Clarification of Panning Please!

[SouthSIDE Glen]

who said you can hear 360º??

i would beg do differ, slightly anyway. i can hear when someone is talking behind me, and that is being transferred through the only two ears i have. but i guess that is one of the abilities that a human has that we really haven't recreated just yet.

That is largly a function of the physical structure of the ear itself. To quote from the same H&R book I reference above:

"It's interesting to note that from beyond about 130° from the front axis there can be no ridge reflections because they are blocked by the pinna [i.e. earlobe - GJS]. Unreflected sounds that are delayed between 0 and 80 microseconds will still be perceived as originating from the rear."

If one were to take that last sentence at face value, it shoud be possible to synthesize something coming from the rear through the proper application of very small delays. I suspect (but am not sure), that this is how plugs that can synth 360° sounds in headphones do their job. I also suspect - with even less certainty - that the small delay times required may be why the effect does not work so well in real space as it does on headphones (though Bob Carver might disagree), such small delays may possibly (?) get swamped by other real-world reflections. I'd be interested if anybody has any info that might correct these suspicions.

G.

 

[earlwgreen]

Thanks for a starting point.

 

[peritus]

http://www.anstendig.org/Stereo.html
http://www.moultonlabs.com/more/principles_of_multitrack_mixing_the_use_of_early_delays/

 

[Reggie]

In like, vidya games and stuff it seems to me that in order to make stuff sound like it is behind you on 2 speakers involves some frequency alterations too. Typically the highs or presence range is lowered a bit. I guess it simulates what happens when sound has to go through the back of your ears or back of your head--some of the highs get reflected or absorbed by your flesh but the lower freqs make it through to your eardrums easily.