Outer Rim Territories

Surround Sound for Music?

 Largely, the experts on this terrific podcast agree: music in surround can work… but it must be conceived in surround. Too often music is composed in stereo (two speakers) then jiggered into 4 or 6 speakers. The net result is vacuous and unintentional. The future of music in surround is download. Unfortunately few consumer interfaces can encourage this, not offering a multichannel output except lossy DTS or Dolby Digital. On the other hand, physical media players (Bluray) can accomodate high-resolution multichannel via both analog and digital outputs. 

The real issue is basically ignored in the podcast. Music is not intentionally listened to but serves a function of background noise or ambiance. I'm not disputing the usefulness of some music as creating positive sonic atmosphere. But much of the serious music composition is intended for listening and contemplation.  That said, the background music task does not need surround. I'm encouraged by efforts like the Flaming Lips and Porcupine Tree to experiment with composing music for surround. We have a long way to go. If the topic suits your fancy, I encourage you to: listen to the podcast courtesy B&W. If not, here's a brief sample of the opinions expressed.

Bowers & Wilkins has hosted the latest in its series of sound debates at London’s Strongroom studios. This time the hot topic was surround sound, and how it compared to stereo. The round-table discussion was hosted by Martyn Ware, himself an advocate of multichannel audio through his company Illustrious, which uses three-dimensional sound imaging techniques and technologies to provide immersive sound environments. We expected there to be multiple opinions on a sound topic as contentious as surround sound and our panel of experts didn’t disappoint.   Martyn Ware (Musical innovator and sound artist) “Stereo is a particularly ubiquitous format, which works for most situations. But it is far from impressive when you compare it with an equivalent that is deliberately mixed in surround.” Dominic Dawes (Deputy editor of What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision) “Surround sound has very much succeeded in making people feel like they are in the cinema… I don’t know what it has really done beyond that for the average punter” Andy Walter (Surround sound mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios) “The band are in front of you across three speakers. Bono is in the centre and you have The Edge and everything going on. But behind there is the ambience of being there at a gig with 80,000 people… it’s stereo plus!” David Price (Editor of Hi-Fi World) “Why is Michael Stipe behind me on the left, and Peter Buck is on the right in front? It is inconsistent and confusing.” John Bamford (Deputy editor of Hi-Fi News) "If I won the lottery and I had a magnificent listening room where you want to imagine the pianist is in the room with you… it has to be multichannel… it is the only way to do it.”

photo credit: Sklathill