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Is Sound Stage an artifact of recording?

Yesterday had the opportunity to hear a fine chamber music concert featuring musicians from the NY Philharmonic in a small modern chapel with a slightly domed wooden roof. We sat about 15-20 feet from the musicians. The all acoustic sound was excellent. The Schubert Trout piano quintet  and Brahms piano quartet in G were the program. Afterwards while de-briefing at dinner with an audiophile friend who went with me and our wives, he made the point that despite the excellent acoustics and premier seating he could not close his eyes and see a "sound stage" during the concert. I had noticed the same thing. The locations of the instruments were diffuse. You could not pinpoint the location of the violin as you might expect you could on a good recording of the same work! We agreed that this was not the first time we had noticed this about live music. So I put the question to learned assembly here on Audiogon. Is sound stage something that is invented or perhaps just an artifact of the recording process to help us get the illusion of real musicians playing in front of us. Responses from those of you who have made recordings will be particularly appreciated.

bruce19
mahler123
3,991 posts
 

Comparing live versus recorded sound is only meaningful for unamplified music.  The typical amplified concert manipulates the sound .

  Not all concert venues were designed with an acoustics as the primary consideration.  The OP describes a chapel.  Places of worship may not have taken into account how well they might project any music except choir and organ.  A Piano Quartet is a very different kind of ensemble..

  Recordings tend to spotlight certain instruments.  Compare the sound of a violin in a concerto on a recording versus what it actually sounds like in most concerts.  The typical recording makes it sound much louder than the concert experience 

kevn's avatar
kevn
240 posts
 

@lanx0003  - my reading of ghdprentice’s post was that the basic two mic stereophonic recording is the foundation of any and every recorded soundfield - he did mention close mics for each instrument that locates each performer in that soundfield in ‘body and mind’. No soundfield is an artifact of a recording. 
 

In friendship - kevin

bruce19 OP
347 posts
 

@sparksgja  @trivema  Nice article and good comment. I've got new respect for mono.

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,403 posts
 

Sorry I wasn't clear. Some of the very best recordings of symphonic music are done with two microphones only, as well as a bunch in the late 1950's and 1960's jazz. 

I moved on to a recording that is not either of those and want to recommend the recording of Joe Jackson that captures the best of ambience and instrumentation. Body and Soul. 

elliottbnewcombjr
7,701 posts
 

Live Amplified Show, Large Auditorium: Horrible, we moved, GREAT.

We got free tickets to Willie Nelson at the State Theater, New Brunswick, Nj.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FFSTMN5w_7M

Tickets in our name at the box office, we didn’t know they were way way up, and way way back, the sound was the worst EVER!

between sets, I grabbed Donna, went down to the floor, saw a few empty seats right in front of the sound board, acted like I owned the place, sat down, wow, the sound was awesome.

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