Select Committee on Crossrail Bill Minutes of Evidence


Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5320 - 5339)

  5320. Mr Binley: We will consider that and let you know the next time we meet.

  5321. Mr Newberry: We are asking that the Bill should include fairly extensive consultation with us in terms of the works that have to be done. There is going to be a dispute between ourselves and Mr Taylor as to the level that should be adopted but the cure for the problem is in the work that has to be done to the railway itself, as to the type of rail, the type of clips etc., whether it is a single welded rail and so forth.

  5322. We would like an undertaking that work of the highest quality in terms of effecting the sound reductions should be carried out in these special circumstances because this is a use which cannot tolerate the adverse impact of noise.

  5323. Unless we can get an adequate assurance that the work will be done to a level which guarantees us the noise climate we are currently living and working in, it is not a situation that can be retrospectively sorted out, we do not think. If however things do go wrong—and we live in a world where things can go wrong—the issue then arises as to whether or not Crossrail will sort out the problem they have created, as to whether or not works to the tunnel or the rails can be rectified or alternatively whether or not work can be done within the studios if the problem cannot be cured below ground. We will need to have a debate on whether or not that can arise.

  5324. Mr Binley: This document we have just been handed will be classified A63.[58]


  5325. Mr Newberry: That is a picture of the outside of the studios and in due course we will be taking you on a tour inside the studios. In short, we hope that the Promoters, particularly in the inevitable adjournment that is going to occur, will look at the impact upon our studios against the background that I have set out of the extreme sensitivity of the use which is taking place. You will hear from Mr Taylor and Mr Bell that in the real world the levels which they are going to talk about are the industry levels. It does not matter whether it comes with a British Standard. It does not matter what you call it. That is how these premises are built and if they are not built to that level you do not get the business. It is as simple as that. You lose your status. If this was to be applied throughout studios in the United Kingdom, that you did not build them, you would not have a centre of world excellence in Soho for sound recording studios. It is as stark as that. We do need assurance that the current noise climate that we are working in is retained and not worsening.

  5326. That is all I wanted to say in opening.

  5327. Mr Binley: Thank you. Might I ask Mr Elvin, I fear in vain, whether he is willing to give that assurance?

  5328. Mr Elvin: We will certainly negotiate. Can I draw Mr Newberry's attention and the Committee's to the fact that with regard to some of the methods that he has just referred to—for example, continuously welded rail—in information paper D10, paragraph 2.8, that is the assumption for the construction of the scheme and there are a number of matters in there which we are already committed to doing.[59]


  5329. Mr Newberry: I do not think that quite answers your question.

  5330. Mr Elvin: Perhaps Mr Newberry will leave the interrogation to the Committee.

  5331. Mr Binley: I understand the position.

  5332. Mr Elvin: That is not to say we will not continue to have discussions with the Petitioner during the adjournment.

  5333. Mr Binley: We are delighted to hear that.


Mr Ivor Taylor, Sworn

Examined by Mr Newberry

  5334. You are Ivor Taylor. Can you tell us what your position is within the company?

  (Mr Taylor) I am one of the founders and shareholders for Grant Central Studios. My current role is in the company is technical and finance director. I have been involved in the design of the studios, both in these premises and the previous premises about 200 metres away, at all levels from the very beginning of finding the property to seeking the permission and the licensing.

  5335. Tell us a little bit about 51 to 53 Great Marlborough Street, when you acquired it and so on. What sort of work have you had carried out within it?
  (Mr Taylor) Acquiring the facility was very difficult. It is very hard to find buildings in Soho that have the necessary ceiling height for a studio with isolated shells. Because isolated shells can be very heavy, there are also structural issues. There was a period of about three years searching for the building and a couple of years negotiating and starting the build. It was a very long process. The building when we acquired it was unoccupied. We occupied the basement and the ground floor. We completely gutted the basement and the ground floor. In the basement we installed three studios, two of which are Dolby and one of which is a non-Dolby studio. On the ground floor we introduced three studios, again two of which are Dolby studios. One is a stereo studio and one of those studios on the ground floor is classed as a Dolby premier studio, a new classification that came in approximately two years ago for Dolby. All of the studios were built to the noise and performance criteria but we have only gone for certification at the high level of certificate for that one studio. As far as I am aware, it is the first one of two or three currently in Soho.

  5336. You mentioned Dolby. Can you explain to the Committee the significance of that term? Who are Dolby? What do they do? What do they regulate? Can you go on to explain why you need to have a Dolby licence?
  (Mr Taylor) Dolby were originally a British company. Now they are floated on the New York Stock Exchange. Ray Dolby built his background and noise control reduction techniques for tape recorders. He did some very pioneering work in cinema in improving the sound quality for cinema sound. Dolby was the first company to try and set criteria to improve the sound in the cinema. That has led to Dolby being the only certification authority of significance to certify the sound aspect of films. They also cover some of the quality of picture aspects of films as being suitable for delivery worldwide. This is not the creative content or the suitability as the BBFC look at it. It is whether the picture looks good; is the picture of high quality; does the sound work correctly; is the sound properly delivered; can you hear the speech; when the sound goes around, does it go around the right way; is it too loud; is it too quiet. Dolby have become the de facto standard worldwide for that on behalf of virtually every single territory, as far as I am aware, where there is control of distributive cinema rights. You can find Dolby when you go to the cinema, you can find Dolby on your DVDs—you can find Dolby virtually everywhere. Part of the Dolby process is trying to set standards from the very start of the creation of the sound, through the delivery of the sound in the mixed dubbing stage, how it is balanced, how it is put together, what the noise performance is, what the clarity is, always focusing on trying to make sure that when it is delivered to the end user it sounds correct and it works correctly. Our contact with Dolby is that we are in the creation of the process. We will record voice, we will manufacture sound effects, we will bring in music, we will alter and edit music, and we will build all of that into a cinema commercial, and that cinema commercial has to have a Dolby licence, it has to have a maximum level so that it is not too loud for the audiences in the cinema; it has to have a certain intelligibility in speech requirements and in order to make that a practicable workable standard Dolby has set, for all Dolby certified studios who attempt to do Dolby cinema commercials or Dolby themes or Dolby theatrical releases, criteria which we have to design the facility to. Our acousticians who we retain to design studios, put it into the best criteria but Dolby have always used NC criteria. In fact I had a conversation with one of the experts at Dolby about why they use NC and not any other criteria and his response was that you would never think of using any other kind of criteria for our kind of environment. Other criteria elsewhere—obviously that is not an issue—but leaving aside the sound, dubbing, mixing and recording environment Dolby use NC criteria and Dolby use the NC standard as the basis for their licensing. It does not mean they take every single aspect of the NC standard but they use the outline of the criteria to perform the performance levels that we have to meet in the studios. It is important to note that when my business partner, Karen Humphrey and I, were specifying to White Mark, the studios, we were very specific that they had to have Dolby certification, and after the original layouts and designs were done, which is a very complex process, my understanding is that White Mark took those designs to Dolby to get approval that we would get the licensing requirements we required.

  5337. Just explain who White Mark are.
  (Mr Taylor) White Mark are design consultants that we used for this facility; we used them previously for the first facility built in 1994 and they have designed, as far as I am aware, inside Soho, which is the area we work in, almost half of the rooms that are used for recording sound, voice, film dubbing, sound editing. We consider them as one of three pre-eminent companies inside the UK who do this work to be the best, and that is why we retained them. One of the things we were trying to do was to build a world-class facility.

  5338. You mentioned that you need the Dolby licence for cinema commercials, but could you just explain to the Committee how large the network of what I will call Dolby cinemas is; is it just one or two or is it national, international?
  (Mr Taylor) As far as I am aware any cinema in the UK that is taking national distribution—so that is virtually every single cinema—has to be Dolby certified. The critical thing is that every single film going out, again as far as I am aware, to fit into that system has to be Dolby certified. World-wide Dolby does not certify cinemas. You will see when you go into UK cinemas, in some of the cinemas you will see that it is a Dolby Digital Cinema, and you will see that placard up. Our involvement in Dolby's licensing involvement is to make sure that the film leaving the process it for is of sufficient quality to meet their criteria and fits into the Dolby distribution chain; that Dolby authorise the Dolby licence. I think for cinema commercials where we work you cannot actually send out a commercial unless it has been through the Dolby quality assurance process.

  5339. If as a result of Crossrail the noise climate within the studios was not to the Dolby standard, what would be the consequence of that?
  (Mr Taylor) We would lose our Dolby licence. Dolby come and check our studios on roughly a yearly basis. Whenever we do any work of any significance in the studio we have the studio recertified. If there was a reason that Dolby felt that our sound isolation insulation had been compromised I would expect Dolby to come and check that we were still meeting the noise criteria that they lay down, which is the NC criteria. If we were found to be in breach of that criteria and if we were unable to take remedial action within that criteria they would withdraw our licence. That is my understanding and I have no reason to believe otherwise.


58   Committee Ref: A63, Grand Central Studios Ltd (WESTCC-9305-001). Back

59   Crossrail Ref: P3, Information Paper D10, Groundborne Noise and Vibration, Para 2.8 (LINEWD-IPD10-003). Back


 
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