On 07/09/2011 10:19 PM, Stefan Schreiber wrote:
Fons Adriaensen wrote:
On Sat, Jul 09, 2011 at 02:04:21PM -0400, Marc Lavallée wrote:
The perceived "directional bandwidth" of stereo recordings is better
than what conventional stereo (with cross-talk) can reproduce.
This is again a game of words.
Most stereo recordings are made to be reproduced by two speakers,
seen by the listener at an angle of 60 to 90 degrees, and such that
the signals from either speaker reach both ears. That is the way it
is supposed to work. There is a solid theory behind this. Calling
this 'crosstalk (a term which has a negative connotation as a defect
of audio equipment), and the cure 'crosstalk cancellation' amounts to
gross intellectual dishonesty. The signals you find on the vast majority
of stereo records are _not_ meant to be delivered one-to-one to the ears.
And people listen to the same stuff via headphones?
yes, and that is a problem :)
you will find that a bit of artificial crosstalk greatly improves the
spatial impression of traditional stereo recordings when delivered over
headphones.
As this seems to work, XTC can't be SO wrong.
whatever floats your boat. xtc has a certain effect on most material
which most xtc users like, and that's fine.
the "localisation" of xtc'ed traditional stereo is similar to spaced
omni miking, in the sense that it's kind of nice and spacey, but the
result has nothing to do with reality, at all.
and you have to keep in mind that what you are hearing with xtc is not
what the producer intends you to hear.
strictly speaking, xtc is only correct for binaural material (which,
otoh, will be absolutely wrong when played back over stereo speakers).
and to comment on a previous remark about the turning of the head: with
ambisonics, the point is not that the image doesn't collapse when you
turn (that's really the most basic requirement), but rather that you
gain additional information, because the soundfield is reproduced
somewhat correctly in _all_ directions and you can benefit from your
keener localisation sense in the frontal quadrant, turn your head and
tune in to lateral sources. they will be reproduced just as convincingly
as the frontal sound stage. that's a minor benefit as long as you're
listening to the usual "stage in front" kind of music, but if you're a
room acoustics nerd or you're into contemporary music with a somewhat
wider sound stage, the advantage is quite palpable.
with xtc, head turning doesn't ever give you extra information. you just
perceive the binaural (or not) signal in a different (and strictly
speaking incorrect) way, which may have a pleasant effect. then again,
it may not.
--
Jörn Nettingsmeier
Lortzingstr. 11, 45128 Essen, Tel. +49 177 7937487
Meister für Veranstaltungstechnik (Bühne/Studio)
Tonmeister VDT
http://stackingdwarves.net
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