THX

### Key people

Jason Fiber (CEO)Aaron Endo (CFO)Tomlinson Holman (original developer)George Lucas

### Parent

Lucasfilm(1983–2002)Creative Technology(2002–2016)Razer Inc.(2016–present)

## History

In 1982, George Lucas and his company, Lucasfilm, were preparing to release *Return of the Jedi*, the third film in the *Star Wars* trilogy. The C Building had been constructed in San Rafael, California, where Industrial Light & Magic and much of Lucasfilm occupied a series of work bays and office complexes along Kerner Boulevard. The C Building boasted a shooting stage, editing facilities, computer server rooms, and a large theater as a state-of-the-art sound mixing room. That year, Lucas and his team were working on *Return of the Jedi* when a major situation began to arise. They brought their film to test in a commercial theater to find out that much of the audio detail and quality they mixed for countless hours in the studio was simply missing when played back in the cinema. Lucas's team was unable to hear the classic Princess Leia theme, and the famous *Star Wars* soundtrack and sound effects, and the background noise in the theater had become much worse, muffling most of the film's sound while playing through the theater's commercial sound system. During this time, many movie theaters all over the world had poor room acoustics with mono surround sound.

To fix the problem, Lucas established a quality standard for commercial theaters that would use the best technology to consistently translate filmmakers' work to the theater. Tomlinson Holman, a skilled audio engineer and scientist largely responsible for the design of the theater, had become an employee of Lucasfilm in 1980. In the process of enhancing the setup for the new Sprocket Systems theater, Holman and Lucas invented a complex system that arranged speakers to best fit the architectural space within the theater. Using an intricate crossover network that integrated equipment with the room's unique acoustics, it became perhaps the best quality system anyone could remember hearing. Sprocket Systems mixed the *Return of the Jedi* sound in the room, the first Lucasfilm production mixed in Northern California. Visiting filmmakers and studio executives were astounded at what they heard. Jim Kessler, who hired Holman, thought of calling the system "Tomlinson Holman's Crossover", or, as originally abbreviated, "XVR". He then changed the "VR" to "TH", but he realized that was the name for George Lucas's first film, *THX 1138*, and found that would be a fitting name. They eventually changed the "X"'s meaning to "experiment".

Four movie theaters in the United States fully installed THX sound systems, becoming the first THX certified theaters. To introduce the new system, James A. Moorer created an ear-catching sound called the Deep Note. THX was dedicated on May 20, 1983, and the first trailer and Deep Note premiered on time with the release of *Return of the Jedi* in theaters five days later. It was billed as the first advance in the motion picture loudspeaker systems since 1948.

In 1990, Lucasfilm unveiled the Home THX Audio System at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. That year, a demo LaserDisc dubbed *Wow!* was unveiled. It featured various clips from *Star Wars*, *Indiana Jones*, and *Willow*. Three years later in 1993, *The Abyss* was released on LaserDisc, making it the first time THX was used on that device. In 1995, the *Star Wars* trilogy became the first THX certified VHS release. In 1997, *Twister* became the first digitally mastered THX release on the new DVD format.

In early 2002, it was announced that Lincoln became the first auto company to offer THX-certified premium car audio systems. A concept sound system for the Lincoln Blackwood showcased the potential for in-car multi-channel surround sound, demonstrated at the THX booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The license ensured that high-performance audio systems in Lincoln vehicles met the exacting sound quality and performance standards of its new THX Ultra Premium Car Audio program, beginning with the 2003 Lincoln LS, which was introduced later that year.

THX separated from Lucasfilm and became an independent company in June 2002. The company's headquarters continued in Marin County, California, with offices in Burbank and plan for international expansion. It expanded into gaming and car audio systems. On the professional front, THX planned to continue the expansion of its theatrical certification programs as it became more involved in digital cinema.

On September 30, 2003, THX announced its seal of approval for video game audio. Electronic Arts became the first company to achieve the game certification. This helped improve game sound, measuring the credibility of games at a time when the industry became important to the entertainment market. Five games by Electronic Arts, including *Need for Speed: Underground*, *Medal of Honor: Rising Sun* and *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* carried logos on their box and pre-game trailers. In 2020, THX Certified Game Mode was introduced, with enhanced contrast and color, and reduced input lag, and greater accuracy to the producers' intentions. It has judder and smear reduction, meaning that the picture remained crisp with a quick rise time between dark-to-light transitions. On August 3, TCL Technology revealed the first television to include THX Certified Game Mode, a 6-Series TCL Roku TV.

In 2006, THX began to certify high definition Blu-ray discs, starting with *Terminator 2: Judgment Day*.

