ODEON HEMEL HEMPSTEAD

[@davisneil]

Thanks fred! I used to work here as chief when richard was promoted to engineer in 2003. aside from southend (i was one of michael's seniors dual site with chelmsford) this is the only 2 of your videos ive worked at. Keep them coming, i love watching them all. I worked at Chelmsford, Southend, Cineworld Milton keynes, Cineworld rugby, uci northampton, odeon tunbridge wells , hemel, barbican centre and sound associates. had a little blast from the past when i left youtube on, left the room and heard the cinemation alarm and came back to the room, almost in auto-pilot! Sadly I said goodbye to the career when I suffered a stroke, now self employed in phone repair.

[@fp30e]

Hello Neil, Thank you for your most interesting comments. I'm glad the Cinemation alarm triggered the desired effect. I'm really sorry to hear you have not been well. Wishing you all the very best.

[@markkenny2001]

Hello Fred, I wish Carlton Screen Advertising still existed, ODEON is my favourite cinema chain.

[@fp30e]

Hello Mark, Good to hear from you. I was always an Odeon Man from the middle 60's. All the best

[@DarthVader-on4pe]

Fantastic. Brand new multiplex with what looks like quite an eclectic mix of 40 year old + (but still very good!) kit. You'd expect it all to be brand new Vic5 consuls or similar 😊 Interesting....wonder where it all came from?

[@davisneil]

yes, it was a fascinating mix. 2003, i replaced Richard Mosey when he was appointed field engineer. the kalee and zenith xenon conversions remained there until around 2004, when i think richard may have put the money men under pressure to replace them which they did, with new cinemeccanica cx lamphouses. there are now stains on the floor caused by years of leaking uv/xenon light casting on the floor from the lamphouses! Aside from small incremental changes as far as i know, the kit remained the same. I left when I was offered a position at the barbican in london which was a similar setup to BFI, and i loved it. Sadly, whilst working for Sound Associates I've had health problems culminating in a stroke, so it was time to say goodbye.

[@fp30e]

Hello @DarthVader-on4pe, Thank you for your comment. I suppose Odeon were saving on money during the install.

[@Ampex196]

The first SDDS print I can recall was 'To Die For' 1995, which also carried SRD and DTS. Sadly, at the time, we were not equipped to run any of them - so Dolby 05 was 'order of the day'. Academy Mono was the only option when the print was transferred to our small Cinema 2 (140 seat) club screen with Westar 2001a/2002 sets of 1948 vintage. You'd be surprised by the number of patrons (mainly older) who preferred the limited dynamic range of Cinema 2 where a bomb or gunshot sounded barely louder than a whisper, and where dialogue was paramount. I've still Dolby EQ cards here.... but why did we bother???? We very rarely ran at 'Dolby 7, '. Fader 4-5 was typical though still 'too loud' for some. If we had a 'Director' screening, it was a different matter..... just crank it up !!!! Danny Boyle was easy to work with on both Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. He had the option to run at 1.85 or, at my suggestion 1.75. Having demonstrated both, ... !.75:1 it was. At least we could offer him the choice. Danny had not previously seen his work shown in single reels with carbon arcs.

[@Ampex196]

St Anne's Jombulance Brigade were known to attend screenings of 'The Exorcist' at Westgate Road. It was the only decent film that Bill Friedkin ever made!

[@andrewclegg6541]

Remember the Pearl and Dean advert logo and 20th Century Fox title music ?

[@fp30e]

Hello Andrew I remember when the P&D logo were towers from Ancient Greece with a clear blue sky, with a nice piece of majestic-classic Music for the intro and close P&D logo. Thank you for your comment.