THE BEST FILM SCENES TO TEST SURROUND SOUND

Looking for the best film scenes to show off your surround sound system’s potency? Try these for size

Gravity (2013) Chapter 1

In a film where becoming untethered is a constant threat, the sound team set the dialogue free from the centre of the screen and allowed it to track with the actors. There’s plenty for your vertical channels to grapple with here. The entire score is composed for surround, too - it should move, swell and clash with the action without becoming chaotic and losing rhythmic integrity.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2017) Chapter 17

In Ultra HD Blu-ray the presence of Atmos can be felt from the off. Crowd scenes hustle and bustle with effects showcasing pinpoint accuracy within the soundfield. It’s also one of the better uses of overhead channels, with the rain adding a sense of verticality that a 7.1 track couldn’t aspire to. Vangelis’s enigmatic score gets a wonderful outing too.

Baby Driver (2017) Opening scene

This scene won’t do much for your centre channel, but your front and rear pairs will love it. During the getaway, it’s about how your surround speakers integrate with the fronts. The tyres should screech across the soundscape and it mustn’t be so clumsy as to sound like the effect is simply chucked from speaker to speaker. It should move across the space so subtly and seamlessly that you forget about your system altogether.

Unbroken (2014) The bombing raid

This scene is glorious from the off. As the bombers approach, you need to be able to hear real dimension to the propellors’ rotor blades. Atmos is about more than just height; the extra axis of sound means the designer can pick and place effects into the soundfield as well as adding that overhead dimension. If you’re not ducking your head every time the enemy comes in for another pass, it’s time to upgrade your equipment.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Live Aid

Behind the strings of Freddie’s piano, in amongst Roger Taylor’s drum kit, or jostling in the press pit, the sonic perspective has astonishing realism. As the camera flies over the stadium crowd there’s a swooping sensation of height and movement. As we move around the stage, we hear the proximity of each amp and instrument. Even the long shots from the cheap seats should feel engulfing.