left and right). The first film with A Dolby – encoded stereo optical soundtrack was Lisztomania (1975), but it was only made in an LCR (Left-Center-Right) encoding technique. The first movie containing the true LCRS (Left-Center-Right – Surround) encoded soundtrack was called A Star is Born in 1976. Having reworked the system a bit for home viewing, Dolby released Dolby Surround, which only extracted a surround channel, and the more advanced Dolby Pro Logic, which actually was the domestic counterpart of the theatrical Dolby Stereo.
Dolby engineers also developed a digital surround compression scheme for the movie. Dolby Stereo Digital (now simply known as Dolby Digital) was first encoded on the 1992 film Batman Returns. Another Dolby format, AC-3 (the film Clear and Present Danger was offered at the home theater market on a laserdisc in 1995) did not make much profit in the consumer market and eventually became part of the DVD specification. Dolby Digital was included in the High Definition Television (Advanced Television Systems Television, HDTV and ATSC respectively) standard of the USA, DVD-players, and a lot of satellite-TV and cable – TV receivers. TV series The Simpsons used the Dolby digital surround sound compression scheme.
In 2005, the corporation offered its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, claiming to become public under the symbol DLB. The same year it celebrated the 40-anniversary.
In 2007, the company presented Dolby Volume at the International Consumer Electronics Show. It provides users with an opportunity to keep up a steady volume while switching from one channel to another.
On June 18, 2010, Dolby announced the arrival of Dolby Surround 7.1, which became widespread in the world market. The first movie released with this format was Pixar’s Toy Story 3. Later 50 more releases came out using the format. In April 2012, there were 3,600 Dolby Surround 7.1 movie theaters. In the same month a new cinematic technology, Dolby Atmos, was introduced by the company.
Essential glossary
• reduction – уменьшение, сокращение
• found – основать
• compander – компандер, расширитель
• capability – способность
• process – обрабатывать (данные, информацию)
• veil – скрывать, маскировать
• consumer – потребитель
• investigation – исследование
• frequency response – частотная характеристика
• intelligibility – разборчивость, отчётливость, внятность
• pre-emphasis – предыскажение, предварительная коррекция
• distortion – искажение, деформация
• utilize – использовать
• pre-mix – предварительное микширование
• master – первый оригинал
• home viewing – домашний просмотр
• domestic – домашний
• counterpart – аналог, копия, двойник
• profit – выгода, прибыль
• satellite – спутник
• receiver – приёмник, принимающее устройство
• share – акция
• keep up – поддерживать
SUBJECT AND LANGUAGE STUDY
Reading
3. Scan the text to finish the sentences.
1) The first issue produced by the company was…
2) A notable American engineer and businessperson Henry Kloss talked Ray Dolby into producing…
3) The first film with Dolby sound that used Dolby noise reduction on all pre-mixes and masters, although with traditional optical soundtrack on release prints was…
4 The film A Star is Born contained the true…
5) In 2010, Dolby announced the arrival of…
4. Read the text in more detail to answer the questions.
1) What does Dolby Labs specialize in?
2) Who established the company?
3) What was the main feature that set Dolby’s compander, Type A Dolby Noise Reduction, apart from the others?
4) What conclusion was made by Dolby’s analysts of the limitations in optical sound?
5) What was the first movie that used Dolby noise reduction, though not in the final version?
6) What film was the first real LCRS soundtrack encoded on?
7) Where was the digital surround sound compression scheme employed?
8) Which system enables consumers to maintain an invariable volume while switching through program elements or channels?
9) When was Dolby Surround 7.1 introduced?
5. Find the English equivalents of the following words and expressions in the text.
Обыкновенный компандер; выдающийся американский инженер и бизнесмен; сильный фоновый шум; немного переделав (изменив) систему; не принёс большой прибыли на потребительском рынке; соответственно; выставила свои акции на Нью-Йоркской фондовой бирже; 40-я годовщина (со дня основания).
6. Match the films in the left column with the new techniques encoded on them.
Grammar revision: the passive voice 2
We use the Passive Voice to say what happens to the subject:
1) when the agent of the action is unimportant, unknown or obvious from the context:
A few new studios have been built this year.
2) if we want to sound more formal or polite:
