[bjackson]

Why are all of the specs X.Y (i.e 5.1, 7.1, etc). Instead would it be possible to create a system where the audio engineer could mearly say "I want a sound that is 40 degree up from listening, and 10 degrees to the right", and the closest speakers take care of it, that way you are limited only by your speaker and amplifier budget, and you could have true 360 degrees of surround sound, with small high quality speakers surrounding you in every direction


I also thought about multiple subwoofers having different channels, such as if someone was firing a cannon behind you. I know bass isn't that localizable, but I can tell the difference between in the sub is behind or infront of me. I know that this would cause horrible phasing issues if both were going, but couldn't that be taken care of in the processor too?


Just something I think about a lot.

 

[speco2003]

I think it would have more to do with the encoding of the sound you were playing, this can all be done but is very expensive. In the current show I am working on right now, we use something called LCS which has a program called spacemap, that allows us to pan things all over the space to anyone of the many speakers in the theatre, so a bumble bee could wizz all over the place. But its very expensive and when you start doing multiple sources and sounds its very complicated. To do this in the home right now would be very expensive, but I bet the day is coming when we will all be able to do it.

 

[bpape]

Not to mention the fact that in most residential rooms, people have a hard enough time getting 5.1 speakers in the proper places without cancellation and reinforcment issues. Can you imaging the problems with getting say 10-12 speakers in the right place, maintaining walkways, door issues, seating issues, etc.

 

[DMF]

speco, I was convinced that Led Zep did something similar to this in their Physical Grafitti tour. (1975) ('Course, it might have had something to do with my blood chemistry that evening.) Nothing really discrete like the bumble bee. More with the overall image, as if they were playing with the pan motif that was used on the old 'Whole Lot of Love' cut. (They also did some incredible work with the lasers, projecting what appeared to be a holographic image of live stage in the smoke around the stage. I've never seen anything like it elsewhere.)


Any idea if the analog version of the spatial effects was available at that time?

 

[11001011]

Quote:

Originally posted by DMF speco, I was convinced that Led Zep did something similar to this in their Physical Grafitti tour. (1975) ('Course, it might have had something to do with my blood chemistry that evening.)

Quote:

Originally posted by DMF Any idea if the analog version of the spatial effects was available at that time? [/b]

They could have been doing it manually at the board.


Anyway I saw Pink Floyd in the mid 80's. I remember their live show was in Quadraphonic. They actually placed large speaker arrays up in the 300 level of the Kingdome (Seattle). It was defiantly a good effect even for such a large stadium with terrible acoustics. But I was also up in the 300 level and had speakers pretty much right behind me, but I could indeed hear the sound rushing around the dome during a few songs.


I also remember listening to an interview with the effects coordinator of that tour and he was explaining that they acutely take a big pail of water and floated a vane in it, and set it in the center of the Kingdome while testing the setup. He said you could see the vane move and point away from the source just like a wind vane when the sound came from only one direction. Now thats some power

 

[speco2003]

Quote:

Originally posted by DMF speco, I was convinced that Led Zep did something similar to this in their Physical Grafitti tour. (1975) ('Course, it might have had something to do with my blood chemistry that evening.) Nothing really discrete like the bumble bee. More with the overall image, as if they were playing with the pan motif that was used on the old 'Whole Lot of Love' cut. (They also did some incredible work with the lasers, projecting what appeared to be a holographic image of live stage in the smoke around the stage. I've never seen anything like it elsewhere.) Any idea if the analog version of the spatial effects was available at that time?

That may have been just the doplar effect of that. We have a Large jet pass over head and around the theatre but its the same sound for both and we fool the designer with it. He thought it was discreet, but its just a mono file playing thru all speakers that sounds like a jet pasing by, but the Doplar effect makes it seem discreet.

Floyd did di a surround thing as did I think Roger Waters a few years ago. They are hard to do and expensive. Once we open the show here in April 28 I will be able to divulge more of what we are doing, but we are under contract to keep somewhat silent til then.