A 3D product certification called THX 3D Display premiered in 2010. The first 3D television to feature this technology is the LG Infinia PX950 Plasma HDTV series. To earn the new THX 3D Display Certification, the PX950 passed more than 400 laboratory tests evaluating left and right eye images for color accuracy, cross-talk, viewing angles, and video processing performance. The PX950 had to pass THX certification for picture quality in 2D, which is required for THX 3D certification. Viewers can select THX 2D or 3D cinema modes for 2D or 3D movie experiences from broadcast sources and Blu-ray discs. Four new THX-certified 3D JVC projectors were unveiled during this time. These were the Reference Series DLA-RS60 and DLA-RS50, marketed by JVC's Professional Products Company, and the Precision Series DLA-X9 and DLA-X7.

In early 2013, THX unveiled a new app called THX Tune-Up in time for Super Bowl, available on App Store and Google Play. It was billed as the company's first mobile app.

On March 14, 2013, THX filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging patent infringement, Bloomberg L.P. prior to a federal court in Northern California.

THX expanded to China in 2014 with new offices in Beijing and a partnership with China Film Group Corporation to redefine the cinema experience. The first THX Certified China Giant Screen (CGS) auditoriums opened Shanghai in September. In December 2014, THX teamed up with Warren Theatres, opening a large theater complex opened in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on December 23. Each of the 18 auditoriums in this theater was THX certified and two new Grand Infinity Auditoriums were introduced. They were designed by Bill Warren to revolutionize the large format movie-going experience. These auditoriums featured THX Certification, patented deep curved screens, 64-channel Dolby Atmos sound and the first 4K laser projector in the United States.

The company was acquired by Razer Inc. in October 2016.

The first THX-certified laptop was released in 2017, the Razer Blade Pro. THX introduced Spatial Audio in 2018, a new positional audio solution for an immersive 360-degree sound experience through headphones and speakers. The technology was used on the Kraken gaming headset for simulated 7.1 surround sound. These headphones were included with a Spatial Audio app. This would be later used on Windows 10 devices.

On May 2, 2018, it was announced that over 200 Cinemark XD locations in the United States and Latin America would feature a THX sound system. These auditoriums featured enormous wall-to-wall screens, 2D and 3D digital projection, immersive, surround sound, premium seats with Luxury Lounger electric recliners, and THX Certification. Both companies had first announced the partnership one year prior in 2017. The first THX Ultimate Cinema debuted at Regency Westwood Village in Los Angeles in 2019. This theater provided exhibitors with a branded and differentiated PLF offering that included projection technology from Cinionic, and an immersive audio system, acoustics, and auditorium specifications that met THX certification standards.

In September 2020, Walmart stores began to sell Gateway laptops and tablets, which were tuned by THX, ensuring brighter contrast with more rich vibrant screen colors. They combined style, performance, and value in a wide range of products for consumers, students, and creators. The laptops featured THX Spatial Audio that delivered an authentic 7.1 surround experience through built-in speakers and attached headphones.

THX premiered its first consumer electronic product called the Onyx in 2021, a mobile headphone DAC and amplifier using THX AAA technology.

## Mascot

THX's mascot is a robot named Tex, created by John Lasseter, the former head of Pixar Animation Studios. He first appeared in the original Tex trailer, which premiered in theaters with *Independence Day* on July 3, 1996, in which he fixes up the THX logo. A second trailer, *Tex 2: Moo Can*, in which he uses a moo can to perform the Deep Note, premiered in theaters on November 26, 1997, with *Alien Resurrection*. Less than a decade later on June 9, 2006, the *Tex 3: Action* trailer premiered with the release of *Cars*. These trailers were later seen on prints of early Pixar animated films on DVD including *Toy Story*, *A Bug's Life* (post-2003 only), *Toy Story 2* (excluding the *2-Pack & Stand-alone DVDs*, which have the *Broadway* trailer instead) *Monsters, Inc.*, *Finding Nemo* and *Cars*. *The Incredibles* is the only exception to this, as the original DVD releases have the *Cavalcade* trailer instead, which the "Cavalcade" trailer can also be found on the first five movie releases of the "Harry Potter (film series)" movies on DVD (Except for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" which the original DVD releases have the *Tex 1* trailer instead, but the Asian and African releases have the *Amazing Life* trailer). The *Tex* trailer can be spotted on the majority of Pixar titles, except for *Monsters, Inc...* The *Moo Can* trailer can also be spotted on these Pixar titles, but it also appears on some 20th Century Fox DVDs, such as *Speed 2: Cruise Control* and *The Day the Earth Stood Still*. *Tex 3: Action*, unlike the previous two trailers, was only spotted on two titles, those being *District B13* and *Brave Story*. The trailers are also available on various THX demo discs.

