THX
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THX is the trade name of a high-fidelity sound reproduction system for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. THX was developed by Tomlinson Holman at George Lucas's company Lucasfilm in 1982 to ensure that the soundtrack for the third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, would be accurately reproduced in the best venues.
The THX system is not a recording technology, and it does not specify a sound recording format; all sound formats, whether digital (Dolby Digital, SDDS) or analog (Dolby SR, Ultra-Stereo), can be "shown in THX." THX is mainly a quality assurance system. THX-certified theaters provide a high-quality, predictable playback environment to ensure that any film soundtrack mixed in THX will sound as near as possible to the intentions of the mixing engineer. THX also provides certified theaters with a special crossover circuit whose use is part of the standard. Certification of an auditorium entails specific acoustic and other technical requirements; architectural requirements include a floating floor, baffled and acoustically treated walls, no parallel walls (to reduce standing waves), a perforated screen (to allow center channel continuity), and NC30 rating for background noise.
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THX sets strict standards for high quality sound and images.
According to Tomlinson Holman, the inventor of the THX system, the name of the technology was deliberately chosen because it contained both a reference to his name, and to Lucas's early film, THX 1138. The original name was "Tom Holman's Crossover" (Crossover being sometimes referred to as Xover), but was later changed to mean "Tomlinson Holman's eXperiment".
THX Ltd., the company that licenses THX and the associated technology, is based in San Rafael, California, but has offices in Burbank and Hollywood.
THX recently launched a certification program for HD video products to ensure HD projectors, LCDs, plasmas and DVRs meet high standards for quality. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR and a number of projectors from Runco and Vidikron became the first THX Certified HD products.
London's Empire Cinema recently achieved "re-certification" by THX, and now boasts one of the best cinema sound systems in all of Europe.
The THX II Certified Car Audio System can be found in many Lincoln automobiles produced since 2003. The system was recently recognized among the Best Car Audio Systems of 2006 by the editors of CNET.
THX Ltd. started a licensing program for home screening rooms in 2005, which requires standards similar in concept, though not in detail, to its cinema certification program; before this happened, there was a very small number of (very expensive) home theatres which were actually constructed to THX Cinema standards, most notably that of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy.
The world's largest THX cinema is the Colosseum Kino in Oslo, Norway.
The distinctive crescendo - used in the THX trailers is known as the "Deep Note."
The character in the THX trailers is called "Tex" and was created by John Lasseter at Pixar.
The THX trailer entitled "Cimarron" which first appeared at the start of the 1988 film Willow, used music composed by James Horner which featured a variation of the "Deep Note".
THX inventor Tomlinson Holman has continued his work in entertainment technologies under his current company, TMH Corporation http://www.tmhlabs.com
[edit] References in popular culture
- In one episode of The Simpsons, the powerful Deep Note noise was seen as blowing out windows and causing a man's head to explode before the whole crowd leapt up and cheered. Grampa Simpson, however, still requested the volume be turned up.
- In the film Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, the Deep Note was parodied as being so loud that it caused structural damage to the theatre & launched cinema goers from their seats to the back of the room; it was renamed "THUD" and sported the slogan: The Audience Is Now Deaf. which was spoken in a voice very reminiscent of James Earl Jones's Darth Vader
- The THX logo and Deep Note crescendo also appear in the 2006 Dreamworks Animation film Over The Hedge, causing a porcupine to lose his quills from the sheer force of the sound.
- George Lucas sued Dr. Dre when the boom was used on the introduction to his 2001 album without his permission.
- After the opening logos in Bug Too! for the Sega Saturn, a similar version of the THX note is heard as we see Bug vacuuming his floor, plus it becomes "BHX — The Bugs are Listening."
- The film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny opens with a fake sound test that ends with text onscreen reading "THC: The audience is baking," a cannabis reference.
- THX once again teamed with Dreamworks Animation in 2006 to release a movie theater trailer featuring characters from Shrek the Third. The trailer can be found in select movie theaters around the world.
- Tom Leykis received a cease and desist from Lucasfilm for using the sound on his show in the "take me out" that usually ends his calls.
The first theater THX was used in was at the University of Southern California's Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre as a part of USC's acclaimed film school. The Norris Theatre's THX system is currently second-best in California to that of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[citation needed]
