So its a deliberate choice as to how much reflected information is included in any given recording? I didn't know that.
Fred:
To give you an example of how I record, I will place a mic close to each sound source (voice or instrument}... this is literally called close-miking. It, in the most simplistic way possible, improves the Signal (singer, for example) to Noise (everything else) ratio. Unfortunately, it gives you a rather "dry" sound, devoid of ambience and very similar to the sound in an isolation booth. The only recordings we leave like that are voice-overs, as they are recorded in a reflection-minimizing, foam-encased sound booth. I add a touch of reverb in post production so the voice doesn't sound too sterile.
For everything else, I add additional mics and record additional tracks. Oftentimes I'll put a couple of omnidirectional mics at the foot of the stage, on the side walls, and in the back corners of the hall (each recorded discretely). Later, I can add small amounts of that reverberated "live" sound to the original front two channels to produce a final result that has the clean sound of the instruments or voice, but enough added ambiance to add the appropriate level of realism to the sound.... a person speaking in a living room does not sound the same as a person talking in a cathedral.
I don't do as much of this as I used to. Because of that, I've always mixed to stereo, even if the final product was a DVD.. At this point I'd be more likely to mix to 5.1 channels if it's for a DVD....
I wrote an article on recording practices as it pertained to wedding videography many moons ago as my love for audio was prompting me to taking it quite a bit further than most videographers...
