Concert Hall sound

[ARQuint]

Fas42 said

"This obsession with technical issues of artificially enhancing a sense of space during playback is a dead end - human hearing does all what's necessary to "bring recordings to life" if the SQ is of a high enough standard ..."

 

The suggestion that modern surround sound (done right, that is) is about "artificially enhancing a sense of space during playback" is a false argument that many who are looking for a reason not to pursue mutltichannel take up with enthusiasm. Who can blame them?  If you've spent years painstakingly developing a high performance two-channel system, the prospect of making the fundamental  changes that will have it serve both stereo and multichannel programs is daunting, both in terms of effort and, undeniably, expense.

 

A correctly done discreet multichannel recording is not an after-the fact manipulation of a multitrack mastertape accomplished with an algorithm to produce a generic spaciousness. Previously, fas42 had written that

 

"The advantage of using the high integrity of the direct sound method... Adding rear sound actively is another method of pushing our hearing systems over the hurdle of accepting an illusion - the trouble with this is that every recording is different, and what works for one won't for others."

 

This is a straw dog. The best engineers of multichannel programs—Jared Sacks, Michael Bishop, the folks of  BIS and PentaTone, the SoundMirror team, and many others—set up their microphones at the recording session to render the specific character of the venue they are working in. They recreate the sense of being in the Concertgebouw vs. Boston Symphony Hall vs. the Musikverein vs. Bayreuth's Festspielhaus, etc. to a degree that occurs only very rarely with even the best two-channel set-ups and, typically, only when those stereo systems are deployed in a large listening room.

 

There is no question that, with the right recordings, a top-flight two-channel stereo system can create a magical sense of spatial realism and "ambience". Whether this is an instance of all the stars aligning or that "human hearing does all what's necessary to bring recordings to life" I can't say. But modern multichannel, carefully configured, is a powerfully democratizing force. Hundreds—thousands, actually—of four- and five-channel recordings do this routinely. And when played back through equipment that is merely very good, not SOTA. Getting there requires more than a little courage, in addition to the time and long green alluded to above. But, as Kal, Fitzcaraldo, and many others can tell you, boy is it ever worth it.