|
General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
|
|
|
General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
|
In Reply to: Re: A very thoughtful post, thank you, but let me quibble about "Box speakers RIP". posted by maabx on March 21, 2007 at 12:02:20:
In an auditorium or concert hall, it's hard to locate particular instruments exactly by sound. It gets easier as you get closer to the performers but listening in the far field where the reflected sound can easily dominate the direct sound destroys, or "muddies" the information we need for precise location. On the other hand, if you're in a normal sized room sitting around a table with a group of people, it's pretty easy to close your eyes and locate each one of them. You're in the near field, the direct sound dominates, and the task is easy because everything in the sound that acts as a cue for our brains to do the job is about as clear as those things are going to be.Being able to locate things by sound, the whole imaging and soundstage area of audio, works pretty much the same as it does in real life with one added requirement. There has to be something in the recorded sound to provide the cues, so we need to be able to hear the performer in at least 2 channels. If they're in one channel only, they localise at the speaker. Provided they are present in 2 channels, it's pretty easy to do the location thing if you're listening in the near field. It gets harder as you move further away, out of the near field and the reflcected sound from your room becomes more prominent. Whether or not the recording used a simple microphone setup to record all of the performers individually or individual microphones for each performer with individual performer tracks then fed to 2 or more channels to provide the location info also makes a difference. Simple microphone setups that record all of the performers in real space definitely do a better job in my view.
Many people complain that the imaging/soundstage they get with recordings is artificial but in many instances they like listening to live music from a seat in the far field where they can't locate individual performers and they're either listening in the near field, or close enough to it, at home to be able to do so. They could solve their problem at home quite easily by using a bigger room and simply sitting further away from their speakers but that usually isn't an option. Instead they complain about the recordings sounding 'artificial' or 'wrong' and simply don't realise that what they regard as a problem with recorded sound is simply an artifact of their particular listening setup.
Whether you can determine location by ear or not in a live performance, it is possible to duplicate that aspect of the live experience, if the recording has the necessary information, simply by using the appropriate speaker and listening position locations to preserve or mask the cues that allow us to determine location by sound.
David Aiken
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Re: A very thoughtful post, thank you, but let me quibble about "Box speakers RIP". - David Aiken 23:33:09 03/21/07 (1)
- That's a point: They're suffering from near-field withdrawal symptoms and want as much of it as they can get! nt - clarkjohnsen 08:28:36 03/22/07 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
