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Dear colleagues,

a few weeks ago I posted here and got some response on OCT surround.

Now while listening to my experimental recording (Händel Oratorio
"Jephta" in a large church with good reverb) I am a bit helpless in how
to determine how much output to send to each channel, especially with
respect to the sides and centre. I started off normalizing each track in
the software so what now? Any rules of thumb or other fingers? Or anyone
setting up playback with test signals?

So far I am somewhat impressed how much is actually coming from behind
and definitely like it, even in a truely non-ideal playback situation...

In case anyone's interested: I used a Neumann KM140 as centre, two AKG
C480/CK63 as sides and two KM140 as rears, looking back in parallel. The
rears about 1 metre, the CK63 less apart. As a reference and at the same
time for some low end support for the sides I mounted two Neumann KM130
as closely as possible to the CK63 and put them in the mix with a high
pass of 100Hz, definitely a positive sensation.

:-J
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Hi Jurgen,

I certainly would recommend that you set your speakers as close to the
ITU recommendation as you can, and the use a broadband test signal
(typically 200Hz and above) to match the levels.

When setting the track levels for OCT, what I like to do is start with
L & R, making sure they are properly balanced. (If I recorded with a
matched pair of mics, I normally don't have to do anything.) Next I
bring in C and raise the level until the center image is solid without
reducing the image width. Finally, I add LS & RS to taste.

When bringing in the surrounds, I'm listening for good sense of
immersion, while at the same time hoping the rears don't disturb the
front imaging. If I can't get them loud enough without that happening,
then I'll try changing their delay relative to the front mics. In some
extreme situations I've been known to compress LS & RS a bit. Depending
on how reverberent the front triple sounds, I may steer some of the LS
& RS to L and R, but there's a danger of hurting the imaging by doing
that.

Hope this helps,

David L. Rick
Seventh String Recording


Jürgen Schöpf wrote:
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Dear colleagues,

a few weeks ago I posted here and got some response on OCT surround.

Now while listening to my experimental recording (Händel Oratorio
"Jephta" in a large church with good reverb) I am a bit helpless in how
to determine how much output to send to each channel, especially with
respect to the sides and centre. I started off normalizing each track in
the software so what now? Any rules of thumb or other fingers? Or anyone
setting up playback with test signals?

So far I am somewhat impressed how much is actually coming from behind
and definitely like it, even in a truely non-ideal playback situation...

In case anyone's interested: I used a Neumann KM140 as centre, two AKG
C480/CK63 as sides and two KM140 as rears, looking back in parallel. The
rears about 1 metre, the CK63 less apart. As a reference and at the same
time for some low end support for the sides I mounted two Neumann KM130
as closely as possible to the CK63 and put them in the mix with a high
pass of 100Hz, definitely a positive sensation.

:-J
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Dear David,

thanks for sharing your experiences. I had expeceted something like
"normalize all channels and set faders to x,x,y,z and z". Theoretically,
it should work like that. However, your intuitive approach is what I
did, too...

David L. Rick schrieb:
When bringing in the surrounds, I'm listening for good sense of
immersion, while at the same time hoping the rears don't disturb the
front imaging. If I can't get them loud enough without that happening,
then I'll try changing their delay relative to the front mics. In some
extreme situations I've been known to compress LS & RS a bit. Depending
on how reverberent the front triple sounds, I may steer some of the LS
& RS to L and R, but there's a danger of hurting the imaging by doing
that.

hm. delay! Didn't think of that yet. how much are you thinking of?
:-J

Jürgen Schöpf wrote:

David L. Rick schrieb:
When bringing in the surrounds, I'm listening for good sense of
immersion, while at the same time hoping the rears don't disturb the
front imaging. If I can't get them loud enough without that happening,
then I'll try changing their delay relative to the front mics.

hm. delay! Didn't think of that yet. how much are you thinking of?
:-J

Just enough to activate the Haas effect in favor of the front mics. A
few milliseconds, typically. If the delay exceeds 30ms, you may hear an
echo. (Keep in mind that you already have several milliseconds delay
just from mic position.)

-- David