In an unrelated thread, one of our esteemed Remotesters wrote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ (Al) Prat  For me, good stereo is always better than 5.1 for music, it sounds more genuine for some reason. |
This is an interesting perspective, and pretty much the diametrical opposite of my viewpoint. Let's talk about it.
First, I want to know what Al means by "genuine", and what kind of 5.1 stuff he's been listening that he doesn't like. Is he talking about those Sting mixes? (I actually think they're fabulous, even though I'm not trying to do anything remotely like them -- pun intended). Is he talking about the new Beatles remixes? What about the surround sampler from
Blue Coast Records? (Anyone who cares about surround recording
must get this and listen to it!) Is Al simply objecting to the pervasive sound of Lexicon 960 in the rear channels of what's otherwise a conventional stereo recording? Enquiring minds want to know!
More generally, I'd like to talk about the aesthetics and practice of surround recording on location. If we limit ourselves to a "music in front, hall in back" approach, is that better or worse? If we do that, can we fairly represent the experience of listening in the hall? Do we want to?
Here's my perspective. The main floor of Carnegie Hall has a phenomenal combination of immersion and clarity. Move up into the boxes, and the sound is still clear, but there's no sense of immersion. It sounds like you're listening through a window, and in fact you are.
That's how stereo sounds to me. When I'm doing surround production, that main floor Carnegie experience is always in the back of my mind. It's an ideal that I'm working toward, however slowly. Now you could argue that I'm wrong to pursue that ideal, because the halls I actually work in don't sound like that. Fair enough, but they don't sound like listening through a window, either.
Last night, I walked into my production room and brought up a surround mix that I've been fighting with (on and off) for several weeks. The recording has various problems that I've been patching and fixing. At the same time, I've been trying to get that elusive sense of sitting in a real hall, without making the end result hopelessly colored-sounding. It may not be possible in this case, but still, when I hit play and let my guard down, the hair stood up on my arms. Is that good, or is it just a distraction from the actual music?
What do you folks think?
David L. Rick
Seventh String Recording