## Deep Note

The Deep Note is the sound trademark of THX Ltd., being a distinctive synthesized crescendo that glissandos 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's Computer Division in late 1982. The sound is used on trailers for THX-certified movie theaters, home video releases, video games, and in-car entertainment 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* in Los Angeles.
The U.S. trademark registration for the first version of the sound contains this description of it:
The THX logo theme consists of 30 voices over seven measures, starting in a narrow range, 200 to 400 Hz, and slowly diverging to preselected pitches encompassing three octaves. The 30 voices begin at pitches between 200 Hz and 400 Hz and arrive at pre-selected pitches spanning three octaves by the fourth measure. The highest pitch is slightly detuned while there is double the number of voices of the lowest two pitches.
In 1992, the Deep Note was registered as a trademark by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The sound is perceived as louder than it actually is; sound designer and re-recording mixer Gary Rydstrom 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:
The original 30-year-old C program is 355 lines, and the “patch” file for the synthesizer was 300 more lines. I guess it just felt like 20,000 lines when I did it. Given that it was written and debugged in 4 days, I can’t claim the programming chops to make 20,000 lines of working code that quickly. But, to synthesize it in real-time, in 1983, took 2 years to design and build a 19-inch rack full of digital hardware and 200,000 lines of system code to run the synthesizer. All that was already done, so I was building on a large foundation of audio processing horsepower, both hardware and software. Consequently, a mere 355 lines of C code and 300 lines of audio patching set-up for the 30 voices was enough to invoke the audio horsepower to make the piece.

### 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' 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 B minor by Bach were sources of inspiration for the Deep Note.

In their book *Analog Days*, Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco say that the track "Spaced", from the 1970 Beaver & Krause album *In a Wild Sanctuary*, was "copied by a famous Marin County film company" to introduce its film presentations, although they do not identify the company. The authors quote synthesizer builder Tom Oberheim as saying that the original analog form is much richer than the "digital perfection" evident in the sound logo so familiar to cinemagoers.

## Dr. Dre Lawsuit

Lucasfilm, then-owner of THX, sued rapper Dr. Dre in 2000 for using an unauthorized cover of Deep Note in the opening track "Lolo (Intro)" on his 1999 album *2001*.

## In popular culture

In a 1994 episode of *The Simpsons* titled "Burns' Heir", there is a parody gag of the 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 and ends with Grampa Simpson yelling "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 aspect ratio.

"Dumbest Girl Alive", the opening track on the album *10,000 Gecs*, by hyper pop duo 100 gecs, begins with a sample of the THX Deep Note.

The *Tiny Toon* movie *How I Spent My Vacation* has two characters in a movie theater who brace behind the seats during the advertisement of THUD audio systems, which is so loud it blows other viewers out of their seats. The advert ends with a male voice announcing, "The Audience Is Now Deaf", a parody of THX's "The Audience Is Listening" slogan.

The Deep Note was used without permission for short vignettes made by the US Department of Transportation advising drivers not to tailgate, cut right in front of, or drive in the blind spots of big-rig trucks, titled "Don't Hang Out in the No Zone".

## Trivia

* THX was developed by Tomlinson Holman at George Lucas's company Lucasfilm in 1983 to ensure that the soundtrack for the third *Star Wars* film, *Return of the Jedi*, would be accurately reproduced in the best venues.
* THX was named after Holman's initials, with the "X" standing for "crossover" or "experiment".
	+ The name is also an homage to Lucas's first film, *THX 1138* (1971).
* Deep Note was created by Holman's co-worker James A. Moorer.
* THX is a quality assurance system, not a recording technology.
* All sound recording formats, whether digital (Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS) or analog (Dolby Stereo, Ultra Stereo), can be reproduced in a THX system.
* The THX trailer that precedes movies is based on the Deep Note, with a distinctive glissando up from a rumbling low pitch.
* 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, non-parallel walls (to reduce standing waves), a perforated screen (to allow center channel continuity), and NC30 rating for background noise ("ensures noise from air conditioning units and projection equipment does not mask the subtle effects in a movie's soundtrack")
* The VHS and DVD variants of Broadway are particularly infamous for its omnipresence on Disney releases from the era as well as other titles from Fox throughout the 1990s and early to mid 2000s.
* The names for some of the early THX trailers given by Lucasfilm derive from the earliest Oscar-winning pictures, like *Wings*, *Cavalcade*, and *Cimarron*.
* John Lasseter, then-CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, created and voiced the character Tex, who has become the company's mascot.