Regarding the human voice ....what is stereo? What is panning? What's the difference?
- Thread starter Weissey
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Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
no ... stereophonics involves how the ears and brain interpret different sounds going into opposite ears and thus 'create' a false realism when reproduction is set up to try and replicate what occurs in nature .... as such it also applies to other sounds in real life that the brain interprets in the same way and not just electronic reproduction.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
You're confusing binaural hearing, an inherent property of human perception, and stereophonic audio, a system of recording and reproducing sound to artificially create the experience of sound coming from more than one place.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Right.
There's certainly no semantics there ^^^ it's pretty clear and simple.
For anyone that's taking two guitar amps and adding a stereo FX process...well that's no different than playing back your stereo Hi Fi system and recording that, and calling it a "stereo source".
Using those things as examples of "stereo sources"...is clutching at straws.
Also, there is no "false realism" in the way we hear things....it IS real.
Stereophonic has nothing to do with how we actually hear sounds or how our brain interprets what we hear....stereophonic is only a man-made process that partially tries to simulate how we hear, but it's not how we actually hear.
Man....how hard can this be?
Stereophonic sound is ONLY a L/R electronic process.
Human hearing is 3-dimensional.
"Stereo sources" are man-made fabrications.
Just because you choose to record something with a stereo mic technique…and then refer to it as a "stereo source", only demonstrates the continued bastardization of audio concepts and definitions in the home recording world.
It's amusing how often on predominantly home recording forums people are determined to invent audio science as they perceive it, while at the same time dismissing out-of-hand, known and accepted, audio terminology, concepts and techniques.
It’s like home recording sometimes lives in an alternate universe where real world audio stuff doesn’t always apply. They think “real world” only means how they’re use to doing it at home and how they understand it.
That is how internet myths and misconceptions are born.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the term "stereo source" now pop up on other audio forums after this thread. Some newb will Google "stereo"...find this thread, and then spread the "stereo source" misconception to another home rec audio forum.
Imagine if we were discussing surround sound...I would love to see what different sources would be called then - "surround sources" VS "stereo sources" VS "mono sources"!
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Objects radiating sound are no more inherently stereo or mono than objects reflecting light are inherently RGB or grey scale.
Beerhunter
Barley Processing Unit
Now, now don't start bringing light into this discussion or I'll start bringing in quadraphonic and surround sound!
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
correct ..... BUT ... when we're talking about hearing them there's no way around the fact that our hearing is stereo in nature. So regardless of how you want to define sounds when there's no one hearing them (do they even exist?) .... when we're talking about human hearing stereo is an inescapable factor except for those who have lost hearing in one ear.
It's simply how we ( and all mammals at least) hear.
And it's ingrained in our processing of sounds all the time.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Er, I should probably keep quiet but our hearing is binaural in nature. We have two ears separated by the width of our head and our brain is able to process the slight differences in phase and level received in each ear to figure out where in space the sound is coming from--left right, up down, near far.
Stereophonic recording ("stereo") is a recording/playback technique using two speakers (or two headphone cups/buds) to make your brain think you hear this spatial information. There are all sorts of different ways to make these stereo recordings: X-Y, ORTF, M-S, or even mono panned later in the mix. You can use stereo on any source you want. If you have a guy with a drum and one stick (about as point source as you can get) walking across a stage in front of X-Y microphones, on playback you'll hear the drummer walking from one side to another.
On the other hand, if you record a whole orchestra on a single mic half way back in the 3000 seat auditorium, it'll sound like a mono source even if, to your ears when you were there, you could hear the timps on the left and the double bass section on the right.
Stereo is a recording and reproduction technque.
Stereophonic recording ("stereo") is a recording/playback technique using two speakers (or two headphone cups/buds) to make your brain think you hear this spatial information. There are all sorts of different ways to make these stereo recordings: X-Y, ORTF, M-S, or even mono panned later in the mix. You can use stereo on any source you want. If you have a guy with a drum and one stick (about as point source as you can get) walking across a stage in front of X-Y microphones, on playback you'll hear the drummer walking from one side to another.
On the other hand, if you record a whole orchestra on a single mic half way back in the 3000 seat auditorium, it'll sound like a mono source even if, to your ears when you were there, you could hear the timps on the left and the double bass section on the right.
Stereo is a recording and reproduction technque.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Oh, what the hell. Reflected light is inherently subtractive in nature and therefore has Cyan, Magenta and Yellow as its primary colours. Radiated light, on the other hand is additive and inherently RGB.
