Re: [LAU] How is the bass mixed? Per-channel frequency analysis? Histogram?

On Thu, 6 Feb 2014, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:

> I always thought it was because a) low frequencies are hard to localise,
> so panning them wildly left and right won't really do much...

Many home sound systems today simply sum the bass energy from both
channels into a single subwoofer anyway. It doesn't matter where in the
room the subwoofer is located, because our ears are too close together to
detect a phase difference at those frequencies.

  I do live sound in a venue with an installed sound system. We have two
large subwoofers, fed in phase from a single source. The problem is that
the two boxes are hung from the ceiling 30 feet apart. Two point sources
that widely spaced give us interference fringes all across the room. You
can walk slowly across the room and hear the bass come in and disappear
with every step. I simply turn off the amp for one of the subs, and no
one is the wiser, and everyone is happier.

   So defy convention if you like, and mix the bass wherever you like, but
please forgive those of us with real-world transducers, where more often
than not it's summed to mono before presentation anyway!

I had heard the story about phonograph needles jumping out of the track.
It made sense to me. On a stereo phonograph record, in-phase energy (L+R)
is represented as side-to-side motion of the needle, and out-of-phase
energy(L-R) is up and down motion. It can also be thought of as the left
channel is recorded on one side of the groove(at a 45deg angle), and the
right channel on the other side. It seemed plausible that a kick drum
panned all the way to one side or the other might send the needle into the
adjacent groove.

-- 
Rick Green
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