Mind Stretchers
This is the second of the posts that didn't get in. FWIW:
"Audio Empire" wrote in message
...
Frankly, I find that the recording industry has a hard enough time doing
two
channel stereo correctly, much less four channels, or five or seven....
Now
for movies where the extra channels have explosions and other sound
effects
pan-potted to them, it's fine, but I have yet to hear a music surround
recording where I thought that the surround was any more than a gimmick.
Well, I am in partial agreement with you there. Since starting to record in
surround with my little amateur setup (Zoom H2n, with or without additional
mikes up front) I haven't found a LOT of benefit or audibility of the
enhancement, just mainly audience coughs and pop clappers.
However, there are some recordings that do contain more ambience than most,
and for those it "sets" that ambience more correctly around you. In one of
my recordings, I let the audience applause and ambience of the place open
the recording for about 10 seconds before the music began, and it really
perked my ears up to the location and the "flavor" of that acoustic space,
and I enjoyed the music just a little more.
A good M/S microphone technique can get about 80% of the way there as well.
One member of our audio society is particularly good at this, but he is now
interested in surround recording because one of his choral groups tends to
perform in the round, and he wants the full effect.
In a live event, in a good hall, you don't "notice" the acoustics of the
hall directly - I mean, it doesn't hit you over the head - you mainly notice
the frontal soundstage, and even then you do not get pinpoint imaging in any
but the closest seats.
Sometimes we expect too much in a hi fi situation. In the surround sound
situation, it is usually so subtle that (it has been said) you don't hear it
until it is turned off. That is probably as it should be.
Gary Eickmeier
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