R
RAMI
Guest
God, please kill this thread. Please!
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
it's just arguing over semantics ..... if you want to insist on going to the dictionary then yes, we should ALL use the word binaural when discussing our hearing however ..... in the context of this discussion stereo works just as well ...... I will continue to use the word stereo with regard to huiman hearing because everyone knows what that means.
This discussion is NOT about which word to use to descibe something ..... it's about the process and we do process everything as a stereo field which allows us to locate things in space .
This discussion is NOT about which word to use to descibe something ..... it's about the process and we do process everything as a stereo field which allows us to locate things in space .
That's literally the only thing the wannabe pro internet experts have to argue about.
Brian Oshman
New member
Stereo is sound produced by more than one source. A piano is a stereo source, a drum set is a stereo source, a guitar is a stereo source, a vocal is a stereo source, as the vocal chord, the chest cavity, etc all produce distinct sounds. Yes, mixed together it appears as one sound but is more than one blended just as all of the other instruments.
The distance between the sources makes no difference. It is still poly sound. If you can find one thing in nature that truly produces a mono sound without influencing what it is attached to then the argument of there are no stereo sound sources might hold weight but to the contrary just about all sound sources are stereo.
We don't care about anechoic chambers or vacuums because no one lives in an environment like that. It's purpose if for testing purposes only and if you are in a vacuum the first thing you are concerned with is obtaining oxygen, not whether or not to use an x-y configuration on your mic setup.
Bottom line, if it produces more than one sound and is capable if poly sound, i.e. able to produce it simultaneously then it is stereo.
Wavelength, time, phase, distance, all play a role in how it may be perceived but fact is if it produces more than one sound and is capable of this simultaneously then it is a stereo source.
The distance between the sources makes no difference. It is still poly sound. If you can find one thing in nature that truly produces a mono sound without influencing what it is attached to then the argument of there are no stereo sound sources might hold weight but to the contrary just about all sound sources are stereo.
We don't care about anechoic chambers or vacuums because no one lives in an environment like that. It's purpose if for testing purposes only and if you are in a vacuum the first thing you are concerned with is obtaining oxygen, not whether or not to use an x-y configuration on your mic setup.
Bottom line, if it produces more than one sound and is capable if poly sound, i.e. able to produce it simultaneously then it is stereo.
Wavelength, time, phase, distance, all play a role in how it may be perceived but fact is if it produces more than one sound and is capable of this simultaneously then it is a stereo source.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
For those who want to take a few minutes to read and better understand....but I'm sure there will not be many willing to take the time, or to give up their misconceptions about stereo and how we hear.
STEREO: A MISUNDERSTANDING
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Oh, what the hell. Reflected light is inherently subtractive in nature and therefore has Cyan, Magenta and Yellow as its primary colours. Radiated light, on the other hand is additive and inherently RGB.
It's not the light that's RGB or CMY, it's our capture and display systems that use RGB or CMY color space because that approximates how our vision works. In exactly the same way sound sources or the sounds they make are not inherently stereo, it's our recording and playback systems that are stereo because that approximates how we hear.
Color vision and binaural hearing have existed far longer than color imaging and stereo audio.
There are times when this is just what's needed. An example: I was overdubbing in harmony background vocals on a song, and set up a stereo mic pair (actually it was a mid-side pair, but that's not too important). I did each track from a different place in the room relative to the mic, a total of 3 different positions. When done, the singing positions were already panned. Actually, and even better, they were localized in the room space exactly as I had stood when I sang each part.
The point of doing this: There is more to stereo than panning, there is also depth of field. And a room with decent or even just interesting acoustics will add that space into your track organically, without having to pan and add reverb or whatever to make it sound like it really was performed somewhere.
The point of doing this: There is more to stereo than panning, there is also depth of field. And a room with decent or even just interesting acoustics will add that space into your track organically, without having to pan and add reverb or whatever to make it sound like it really was performed somewhere.
I think that's correct. It's an alteration to the natural, original sound (regardless of what that sound is). Stereo doesn't exist at the original sound source, it can only exist in the eventual "hearing" of the source. A dog barks in mono, not stereo. But you can record that bark, add stereo manipulation, and when you play it back it will sound stereo, that spacious, wide stereo. Stereo is never the original, natural sound of anything. It's an "add on". All original sound sources are mono. A guitar has 6 sound sources, 6 strings, but that doesn't make it a stereo instrument. Mono multiplied by 2 doesn't equal stereo.
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