Nedenstående, fra en branche-håndbog, handler om hvilke
overvejelser man bør gøre sig ifm. en stereooptagelse.
Kilde:
The New Stereo Soundbook
Philosophical and Pragmatic
Approaches to Stereo
FUNDAMENTAL DECISIONS
Before any recording project can begin, however, certain
fundamental decisions need to be made - decisions that will
indicate the format, style, and even the procedures implemented
during the recording process. Some of these decisions are
dictated by the content or style of the subject to be conveyed,
for example: music, speech, sound effects, etc. Other, more
pragmatic factors considered at this stage include: whether the
recording/reproduction process is intended to be solely an
auditory experience, or will it combine sound with picture; the
medium of the recording - commercial record release, radio or
television broadcast, film, etc.; the mode of the project
(entertainment, documentary, sports or news, etc.); and the
anticipated reproduction or listening environment.
These fundamental decisions will determine how a recording
project is to proceed, and many of them will be based on more
intangible factors such as mood, feeling, and intuition than on
scientific fact. Thus science and philosophy must go hand in
hand in the creation of the stereo illusion.
THE FIVE Ws
All writers know that for any idea to be communicated
effectively The Five W's should be addressed: Who, What, When,
Where and Why. These five considerations are equally important
to the process of making a recording. After all, sound recording
is really just another medium of communication - a means of
expressing an idea aurally rather than visually.
Who is the listener? Is he/she experienced in the subject of the
recording? Is he/she a "critical" or a "casual" listener?
What is the medium? Is it a purely auditory one such as a
cassette, compact disc, or the radio, or does it also involve
pictures, such as film or television, multi-media, or DVD?
When is he/she listening? Does the listening experience occur in
the background or foreground of the listener's attention?
Where is the listening environment? Is it at home, at work, in an
elevator, a theatre, while jogging, or in a car?
Why is he/she listening? Is it for the pleasure of the experience,
for information content, or simply for entertainment?
The answers to each of these questions contribute
significantly to the determination of how the recording should
proceed. Some factors can be complementary, while others
prove to be mutually exclusive. The technical procedures
employed, however, must be compatible with all of these
dictates. A producer even might decide that more than one
answer is appropriate to each of the questions, possibly forcing
a compromise between various technical procedures.
RECREATING AN EVENT
To initiate the decision-making process, the flavor of the
recording first must be determined. This "flavor" establishes the
essential listening experience that the producer, performer, and/
or engineer wants to convey to the listener. A recording is, by its
very nature, an artificial substitute for a "live" experience -
reality - and can never be expected to equal the essential
qualities inherent in "being there." The best any recording can
attain is a reasonable simulation of the live experience; this
simulation can be derived from two related, although
nonetheless quite different, philosophical approaches to the
recording process: "Recreative" and "Creative."
As the term "recreative" implies, this philosophy of recording
intends to recreate a sonic experience for listeners in their own
environment. The purpose is to make listeners feel that they are
listening to a real event - something that actually happened, or
could have happened - that has been transferred in time and/or
space and transported into their presence via the recording
process. This requires that all sense of the event's realism must
be captured and retained, so that listeners will feel as though
they are participants at the event. Concerts, sporting events,
news and documentaries are among the sonic events most
appropriate to this recording philosophy.
Technical procedures for recreative recordings generally
involve what are sometimes called "purist" microphone
techniques ( as will be discussed in Chapters Five, Six, Seven,
and Nine) and uncomplicated recording methods to try to
maintain the original ambience of the sonic space. These
generally offer minimal alteration of the sonic perspective of the
original event.
CREATING A NEW EVENT
"Creative" recording brings to the listener an experience which
never happened in "real time," but which the creators of the
sonic illusion would like to have happened. As before, the intent
is to make listeners participants at this sonic event - even
though this might be impossible to achieve in the "real world."
When creating a listening experience, applicable recording
techniques allow considerably more experimentation, so that
multi-microphone, multi-track procedures are more commonly
utilized. Significant signal processing, synthesis, and artificial
ambience are also employed to create a new, unique listening
experience.
Some believe that these two approaches to expressing a
sonic image - "Creative" or "Recreative" - are one and the
same. This stems from the concept that the two are merely
alternate means of observing an event and conveying its
essence. The fundamental belief here is that the illusion can
never equal the reality, because the only true reality is being
there. In the context of recorded sound, however, reality is what
you make of it.
