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All information in these pages is copyright (c) 1989-2003 by Roger Nichols. All rights reserved. Permission for personal reference only, and may not be reproduced by any method without written permission.
It’s All An Illusion
by Roger Nichols
You think that I wrote this column based on original thoughts I have had during
the last month. I thought I did too, but if you look closely, every word on
this page has been used somewhere else before. Except for Antidisestablishmentarianism,
every word can probably be found in this very issue. Every note has been played,
every thought has been thought, except maybe the thing about the Barbie Doll
dresses and the chickens, but maybe you should check Dave Frangioni’s
column.
Arrangement and perception are the difference. How I arrange the words on
this page, or how I arrange the instruments in a mix are all that sets me
or you apart from everyone else. How you perceive the balances when mixing
is what makes your mix of the same material different from mine.
Perception is the sum of the information received by the senses modified by
an emotional feeling. The sensory inputs triggers and emotional response.
With taste, for Instance, the emotional response is modified and enhanced
by smell. In humans taste and smell are non directional, so the two “mono”
sensory input adds the additional information to fill a two dimensional matrix
of information.
The eyes are three-dimensional sensors. From one eye you get two-dimensional
information that is augmented by the view from the second eye to produce the
three spatial dimensions and the fourth color “dimension” of sight.
The ears are three-dimensional sensors, relying on time domain and phase interference
fringes to build a three-dimensional model of our acoustic surroundings. The
“fourth” dimension of hearing is frequency or pitch information.
Both the eyes and ears can be fooled, or tricked into seeing or hearing something
that is not really there. Movies and television are a perfect example. A movie
is a series of still pictures taken of a moving object projected back at the
same speed so that the brain interprets the scene as the moving original.
If we play it back faster the object appears to move faster. Animated films
consist of objects that were never originally moving. Still pictures are drawn
and then played back rapidly to simulate motion.
Ears can be fooled too. With phase manipulation a mono sound can be perceived
to be a large three-dimensional object. A drumbeat can be moved in time so
that the “feel” of the pattern if different for the listener. The
pitch of a note can be changed so that the listener thinks that it was performed
in tune.
With surround sound, instruments can be placed in a three dimensional sound
field that was completely different from where the instrument was located
when it was played originally. When stereo recordings became commercially
available in the late 50’s it took a while for the artists to figure
out how to use the new dimension in a pleasing way. Now we have surround sound
that is going through the same growing pains. It is going to take experience
with the format before things settle in to a format that is pleasant to listen
to more times than not.
I heard one surround recording of a live concert recently that sounded exactly
like the stereo mix, but there was something coming from the rear speakers.
I soloed the rear speakers and heard the leakage from the on stage monitors,
but I also heard people talking and walking around and opening beer cans.
They just placed a couple of mics in the audience on the lawn, fed it to the
back speakers and put the stereo mix of the concert in the front speakers.
After I knew what was going on, it did feel like I was really at the concert.
I could almost smell the stale beer and hot dogs.
Future Audio
There is now proof that the way we hear is digital, not analog… well,
the eardrum is analog, but when the analog signal reaches the auditory canal,
each of the 18,000 cilia is sensitive to a single frequency. When the cilia
are excited by its resonant frequency it sends a chain of pulses, the spacing
of which is proportional to the level of the exciting frequency. As we learn
more about the actual mechanism of perceptual hearing, we are going to be
able to produce more auditory illusions than ever before. We will easily be
able to place sounds up and down from the plane of the speakers. I can already
visualize devices that will stimulate the hearing centers on the digital side
of the cilia. The sound of crackling bacon so good you can taste it.
Grammy Rambling
As I write this column, I am on my way to the Grammys. Steely Dan is nominated
for three Grammys, and I am nominated for two. Just about the time I think
about bailing on the music business and becoming a helicopter tour pilot on
a South Pacific Island, I get nominated for something. For me it makes all
of the extra hours and hard work worth it. Sticking with something for 30
years has its rewards. Trying your best to do a good job has its rewards.
The best part of the Grammys is taking my daughters. “Wow Dad, you are
kind of cool after all. What do you do again?” The Grammys is a good
excuse to let people know that I actually do own a tuxedo and that drop-dead
gorgeous blonde I have been seen with at other Grammys really is my wife.
It also feels good to know that your peers think that you can still record
a great song or mix a good sounding record.
I got to take my mother to the Grammys once before she passed away. I won
that year. I was producing John Denver, who was the host that year. John gave
my mom and dad a ride to the party in his limo. They didn’t stop grinning
for months. Life is good.
Wow, two paragraphs without a joke or bad pun! I must be slipping.
Master Class
I am branching out. I am working on an instructional DVD about recording and
mixing, putting together a Web based recording class, and hosting a Master
Class once every three months in Miami at Audio-One, the Southern Region Pro
Tools Training Center. The first two classes were filled up within 1 week
of the announcement. The May classes are filling up fast and all of the attendees
had a great time.
The focus on this class is mixing. Tips and techniques I have learned over
the years and secrets that I have never told anyone. I write the secret down
on a piece of paper and make them eat it before reading it. One student said
my methods were a little hard to digest. Each participant uses a Pro Tools
24|Mix Plus system in the class. There are Pro Tools experts there to help
for those who mix in other formats.
Forums
For those of you who have not checked it out yet, a few of us engineers have
a forum sponsored by EQ and www.musicplayer.com. “Com” on by and
check it out (get it?) For those of you interested in the new Sony DMX-R100
digital console, check out Howard Massey’s forum at www.dmxr100forum.com.
I can be seen lurking there sometimes. Ta ta for now.