Hi Matt
It's good to have new perspectives -- so please no apologies for barging in=
.
Thanks for the link to your webpage and sound clips. I like the way you in=
troduce the natural soundscape recording subject and set it aside from othe=
r music with your statements like, ""Ambience" in music recording has to do=
mainly with capturing the effect of the subject against the space," and al=
so "Instead, they're usually aiming to limit the "recording angle" to the s=
lice where the music is coming from and to reduce the effects of everything=
else." That is all so true.
And while your own statement about natural soundscape recording, "the envir=
onment is the subject," is also true, I must remind you we only ever record=
a mere slice of this environment. It has been pointed out many times on t=
his group, and most notably by our masterful soundscape recordist Bernie Kr=
ause, that natural soundscape recording is, as with all art, all about crea=
ting illusions.
In this respect, I view all my own natural soundscape recordings as mere sl=
ices of much greater concepts. The goal is for this data to be interpreted =
through human minds, so what is important is not how real or comprehensive =
the recording is, but how meaningful the recording sounds to the listener. =
By simplifying the views, slices, or spheres down to meaningful expression=
s for human perception, I can increase the perceived depth and width and re=
levance of the soundscapes I am trying to portray.
In your first example, "Institute Woods," I think the ms sounds best, becau=
se the frontal focus limits the otherwise confining character of the ambien=
t water sounds.
In your second example, "Freight Train" the Jecklin sounds best because wid=
th is as important as depth to bring meaning to a passing train.
In the third example "San Francisco Bay" I think the ms sounds best, becaus=
e it sounds less cluttered than the other two examples.
Your comparisons enlighten listeners to some basic differences between diff=
erent mics and micing techniques, but what is missing is that each techniqu=
e usually takes a unique approach =96 meaning given the same general locati=
on, one configuration will sound best placed here and another will sound be=
st placed over there. Very seldom will one precise location and orientati=
on be ideal for three separate techniques.
John Hartog
--- In "Matt Blaze" <> wrote:
>
> First of all, please forgive me for barging in; I've long enjoyed and
> learned a lot from from this terrific list, but have only rarely
> actually posted here.
>
> Anyway, one of the challenges for me in learning to record good
> stereo images of outdoor soundscapes has been the relative lack of
> controlled examples of different miking techniques recorded
> simultaneously from the same position. There are some amazing
> outdoor nature recordings available here and elsewhere, but people
> tend to distribute only their best results, and keep to themselves
> the duds recorded along the way. For the listener, that's surely for
> the best, of course, but it means that there are lamentably few
> examples of the same sources recorded simultaneously with different
> (and documented) techniques from which to learn and compare.
>
> So I've slowly been experimenting with different techniques by
> making simultaneous recordings in different outdoor environments and
> of different kinds of subjects. The effort is paying off well for
> me, and perhaps others can benefit from my failures (and occasional
> successes). So I've collected and posted a few examples on a web
> page, which I will try to update with new recordings from time to
> time. Most of the recordings are decidedly unspectacular,
> intended primarily to expose the similarities and differences of
> the images produced by different mic configurations when used
> outdoors. Mostly, through, I hope to encourage others to do the
> same; my individual effort is really quite pale in the grand
> scheme of things, limited as it is by my talent, equipment, and
> rapidly diminishing inclination to carry lots of stuff with me.
>
> My sample clips, for what they're worth, can be found at
> http://www.crypto.com/audio/soundscapes/ .
>
> -matt
>
> mab blogs at http://www.crypto.com/blog/
>
|