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Measurements are not equivalent to perception

"Meyer shows frequency response measured at different locations in the hall for celli and first and second violins. Takatsu shows IACC (interaural cross-correlation coefficient) at various location in the hall."


These kinds of measurements do not relate to timbre, etc. They relate to objective physical properties, not subjective perceptions which are the result of extensive processing by the brain. The human hearing system is not a measurement device. It correctly perceives timbre so that the type of object creating a sound can be accurately recognized under a wide variety of acoustic conditions. This ability has obvious evolutionary benefits, e.g. recognizing food, mates, and threats.

Reproduced sound will not sound different if the recording/playback is tonally flat and undistorted and the correct acoustic environment presented. If the acoustic environment is warped, then the brain will make an automatic compensation and one of the ways this will manifest is that the tonal quality will sound incorrect. If the instruments fit comfortably in a typical listening room, there will be no great problem in reproducing them accurately with first rate equipment given an appropriate recording.

If one wants to produce and reproduce recordings that sound like live concerts one must go to concerts and lots of them. One has to become familiar with many different venues, seating locations, and ensembles and how these interact acoustically. If all one wants to do is babel about how it is impossible to reproduce the live concert experience, than none of this effort is needed. Success will never be achieved by looking at a bunch of measurements. Measurements are useful only when equipment is on a design bench or repair shop.




Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

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