Aural Perspectives

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Michael Jones

Michael Jones

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When working a mix, it would seem that you have to establish a "point of view" for the listener; an Aural Perspective if you will. You have to decide where you want the listener seated, and adjust pans and levels accordingly. Right?

So, my point is: The bulk of what I write tends to be orchestral in nature, and is usually prepared for independent films. I try to take on the perspective of the conductor, and plan for my mixes accordingly, which envolves some knowledge of how an orchestra is laid out and seated. I.E. string section on the left front, horns to the rear, percussion to the right rear, so forth and so on...

Most of my mixes are done in 5.1 Surround Sound as well, so you can begin to see the complex "pallette" one has to work with.

Well, I had finished one of these sweeping orchestrations, and I was pretty happy with it, but wanted to get a second opinion on it, so I had a friend of mine (who writes in a completely different genre; more pop oriented), listen to it. One of the first things he wanted to do was to pan the strings center.
So, I'm wondering if this type of aural perspective, which I think adds a certian amount of authenticity to the mix, is lost on the lay-listener?

Any thoughts?
 
I would have to disagree. The aural perspective would not be lost to the listener. They may not be concious of it while watching the movie (that's the desired effect anyway), but I would think that instrumentation should be exaggerated within the stereo field for a more dramatic effect. ...especially mixing in 5.1, and especially given the average home theater setup.

Keep in mind, I have no first-hand experience within the move soundtrack world, but that's 2c nonetheless :)
 
I think you may be picking the wrong perspective. How many people have ever experienced an orchestra from the conductors stand? It's like a micing a drum kit from the throne.

Most people are used to hearing an orchestra from the seats. I'm not saying you should restrict yourself to that but anything else will sound more unnatural to the average listener. When your dealing with movie mixes you need to be pretty unobtrusive with the music mix. Let the sound effects do their job with all the wiz bang surround effects. If people notice the music mix you are probably being too indulgent. There are probably a couple of scenes in every movie where the music is allowed to be the star but for the most part the music is just there for support.

Movies are a collaborative effort and everyone has to give the other aspects of the production the room they need to do their job.
 
I agree Tex, for the most part, but I could have just as easily have taken the perspective of say, 5th row center, and that would be akin to the conductors perspective. I just think that sometimes that aural perspective isn't given it's due, and I feel that imparting that authenticity to the mix is important.
The key is whose perspective should you take? The guy on the far right side of the 2nd balcony, in the back? :) The conductor's, the 5th row center? All are decisions that we have to make. It may be more obvious if your mixing a 4 pc. rock band in stereo, but given a much broader pallet to work with, the decision seems less obvious, and worthy of careful planning.
 
My favorite classical soundtrack for music and production is Morricone's soundtrack for The Mission. They really did an amazing job on the orchestra. It definately has an unatural sound with close miced solos but they pulled it off very well.

Random Thought - I caught Terms of Endearment on TV the other day and I forgot how popular some film themes were in the 80's. It's been a long time since an instrumental song got any top 40 radio play.
 
I don't think the terms 'authenticity' and 'surround' go together very well at all. In real life, when are you surrounded by music? When you're playing flute in an orchestra, right? That's about the only time you'll have music coming at you from all directions.

So, surround just ain't gonna sound natural. But if you want it to sound less contrived, then you can simply do a more or less stereo mix, by which I mean run the same track through the rear right and front right speakers. The same track through the rear left and front left speakers. The middle of the stereo field through the center speaker. In other words, three different channels of sound instead of five.

Kinda weird, though. It would really bring out the left and right side of the mix.
 
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