How is soundstage created?

[Joey_V]

How do they create the soundstage initially when the artists are recording the music?

I know it has something to do with microphones and positioning, but if someone knows more detail - share please!

Thanks!

 

[roberto]

How do they create the soundstage initially when the artists are recording the music?

I know it has something to do with microphones and positioning, but if someone knows more detail - share please!

Thanks!

There are many ways of how to re-create the scenario, and of course, the setting of the mics are very important. The feeling of how to set them up, is the recording engineer responsability and that is why there are many great sounding recordings with less electronics and others that have all what it is needed to make them right, sounds real bad. The echoes at the theater or the place where the artist is performing make the size of the stage. The mics should capture this also. There are tricks, adding reverb. to soft the voice or any lead instrument, but again, depends a lot of the recording eng.ears and taste. If you have music dvds, where the artist is performing, look for the mics...there are now a very tinny digital mics with great resolution...and the sound stage depends of the controls at the audio console where the mics. are connected. The truth is, some have made great recordings and presents to us such performance. The speakers and your system must have the hability to reproduce such event, even that it is made with the recording eng. taste. This is why some are great and others you have to put it in the basket. With ML, to have the scenario is easier because they are truly di-polar, not bi-polar. Also we use our back wall to have some delay of the music, making us to feel and have better the image and scenario. The ML panels reproduce to the forward, the positive transients and to the back, the negative ones, like a live musical instrument. This feature helps to re-create the ambience with and the right image and scenario. They must disappear and you should listen the musicians performing in front of you. If you have ping-pong notes of a piano, as an example, from left to right, there is something wrong in the settings or you have to work more with their placement...hope this can help! and happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[risabet]

Simpler is better!

One might argue that the goal of the recording engineer is to capture the soundstage created by the musicians, unamplified musicians only please, as opposed to creating a soundstage as is done with most popular, amplified, music, which is at best multiple mono mixed to "stereo" and giving the appearance, sometimes amazingly credibly, of an actual soundstage. IMO, the best recordings of an actual soundstage are those that utilize the minimal number of microphones (two or three), properly placed, to capture both the direct sound of the instruments and the surrounding acoustic environment. Shades of the "Golden Age" of Stereo.

 

[Steve]

imaging, sound stage, and room design

...With ML, to have the scenario is easier because they are truly di-polar, not bi-polar. Also we use our back wall to have some delay of the music, making us to feel and have better the image and scenario. The ML panels reproduce to the forward, the positive transients and to the back, the negative ones, like a live musical instrument. This feature helps to re-create the ambience with and the right image and scenario. They must disappear and you should listen the musicians performing in front of you. If you have ping-pong notes of a piano, as an example, from left to right, there is something wrong in the settings or you have to work more with their placement...hope this can help! and happy listening,
Roberto.[/QUOTE]

I have a question about this statement. In my investigations of room treatments, the emphsis seems to be on killing any reflections off the back wall and side walls. But the statement above seems to imply that this is where the image and scenario is coming from on ML speakers. Am I missing something here? (not questioning you Roberto, just a confused neophyte
asking a question)

The reason I ask is because I am about to build a house and have the rare opportunity to optimize my listening environment. I have a rectangular room where I will be setting up my ML's. The speakers will be on the short wall, with generous air space from the back and side walls. I need to figure out how to treat the room to maximize the sound. My current thoughts are sound absorbing behind the speakers and at the first reflection point on the sides, and a difuser on the back wall. I am also considering a slight angle (achieved with staggered studs) on the side walls, similar to that amazing audio room someone posted earlier.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions greatly appreciated! (btw, I'm making my way through the many links in the other post regarding room design)

 

[DTB300]

I have a question about this statement. In my investigations of room treatments, the emphsis seems to be on killing any reflections off the back wall and side walls. But the statement above seems to imply that this is where the image and scenario is coming from on ML speakers. Am I missing something here? (not questioning you Roberto, just a confused neophyte
asking a question)

Some people here used absorption on their walls, some people have used diffraction on their walls, just as you stated. Each has their own sonic characteristic and each room is different on what you need or do not need. If you are having a new room done, hopefully the people constructing can help with the design to optimize the room. There are companies out there that can assist with this.

There was a thread just recently here where I posted a bunch of links to sites and people who deal with just such a thing.

Dan