On Monday, March 25, 2019 at 2:54:45 PM UTC-7, Adrian Tuddenham wrote:
Just because the average of the population tends towards acceptance, it
doesn't mean that there aren't others who find fake reverb very obvious,
unrealistic and disconcerting; I am one and I suspect that there will
be a higher than average number of people in this group who also don't
accept it - mainly those who are classical recording engineers.
Well, that's a different subject - what you call fake reverb vs. the actual environment.
But even there, how many film (and TV back in the day) scores weren't recorded on a big scoring stage and then enhanced with a 480L?
(Rhetorical question, of course - I'm not really asking for a number.
)
There will be many who have learned to 'listen properly', but in an
environment where they rarely or never hear realistic recordings, so
they don't notice certain types of fakery. What they are listening for
is something different, we haven't all learned to listen for the same
things.
The tests you refer to may have been done predominantly on multi-track
recording engineers or listeners. There are very few people around now
who make commercial recordings with just one or two stereo pairs of
microphones in natural acoustics - and far fewer people listen to them
than listen to pop music and multi-track recordings, so the tests are
highly likely to be skewed.
There again I was being rhetorical - as far as I know there haven't been any actual tests - but of course acoustic recording where you're going for a "pure" sound is a different artform.
You wanted an explanation of why those who do accept it find it
acceptable - I suggested habituation was the most likely explanation. I
used to accept artificial reverb myself when I worked in other fields,
but since I became a recording engineer (many years ago now) I have
learned to recognise it and I don't like it when I hear it.
I think we're talking about different contexts, Adrian. One could easily say what you're saying about compression - that it sticks out as being particularly nasty for trained people (especially on acoustic recordings), but more extreme settings have become part and parcel of the sound people are used to on pop productions.
And yet I find it easier to understand, because you'd think that our spacial cues evolved to warn us when a sabre-toothed tiger entered the cave.