Re: [linux-audio-dev] Hi, is it possible to record multi channel speech audio and down sample it 2 stereo channels BUT with horizontal audio positioning of each audio channel ie. like dolby surround effect. I'm not looking to make multi channel podcast, just a plain stere

Hi Valent,

On Tue, 2007-03-13 at 10:15 +0100, Valent Turkovic wrote:
> Hi,
> is it possible to record multi channel speech audio and down sample it
> 2 stereo channels BUT with horizontal audio positioning of each audio
> channel ie. like dolby surround effect.

Please bare in mind that for your (podcasting) application mono
compatibility is everything. Don't use fancy stereo effects which too
easily lend themselves to phase cancellations during mono playback.

I say that because too often people forget about that. Guess how many
kitchen radios exist out there or how many people are listening to a
piece from the next room and so on.

Basically you want to use only a few effects like panning or a small
portion of room reverb in order to simulate run-time differences. (I
used that trick, too for wetting a too "intimate" voice over)

If possible don't rely on phase shifting effects (as are most
psycho-acoustic effects) for the sake of mono compatibility.

But don't limit yourself to effect processing either. Be creative when
it comes to recording. You could use a stereo microphone setup and place
it different for every narrator.

If you begin with mono tracks you could play them back through any PA
and record it with a stereo mic pair. Lot's of possibilities there.
Think of what you had done if all you had was a 2-track tape deck.

As a last thought think about the typical playback setup of your
listeners. Most fancy stereo effects either work through a well-adjusted
speaker setup or through headphones only. Only a few are compatible with
both.

To start with have a look at Wikipedia. They have a pretty good section
about audio engineering which covers a lot of topics including
sterophony. (At least the German edition does)

Yours sincerely,
Dennis Schulmeister

-- 
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