THE LISTENER'S PERSPECTIVE
The listener's aural "viewpoint" of the recording also can be
described by two contrasting sonic perspectives, which are often
called "You Are There" or "They Are Here" (In this context, "you"
refers to the listener and "they" are the performers.) When
considering the listener's perspective, the differences between
the approaches are more distinct than the styles of creating a
listening experience.
With "You Are There," the intent is to generate an aural
perspective which will transport the listeners into the same sonic
environment as the event - to put the listeners into the
audience, as it were. This approach is appropriate to almost any
form of real sonic event, and lends itself particularly well to
concerts, certain sporting events, dramatic or documentary
presentations, environmental scenes, and the like.
On the other hand, "They Are Here," as the name implies,
attempts to bring the sonic event directly to the listener, and
reproduce it in the listening environment. This approach is only
plausible when the sonic "illusion" could logically be happening in
this listening space. Hence, a major league ball game, large
symphony orchestra, or recreation of "the Battle of the Bulge"
would not be convincing, whereas a ping pong match, a string
quartet, or even a fistfight between two individuals might be.
THE "TWO BY TWO" MATRIX
The style of the reproduction can be correlated with the
viewpoint by placing them both into a simple two-by-two matrix.
If the top is labeled according to philosophy and the sides
according to perspective, it is possible to derive four distinct
approaches to the recording and reproduction of a sonic
experience. These prove to be the logical result of the
experience itself. (Table 4-1)
Table 4-1.
THE TWO-BY-TWO MATRIX:
Re-creative Creative
YOU ARE THERE
THEY ARE HERE
Both "You are there" and "They are here" recordings can be
either recreative or creative, depending on the sonic illusion
desired. The various technical means to accomplish these styles
can differ from one to another, which can be shown by
expanding the contents of the matrix to include some of the
relevant production techniques employed for each approach.
(Table 4-2)
Table 4-2.
THE TWO-BY-TWO MATRIX
(Expanded to show technical aspects of each mode)
Re-creative Creative
YOU ARE THERE A   ; C
THEY ARE HERE B   ; D
YOU ARE THERE:
(A)
Simple techniques: Blumlein or Coincident XY; Near-coincident;
Spaced; Ambisonics; preservation of natural ambience; minimal
enhancement of original acoustics
(C)
Multi-microphone and/or multi-track techniques special effects
processing; synthesis; creation of artificial ambient space;
"Anything Goes..."
THEY ARE HERE:
(B)
Coincident microphones or close multi-microphone techniques;
little natural ambience in the recording; close, intimate sound
placement
(D)
Multi-microphone and/or multi-track techniques; special effects
processing; synthesis; little ambient space; deliberate placement
of sonic elements; "Anything Goes ..."
The matrix implies that although there are four initial
directions a recording project can pursue, within each are
several "alternate routes" which the producer or engineer also
could follow. Once the primary course has been determined,
however, it should be followed to its final destination. Sudden or
abrupt deviations from the chosen course might distract the
listener or lead to confusion - whether conscious or subliminal -
and thereby destroy the illusion. If the listener becomes aware
of the techniques employed to make the recording, the program
content will be pushed into the background, rather than remain
the focus of attention. (Similarly, in the theatre, if the lighting
effects or staging draw the attention of the viewer away from
the storyline, the essence of the play will be lost.)
THE "LAW of COMPROMISES"
It is important to reemphasize that the basic approach to making
a stereo recording must be decided at the outset of the project,
and this will be determined by the several, often competing,
technical and philosophical factors involved. This decision
process acknowledges the "Law of Compromise" inherent
throughout the world of audio.
This law, although not written anywhere is universally imposed
nonetheless. It dictates that any decision with regard to the
production or reproduction of a recorded experience must result
from a choice among compromises. Simply, this means that
what is best for one set of circumstances likely may sacrifice
others. It is the charge of the producer to select from among
these compromises those that will be the most beneficial - or,
stated another way, the least damaging - to the final product.
Although this may seem a rather cynical viewpoint, it is merely
simple pragmatism.
In the end, the choice is between illusion or reality ... you can't
have both.