The Art of Recording Chapter 2 The Artistic Elements of Recording Production

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The stage-to-listener distance establishes the location of the sound stage with respect to the listener. It is the distance between the grouped sources that comprise the sound stage and the audience. This stage-to-listener distance is the placement of the sound stage within the overall environment of the recording, in relation to the perceived location of the listener.

The depth of sound stage is an area occupied by the distance of each sound source relative to one another. The boundaries of the depth of the sound stage are the perceived nearest and the perceived furthest sound sources. The perceived distances of sound sources within the sound stage may be extreme.

The two factors of distance cues interact. The depth of the sound stage is perceived in the context of the stage-to-listener distance; the listener is prone to placing the nearest sound source at the nearest location of the stage-to-listener distance. Conversely, the perceived distance of each sound source relative to the listener can cause a shift in the perceived stage-to-listener distance; especially in multi-track recordings that incorporate dramatic reverberation techniques.

These two factors of distance cues have different levels of importance in different contexts. Depth of sound stage cues tend to be emphasized over stage-to-listener distance cues in many recordings; the cues of the distance of the source from the listener are often exploited to support dramatic and musical ideas. As another example, stage-to-listener distance cues are carefully calculated in many art music recordings (especially those utilizing standardized stereo microphone techniques); while the distance might not change within the recording, the stage-to-listener distance is carefully selected to represent the most appropriate vantage point (the ideal seat) from which the music is to be heard.

The matching of a sound source to the sound characteristics of an environment in which it will sound, and the selection of the environment of the sound stage (the perceived performance environment) have become important parts of music recording. This coupling of source to environmental characteristics has the potential to have a significant impact on the meaning of the music, of the text, or of the sound source; to supply dramatic effect; to segregate sound sources, musical ideas, or groups of instruments; to enhance the function and effectiveness of a musical idea.

The sound characteristics of the host environments of sound sources and the complete sound stage are precisely controllable. Each sound source has the potential to be assigned environmental characteristics that are different from the other sound sources. The recording process allows for the assigning of different environments to different sound sources, and for widely varying those characteristics as desired. Further, each source may occupy any distance from the listener within the applied host environment.

The environment of the sound stage and individual environments for each sound source (or groups of sound sources) often co-exist in the same music recording. This musical context places the individual sound sources with their individual environments "within" the overall environment of the recording. The result is a perception:

(1) that physical spaces may exist side-by-side,
(2) that one physical space may exist within another physical space (to the point where a larger physical space may be perceived to exist within a smaller physical space), and
(3) that sounds may exist at various distances within the same or different host environments, within other environments (causing conflicting distance cues between sources and environments). The result is the illusion of space within space.

Any number of environments and associated stage-depth distance cues may occur simultaneously, and coexist within the same sound stage. The environments and associated distances are conceptually bound by the spatial impression of the perceived performance environment. These "outer walls" of the overall program establish a reference (subconsciously, if not aurally) for the comparison of the sound sources. Oddly, the overall space that serves as a reference, and that is perceived by the listener as being the space within which the other activities occur, might have the sound characteristics of a physical environment significantly smaller than the spaces of the sound sources it appears to contain. Such cues that send conflicting messages between our life experiences and the perceived musical occurrence can be used to great artistic advantage. This is a very common space within space relationship.

Space within space will at times be coupled with distance cues to accentuate the different environments (spaces) of the sound sources. Often, this illusion will be created solely by the environmental characteristics of the different spaces of each sound source.

Space within space has become an important element in shaping the imaging of a recording. Often, imaging will work in a complementary and contrasting fashion with musical balance. Recordings are often quite sophisticated in the interaction of these two artistic elements.

With the recording process, it is possible for any of the artistic elements of sound to be varied in considerable detail. In so doing, all artistic elements can be shaped for artistic purposes, or used as resources for artistic expression. As all elements of sound are capable of an equal amount of variation, it is possible for each element of sound to function in any role in communicating the message of a piece of music.

The artistic elements are used in very traditional roles in certain musical works and types of recording productions, and in very new ways in other works. The new ways the artistic elements are used tends to place more emphasis on the artistic elements of sound that can not be precisely controlled acoustically. Many new musical compositions use the artistic elements unique to audio recording (especially sound quality and spatial properties) to support the musical material. Different musical relationships and sound properties exist in audio recordings than can found in the music conceived before the artistic resources of recording technology existed.

The potentials of the artistic elements to convey the musical message, the musical message itself, and the characteristics and limitations of the listener are explored in the next chapter.