Scott Dorsey wrote:
William Sommerwerck wrote:
"Gary Eickmeier" wrote in message ...
All I am trying to tell you is that the live sound has a complex
pattern of direct, early reflected, and reverberant components to the
total sound field. If you reproduce what you have recorded with just
the direct sound from a pair of speakers, any speakers, the
reproduction will sound different from the original and you have got to
replace the missing fields somehow. The sound doesn't just "go into
your ears" and you hear the original.
Tell us something we don't know.
On any playback system, the spatial nature of what was recorded is changed
into the spatial characteristics of that playback system.
Not with Ambisonic recording and playback. Not with the use of a hall
synthesizer.
Really, not with any system. In every case, what you get on playback is
the sum of the effects of the original hall, combined with the effects of
the playback. Consequently, the original recording needs to be drier than
it would be if it were intended for playback in an anechoic chamber. But
not really very much so.
I think the BBC did some research into this in mono a long while ago.
They were mainly interested in the point at which the acoustics of the
listening room began to become audible behind those of the original
studio.
I seem to recall they concluded that as long as the listening room had a
shorter reverberation time than the studio, the listener would only be
aware of the studio acoustics. That assumed a listening room with no
obvious vices (i.e. a fairly flat reverberation/frequency curve) and did
not test for any effects on stereo imaging.
One factor we have not touched on (another can of worms) is whether the
whole of a listening room needs to be treated. When using an empty
cloakroom as a temporary control room for a portable recording session,
I found that it was possible to put the monitors (BBC LS3/5As) at the
same level as my ears and only treat the room at that height above the
floor. Luckily, the rows of coat pegs allowed me to hang several
thicknesses of blankets away from the walls at the correct height.
The upper part of the room was undamped and, when I stood up, the sound
quality was vile with no stereo image - but, at the seated listening
position, I found I was able to form quite a good image and ignore the
rest of the room.
I wouldn't recommend this as general good practice, but it does show
that it is possible to get away without elaborate acoustic listening
room treatment in some circumstances.
--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
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www.poppyrecords.co.uk