Is surround sound for music and home theater on its way out?

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Surround music is certainly possible but not from a typical studio recording. To synthesize surround from a straight-up multi-track studio mix is a fool's errand.
 
harshness said:
Surround music is certainly possible but not from a typical studio recording. To synthesize surround from a straight-up multi-track studio mix is a fool's errand.
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No more or less so than synthesizing a stereo mix. Put another way there is no there there. It's all an artificial construct since its likely that no two musicians were recording at the same time. They might not have been in the same studio for that matter.

So which artificial reality is right? Yes ;)




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It is trivial to create a stereo sound field from a multitrack recording. You just pan each track towards one side or the other (or leave it centered as in the case of lead vocals). The really trick equipment may let you add an echo from a track on to the other channel.

"Panning" in two or three dimensions is an exponentially more complex proposition.
 
John Kotches said:
It is "trivial" to do a stereo mix but decidedly non-trivial to do a good or great one.
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It isn't difficult at all. I usually just pan a track to the position that the track's source would have on stage. You can certainly complicate it with effects but good stereo is relatively easy to come by.
 
I very much enjoy my surround sound system, listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Money."

Anyway, we need to get surround sound right, as we get the Holosuite ready for market. ;) :oldwink
 
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harshness said:
It isn't difficult at all. I usually just pan a track to the position that the track's source would have on stage. You can certainly complicate it with effects but good stereo is relatively easy to come by.
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The fewer the tracks the easier it can be.

But there's a reason the best are the best, and it isn't because its easy to do.


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I don't think so. Still using my 5.1 speaker system that was set up wayyy back in 2005. Well those single speaker sound bars could also cater for minimalist and limited spaces. It really depends as to where and when it's primarily used for. I'm good with my current one.
 
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jayn_j said:
And the zombie thread emerges from the grave.

I found that for music, I was able to create a macro for my harmony remote that turns off the surround and center speakers, adjusts the receiver to straight stereo. The problem was that I had to restore the surround for every other activity on the remote. Tedious, but doable. I think some of this is what we are used to listening to. I don't mind a bit of ambience surround in a live recording. For studio stuff, I prefer pure stereo. But have you noticed that over time, there is less and less stereo in the mixes. Stereo mixes in the 60's used to have totally different sounds coming out of each channel. Listen to The Beatles Abbey Road or The Beach Boys Pet Sounds albums for good examples. As John said earlier, a few albums did manage to get it right. Yes John, I do own Running on Empty and enjoy it.

Perhaps I am just getting old, but these days where the CD has been replaced by a low bandwidth itunes download, I don't see any care being paid to channel mixing, and most of what I hear could very well be mono.
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Exactly... what people don't realize is CDs are nothing more than compressed data, some of the quality is actually lost in the recording, and music downloads are even worse... great for portability, but not for enjoying at home. Also the room's acoustics makes a difference, homes aren't built with the thought of listening to sound.
 
dsmith0429 said:
Exactly... what people don't realize is CDs are nothing more than compressed data, some of the quality is actually lost in the recording, and music downloads are even worse... great for portability, but not for enjoying at home.
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CD audio is ABSOLUTELY NOT compressed. What makes it less than perfect is the sampling rate (44KHz) that is capable of representing 64k volume levels of sounds up to 22KHz).
 
dsmith0429 said:
SACD is the surround sound audio discs, they were intended to replace CDs, but never took off in the U.S.
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If you read the article, SACD supports multi-channel but it was more about capacity (4.7GB) and fidelity (105dB from 20-50KHz) of conventional stereo.

This was a case where there was an early format (SACD) and a late-comer (DVD-A) and both effectively failed because most adult humans couldn't possibly discern the difference. UHD runs a similar risk if they don't get moving on affordable players and appealing content.
 
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I have both those formats. My hearing is not great. But I certainly tell the difference. 7.1 surround is great, but rare.
 

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