Sound 360 was the name of a

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

sound system used by

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

to enhance the premiere engagements of their 1977 feature ''

Damnation Alley ''Damnation Alley'' is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, based on a novella published in 1967. A film adaptation of the novel was released in 1977. Plot introduction The story opens in a post-apocalyptic Southern Ca ...

''. The format employed the standard

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

magnetic stereo soundtracks (left, center, right and surround) in a unique configuration. The

center channel Center channel refers to an audio channel common to many surround sound formats. It is the channel that is mostly, or fully, dedicated to the reproduction of the dialogue of an audiovisual program. The speaker(s) connected to the center channel ar ...

was directed to the usual behind-the-screen loudspeaker. The left and right channels were redirected to a pair of large full-range speakers mounted on either side of the auditorium. The surround channel was reproduced by a single full-range speaker mounted in the back. The general effect was more enveloping (and often much louder) than a standard 35mm stereo presentation, and very similar to the

Megasound Megasound was the name of a movie theater sound system created by Warner Bros. and was officially deployed during the early 1980s. Warner Bros. used it to provide deep-bass enhancement to premiere engagements for a handful of their features, inclu ...

process unveiled a few years later by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

for the film '' Altered States''. In addition to ''Damnation Alley'', the film '' Damien: Omen II'' was also released in the Sound 360 process. The 2011

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

release of ''Damnation Alley'' did not feature a "Sound 360" audio option, as the original elements were not salvageable.

References

Film and video technology 20th Century Studios Surround sound {{Film-tech-stub

See also

References