Surround sound is often mistaken as a relatively new phenomenon in cinemas， one that emerged in the 1970s with the arrival of Dolby。 Making Stereo Fit shows how Hollywood studios have instead been implementing surround-sound techniques for the past century and argues that their endurance owes primarily to the long-standing economic tension between stereophonic and monophonic sound。 Throughout the book， Eric Dienstfrey analyzes newly discovered archival materials， as well as a myriad of stereo releases from Hell's Angels （1930） to Get Out （2017）， to examine how Hollywood’s dependence on single-channel sound left filmmakers unable to fully realize the aesthetic potential of surround sound。 Though studios initially experimented with stereo's unique affordances， Dienstfrey details how film sound designers eventually codified a conservative set of surround-sound conventions that prevail today， despite the arrival of more immersive technologies。