Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler re:Stereo Devotees - You Might Just Prefer Music I

I'm with you. I prefer 2 channel + subwoofer for most music listening. I'll listen to SACDs in 5.1 but I rarely use the center and surrounds when listening to music recorded in stereo. I agree with Peter that there is no right or wrong answer - just a personal preference.

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...

Amen brother, Amen.

I prefer 2.1 stereo for most music. The only times that I prefer 5.1 is when the recording itself is actually presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS. Things like concert DVD's or SACD's specifically mastered with 5.1. Those 'work' for me, as I usually feel that the recording does feel more real, with ambient sounds around you, proper reverberations and echoes of the venue, etc.

Perhaps it's the result of a 7 year old receiver, but DPLIIx:Music and DTS:Neo Music modes don't do anything for me. They always sound overprocessed and just sort of 'simulated' to me. In other words, I find that the effects detract from the realism of the recording rather than adding to it.

Movies are an entirely different beast. For movies, I always watch in multi-channel modes. Even old stereo movies I run through DPLIIx:Movie. IMHO, that does work pretty well at creating surround-sound effects from 2.0 sources. Nowhere near as convincing as true 5.1+ digital tracks, but better than just stereo.

Thanks Mark.

If what you say is correct. Why do they not utilize 5.1 systems for the concerts?

I agree with your post....back in the day, (early 70's) there was an attempt to improve on the standard stereo experience with "quadraphonic" 4 channel systems consisting of: four speakers, with a quad amp, and this required a special quad 4 chanel lp record as well.

This was a short lived effort that was unsucessful.

Today's 5.1 type "surround" sound is far superior for movie soundtracks recorded as such, and of course for home theater.

For most music...it's hard to top stereo, and the "soundstage" everyone is always talking about, when describing the sound quality.

I prefer stereo for two reasons:

1. I can afford better speakers if I only buy two.

2. My wife would have a fit if I tried to put all these extra speakers all over the place

3. If I want to watch a movie, I go out

But that's just me.

Shane

Is anyone rocking the mono anymore?

I am... I'm rockin to 2 monos!