Robin Bowes;593283 Wrote: > On 06/12/10 22:25, TheLastMan wrote: > > > > In fact, I cannot think of an instrument that, on its own, occupies > > enough space to need stereo - unless ludicrously close miked. > > You're missing the point. It's not just the sound of the instrument - > it's the ambience from the room as well. > > An instrument close-mic'd with a single microphone with sound > unnatural > compared to the same instrument recorded with a stereo pair positioned > far enough from the source to capture the sound of the room as well. > > R. > -- > "Feed that ego and you starve the soul" - Colonel J.D. Wilkes > http://www.theshackshakers.com/
Actually if you read on a bit from the passage you quoted I do say that. I totally agree that stereo is important and that a simple stereo pair of microphones is by far the best setup for stereo (oddly enough!) which is what I tried to achieve in my very amateur way in my recording attempts. In fact in most concert halls, unless you are sitting in the front row behind the conductor, most of the sound you hear will be reflected off the walls, ceiling, floor and audience so a lot of the directional clues are lost anyway. In fact in some ways, for non-amplified music, the acoustic is almost like an extra performer. But what I have learnt over the years is that your ears play terrible tricks on you, and aural perception is heavily influenced by psychological bias and visual clues or distractions. I see Clive b's point to some extent, but how often does an audience member stand so close to a drum kit that he can distinguish which drums are on the left and which on the right? In fact there never is a "real" stereo image of a drum kit at most rock concerts as the sound from the various drums is fed out through different speakers to give the illusion of a massive, stage filling drum kit! To me, the point of stereo is to convey the acoustic (whether real or artificial) and to space the performers and instruments out on a stage so that you can more easily separate them in your mind. However, that is probably only about 20% of the job. In my humble opinion, when listeners critically assess hi-fi equipment these days, far too much weight is put on reproducing the stereo image and far too little weight is given to whether the instruments sound like real instruments. In fact I almost never hear that aspect mentioned at all. When I hear a Strad reproduced I want it to sound like a Strad, not a Yamaha "My First Violin". When I was auditioning the Naim's it became clear that most amplifier manufacturers don't pay enough attention to that aspect of music reproduction. It is probably also why I could now sell my 1979 vintage 42/110 pre-power amps for more than the £200 I paid for them in 1992! -- TheLastMan Matt *SqueezeBoxes:* SB Duet (Controller + two receivers) *Server:* Synology Diskstation 107+ NAS (with firmware 2.3-1157) running Squeezebox Server 7.5.0 on Synology Package Manager *Network:* Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router, 2 x Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 as access points *Livingroom:* Receiver into Naim 42/110 amp, B&W CM2 speakers *Kitchen:* Receiver into Denon DM37 mini-system, B&W 686 speakers *Study:* Linn LP12, Naim 72/Hi-cap/Headline. LPs ripped usingBehringer UCA202 USB into Windows XP PC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TheLastMan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=16021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82155
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