In any thread asking for demo scenes for sound, there are usually as many movies listed as there are posts. It is clear then that people are impressed by different things. Many enjoy deep bass. Many enjoy aggressive surrounds with directional panning. Others like the dynamics of shattering glass or cannon fire, or music pumping from every corner of the room. So, I don't want this to turn into another demo scene thread but instead, let's share opinions on what aspect of a soundtrack that you enjoy the most and give an example or two of your standouts.

My favorite thing is the use of surrounds for ambience. Not for bombastic, circle-around-your-head moves as I find them often deliberate and fake. What pulls me in is how sound engineers try to create subtle city sounds, rumbling thunder, creaking floorboards, a gentle breeze in a forest, or flying insects buzzing about. It's the little things that tricks my brain into thinking that I'm not listening to a soundtrack at all.

e.g: Pan's Labyrinth.

bing!

In any thread asking for demo scenes for sound, there are usually as many movies listed as there are posts. It is clear then that people are impressed by different things. Many enjoy deep bass. Many enjoy aggressive surrounds with directional panning. Others like the dynamics of shattering glass or cannon fire, or music pumping from every corner of the room. So, I don't want this to turn into another demo scene thread but instead, let's share opinions on what aspect of a soundtrack that you enjoy the most and give an example or two of your standouts.

My favorite thing is the use of surrounds for ambience. Not for bombastic, circle-around-your-head moves as I find them often deliberate and fake. What pulls me in is how sound engineers try to create subtle city sounds, rumbling thunder, creaking floorboards, a gentle breeze in a forest, or flying insects buzzing about. It's the little things that tricks my brain into thinking that I'm not listening to a soundtrack at all.

e.g: Pan's Labyrinth.

I don't look for any one thing. I want as natural as possible. To achieve such a sound requires having no extremes. I don't test a system by how well it does a movie scene. I test it with a wide variety of music styles and recordings and bass testers. After music sounds great, movies sound great. If music sounds like sh!t on your system, your movies will sound ok at best. On another note, if your surround sources sound fake, your system is not calibrated correctly. Speaker placement must be optimal and level, distance, and crossover adjustments must be critically dialed in. Those who are impressed with just loud bass at 20Hz and below or the sound of shattering glass from a movie that can shatter the windows in the room are really missing out. Music is the only way to see what a system is really made of.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissionToMarsDVDTHX.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/DolbyEXlogo.jpg


Dialogue starts of by being panned from left front over to the centre channel then passes over to the right front channel as the camera starts to move steadily around the crewmembers.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD12imag.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD22imag.jpg

By now [Armin Mueller-Stahl] who plays Ramier Beck, dialogue has panned from LCR fronts to the right-sidewall-surround speaker arrays. There is still some faint echo dialogue on left and right fronts but that will go mute very soon, only leaving ambient air ventilation sound and Foley effects with occasional crewmember dialogue.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD32imag.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD42imag.jpg

By the time he says “frankly, we are stumped” it has arrived to the centre back surround arrays where it slowly starts to shift to left-sidewall-surround arrays.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD52imag.jpg

As Woody, listens to Ramier Beck he turns towards his wife, while Beck’s dialogue continues to circle the room behind.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD62imag.jpg

With Ramier Beck voice now heard in centre front that was quite an impressive moment done with atmospheric ambient effects and dialogue.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/Evolution3417/MissiontoMarswithsubtitlesDVD13.jpg

The timber matching on this scene works very well, if you have matching fronts LCR followed by the same matching fronts but in smaller, homes it’s not quite doable without taking up walking space. This is why I opted for smaller JBL control part of the JBL control series while fronts are control 5 the two merged very well together.

The best thing for me is being completely drawn into the movie. This effectively prevents me from noticing anything specific about the soundtrack, as it is simply part of what is "really" happening.
Conversely, a bad soundtrack is one that I notice because something about it calls attention to itself or seems wrong. This is especially the case when the dialog is hard to follow.
I suppose the most impressive thing about surround is the ability to reflect the acoustic space of the movie, rather than the room I am watching it in.