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Pro Studio
Edition e-Newsletter
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| Stereo
Tips from Bruce Swedien |
 Five-time
Grammy®-winner Bruce Swedien shares his ideas on recording.
How do you view the idea of stereo and stereo
image?
Stereophonic sound is a reproduction system consisting of two or more
microphones placed in front of a sound pickup area, recorded on two
or more channels of a recording device and played back on two or more
loudspeakers placed in front of a listening area. It produces a sound
pattern that our hearing interprets as indicating direction and depth
of sound field in the area between the speakers.
In most cases, accurate localization is the goal of a stereo image.
If I were recording a large orchestra, the sound of the players in
the middle of the orchestra should appear to come from the space in
the middle, between the speakers in the playback system. This is what
I call an "unaltered acoustical event," where our audio imagination
is largely eliminated from the recording technique and we simply attempt
to recreate an actual acoustic event. Of course, in modern recording
that may not be the case.
In mixing a recording to create a stereo image, the tracks are not
necessarily all stereo. Although I use stereo miking techniques in
some unexpected places, most of us find that with lead or solo voices
it doesn't work very well. That's where mono is a dramatic tool. It
can be placed exactly where you want it in the stereo image.
While these basics seem obvious, many people don't use these concepts
when they record. I'm bothered by the number of albums recorded as
what I would call "two-channel mono." Some people seem to define stereophonic
as "something coming out of the left speaker and something different
coming out of the right." This has nothing to do with the reproduction
of music.
How do you achieve depth or that third dimension in a stereo image?
Depth perception in a recording is the result of a combination of
values, including the ratio of direct to reverberant sound, the intensity
of a sound source relative to others in the same field, and even EQ,
especially in the presence area of about 1.5 kHz to, say, 5 kHz.
Probably the most important factor in creating a feeling of depth
is the change in the ratio of direct to reverberant sound. As reverberant
energy becomes more prominent the source appears to move back.
The absence of early reflections in a sound source makes it seem much
closer. As you change the quality of early reflections in a sound
they greatly affect the depth of field. These reflections are generally
less than 40 millisecondsonce they're longer than that, the ear
can pick them out as individual reflections, and below 40 milliseconds
they tend to smear into one sound. That is why intelligent use of
pre-delay with reverb devices can give a tremendous feeling of depth
of field.
Here's an example of how I use early reflections to create both presence
and depth of field in recording Michael Jackson: First, I'll record
a monophonic melody track with Michael fairly close to the microphone.
Then I'll have him double the same track at the same position at the
mic. Next, I'll have him step back two paces and record a third pass
of the same melody with the gain raised to match the level of the
previous two. That raises the ratio of early reflections to direct
sound. Blended with the first two tracks, this has a wonderful effect.
Finally, I might even have him step back further and record a stereo
pass of the same line using an X-Y pair setup and blend that track
in as well. You can hear the effect for yourself on a song like "Man
in the Mirror" on the Bad album.
This technique tricks the ear into perceiving a depth of field that
isn't really there, through the addition of early reflections. (If
I'm using any reverb on that vocal, I'll make sure that the pre-delay
doesn't smear those early reflections.)
Next issue, Swedien will talk more about
recording vocals and keyboards. |
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