Art And Science Of Surround Sound
Dear Gary: I enjoyed your evaluation of the NARAS recommendations for surround sound production in Widescreen Review Issue 90. I agree that there should be an optimized standard set of conditions to record audio, and then we, as consumers, can strive toward that optimized standard. There is one further standard that has to be addressed––the ability of the recording guru to hear properly. If their hearing is not optimized, it will be impossible for them to generate a properly adjusted mix. As you noted in an earlier edition when you tried on a set of Stax earspeakers using Smyth Virtual Surround processing, the headphones were optimized for you. Perhaps the optimized standard should include ear tests for the recording artist, and their hearing should be corrected before they are allowed to do the mixing. We would not allow someone with uncorrected vision to focus our projectors; and the standard for audio should require someone with corrected hearing to do the mixing. Thanks for your excellent magazine, I'm glad to be a subscriber.
Larry Frederick
mailto:rederick_llarry@hotmail.com
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
Thank you for reading my lengthy critique. I am continuing my mission to bring about a new surround sound standard whose end result is a seamless, 360° holosonic™ spherical surround™ imaging-focused and imaging-specific-capable soundfield. The ability to hear properly throughout the human hearing range is, of course, expected of a recording engineer. In practice, there are numerous people who “certify” mixes, at least studio mixes, before they are ever released. I think the quality of the recording gear and the recording setup and environment are much more critical concerns during recording, mixing, and mastering.
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