Week 26: Spatial Sound and Immersive Media (Gareth Mitchell)

Stereo

• We talking about fusing when recording microphones,
• Fusing is when some frequencies can overlap when mixing in stereo
• Gareth showed us some nifty tricks to counteract this in Ableton 12, he talked about going the stereo and spreading out the noise you can counteract fasing, spread out the sound to make it balanced

Sound exercise

Gareth wanted to show us the effect of moving sound to different parts of your head and seeing the feeling you get from different positions. Most people have different hearing in their ears so to was interesting to see how people reacted to it.

It was an interesting experience for me because I got different frequencies in different parts of my ear, I realised that different positions provoke different feelings. Sound from behind for some people can provoke a sense of danger.

The advantages of stereo Neil Youngs Down By The River (2009)

Neil Youngs Down By The River (2009) is a great example of the benefit of stereo panning, the intention was to make different levels of panning for different instruments. I believe this was to create a sense of reality, the layer of sound add depth and make you feel like you are listening to the band live

Stereo can be an amazing medium, you can layer sound into a digital space this is called stereo trance

Cinema

• Many cinemas around the world including IMAX use diffusion to create rich spaced out sound
• Disney Fantasia was the first to bring a audio set up to where the film was being played to create a rich sound source
• Pierre Henry used contemporary diffusion in his gigs, to spread the sound source

Home Cinema 5:1

• This is the calls surround system set up
• Perfect for home viewing in small rooms
• Isn’t overly complex

7:1

• Uses 7 speakers
• more complex and you get a richer sound
• Enhanced immersion and sound stage

Spacial Sound History

Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin 2014. Susan Philipsz

She set up 24 speakers and played a certain scale of music out one speaker at a time, for example all the A chords would come out one speaker. The result was beautiful tones that you could hear and change as you walk around the room. This a great example of specialisation