At 1:03 PM -0500 2/22/05, Walter Knapp wrote:
>From: Rob Danielson <>
>
>>
>> At 10:31 PM -0800 2/21/05, Ken Durling wrote:
>>
>>>>At 08:44 PM 2/21/2005, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>><snip>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>>>Here's one example. I made a stereo recording with 21" spaced omnis
>>>>>>of a large flock of seagulls circling above me about 10-75' feet for
>>>>>>about 3 minutes. Listening at home, I noticed that my ability to
>>>>>>track the bird motions in stereo was limited to 2, at most 3 birds at
>>>>>>a time even though 10 or more were calling in flight at any given
>>>>>>moment. My attention seemed geared to pick out only the closer moving
>>>>>>birds with the rest of the birds becoming a stationary background
>>>>>>plane in my mind. I would guess that the further away the birds, the
>>>>>>more difficult it would be to articulate their motion.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Interesting - might it not have been more discernible with directional
>>>>mics? I haven't done much with this, but accurate imaging requires car=
eful
>>>>phase control too, as I understand it.
>>
>>
>> As per your interest in portraying many birds in motion, its possible
>> there are limits as to how many objects one can perceive as being in
>> motion at once within a stereo or guad field.
>
>This is a fairly well known characteristic of our hearing. We tend to
>filter out or merge most sound into the background and focus on a
>limited number of sounds at a time. We may shift from sound to sound
>doing this, or follow a single set of sounds. Our ability to filter
>sounds far exceeds what we can do with computers.
>
>I'll point out the book "Ecological Psychoacoustics" as being a good one
>on current thinking on the subject. There is a merging of lab
>psychoacoustics with the more outdoor studies of hearing going on. The
>lab predictions often fail when confronted with real life hearing
>situations.
>
>You are probably fighting a uphill battle trying to get your listener's
>to lock into the whole. Locking into some birds while having a swirling
>background of more birds is more likely.
>
>Walt
>
>
Thanks for the reference Walt. I read the intro chapter pdf. I wonder
why humans are so reluctant to lean on their listening abilities?
Cautiously venturing out from labs and sine tones to real spaces.
I noticed something today I hadn't experienced before: I recognized
the imprint of a location on a sound. I called out to my neighbor
and my voice slapped back from the houses across the street.
Instantaneously, I recalled a recording I made from that spot of a
woman raking leaves in the Fall three years ago. When her bamboo
rake brushed the concrete driveway, it made a loud scratch that
bounced off of the same two buildings. I incorporated the raking
recording into a mix so I probably played it over and over for a day
or so years ago. Not surprising, but its the first time I've sensed
this.
The idea of swirling the background is a great one and doable in
surround. In my listening to the gull recording, I could lock onto 2
,at most 3 birds and track their motion, but I knew the situation.
Rob D.
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