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Waveform of the Deep Note The Deep Note is the sound trademark of THX Ltd., being a distinctive synthesized
crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer depend ...
that
glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the ...
s from a relatively narrow frequency spread (about 200–400 Hz) to a broader frequency spread (of about three octaves). It was created by James A. Moorer, a former employee of
Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
's Computer Division in late 1982. The sound is used on trailers for THX-certified
movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s,
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming m ...
releases,
video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...
, and
in-car entertainment In-car entertainment (ICE), or in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), is a collection of hardware and software in automobiles that provides audio or video entertainment. In car entertainment originated with car audio systems that consisted of radios and c ...
systems. The Deep Note was partially previewed on the opening track of the 1983 album ''The Digital Domain: A Demonstration,'' where it was included among sound effects that were combined with the Deep Note itself. The Deep Note debuted later that same year at the premiere of ''
Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who w ...
'' in Los Angeles.


Description

The U.S. trademark registration for the first version of the sound contains this description of it: Spectrogram made using Spek In 1992, the Deep Note was registered as a trademark by the
United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
. The sound is perceived as louder than it actually is; sound designer and re-recording mixer
Gary Rydstrom Gary Roger Rydstrom (born June 29, 1959) is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for 20 Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, winning 7. Life and career Rydstrom was born in Chicago. He graduated from ...
explains that, "from a technical standpoint, 'Deep Note' just feels loud because it has a spectrum of frequencies that grows from small to large." Although Moorer had initially claimed that the score consisted of about 20,000 lines of code, he subsequently corrected the statement and elaborated:


Millennium version (2000)

In fall 1999, THX released the trailer "Broadway 2000" for use of the Dolby Digital Surround EX sound system. As a result, an entirely new Deep Note was made from scratch. In this version of the Deep Note, new voices were made doing the similar process while voices from the previous version can be briefly heard. Aside from the trailer's appearance in theaters as well as on ''The Adventures of Indiana Jones'' DVD box set, the only other trailer that also uses this version of the Deep Note was a trailer made specially for the post-2000 home media releases of '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''.


Remastered version (2005–present)

In May 2005, to coincide with the theatrical release of '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', THX introduced a new trailer called "The Science of Sensation", which featured a new version of the Deep Note, which is similar to the original, but voices from the "Broadway 2000" trailer were mixed together.


Regenerated version (2015)

In April 2015, THX introduced a new trailer called ''Eclipse'', which was accompanied by an updated, more powerful version of the Deep Note, also created by Moorer. This version of the Deep Note was created entirely digitally so it could play on Dolby Surround 7.1, Dolby Atmos, and DTS:X systems, and Moorer created 30-second, 45-second, and 60-second versions of it. Moorer used around eighty voices in the remake, as opposed to thirty in the original 1983 version. He stated in an interview, "That’s the way I wanted it to sound originally. I think it’s as far as you can take it.", ''Eclipse'' would be the only appearance of the regenerated version as starting with trailers ''Sphere'' and ''Genesis'' (both made to utilize the 4K video resolution), the remastered Deep Note was used instead.


Previous works

Prior to the creation of the Deep Note, several other works made use of similar techniques of frequency spread. A recognized predecessor is a section in
the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
' 1967 song " A Day in the Life", using a full orchestra. Unlike in the Deep Note, the resolving high chord is never held, but instead brought to a stop. Moorer has admitted that both "A Day in the Life" and a
fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the co ...
in
B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes need ...
by
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
were sources of inspiration for the Deep Note. In their book ''Analog Days'',
Trevor Pinch Trevor J. Pinch (1 January 1952 – 16 December 2021) was a British sociologist, part-time musician and chair of the Science and Technology Studies department at Cornell University. In 2018, he won the J.D. Bernal Prize from the Society for ...
and Frank Trocco say that the track "Spaced", from the 1970
Beaver & Krause Beaver & Krause were an American musical duo comprising Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause. Their 1967 album ''The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music'' was a pioneering work in the electronic music genre. The pair were Robert Moog's sales representati ...
album ''In a Wild Sanctuary'', was "copied by a famous
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is a ...
film company" to introduce its film presentations, although they do not identify the company. The authors quote synthesizer builder
Tom Oberheim Thomas Elroy Oberheim (born July 7, 1936, Manhattan, Kansas), known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He ...
as saying that the original analog form is much richer than the "digital perfection" evident in the sound logo so familiar to cinema-goers.


Original score

Score for 'Deep Note' In 2018, THX released an image of the original 30-voice score, with notes.


In popular culture

*
Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
, then-owner of THX, sued rapper
Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...
in 2000 for using an unauthorized cover of Deep Note in the opening track "Lolo (Intro)" on his 1999 album ''
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...
''. * Because of the loud bass of Deep Note, the sound has been subject to numerous parodies. ** In a 1994 episode of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' titled " Burns' Heir," there is a parody gag of the THX Deep Note, with the Simpson family in the theater watching ''Siskel & Ebert: The Movie''. The Deep Note causes multiple things in the theater to explode seemingly from
acoustic resonance Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon in which an acoustic system amplifies sound waves whose frequency matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration (its '' resonance frequencies''). The term "acoustic resonance" is sometimes used to na ...
(including one man's head, as a reference to the 1981 horror film ''
Scanners ''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathic ...
''), and ends with
Grampa Simpson Abraham Jebediah "Abe" Simpson II, better known as Grampa, is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He made his first appearance in the episode entitled " Grandpa and the Kids", a one-minute Simpsons short on ...
yelling out "Turn it up! TURN IT UP!" THX executives liked the parody so much that the scene was later remade into an actual THX movie trailer, with the scene being redone in a
widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
aspect ratio.Mirkin, David. (2004). Commentary for "Burns' Heir", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. ** Mickey Rapkin narrates in his book ''Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory'' the live performance of Deep Note by the BYU's a cappella group
Vocal Point BYU Vocal Point is a nine-member, male a cappella group at Brigham Young University (BYU). Founded by two students, Bob Ahlander & Dave Boyce, in 1991, Vocal Point is under the direction of Emmy award-winning director and former member, McKay Cr ...
in the 2006
ICCA ICCA may refer to: Organizations * Indigenous and Community Conserved Area, areas in which there are close associations between indigenous people or a local community and a specific territory or natural resources * International Congress and Conve ...
, included in their award-winning set that year.


References

{{reflist, 30em


External links


Deep Note
mp3 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office * '' Twenty Thousand Hertz'' podcast episodes about Deep Note
Part 1
an
Part 2
Electronic music Film sound production Lucasfilm Sound effects Sound trademarks Internet memes 1982 works 1983 introductions