[nickbatz]

One of the wonders of audio is that we're able to accept lots of radically different spaces in recordings - even acoustic recordings, as opposed to pop production.

This comes up all the time when people ask whether xxx sample library's orchestral woodwinds would blend with yyy library's brass and zzz library's percussion and strings. The answer is always yes - just choose the library with the woodwind sound you like. It doesn't matter that the instruments are recorded from totally different mic positions in different spaces (leaving aside that you do still have to position the sections appropriately for a realistic sound).

Similarly, I'm working on a short piece with a bunch of synths and sampled instruments up close, but adding sampled timps far away at the back of a stage with huge recorded hall reverb is totally believable. And we all know about obvious things like drum room mics and overheads marrying perfectly with gated snare reverbs, etc.

I've been trying to come up with a reason why this seemingly total suspension of disbelief works. One avenue of explanation is that everything is coming from speakers in the room, and that integrates it all. But it's also true with headphones.

Any ideas?