If a band’s downbeat happens to fall on a stage that is without microphones, will there be a sound? Rhetorical Questions and the Zen of Audio will be the title of my book if I ever get past the opening sentence, but until then, I will just opine about the subjectivity of audio and how we as engineers conceptualize an audio system intended to satisfy the multiple needs and requirements of the band, the venue, the audience and the engineer.
Seeing Sound
Visualizing sound is an important part of an audio engineer’s arsenal of tricks and as the engineer becomes more familiar with the physics and practical application of audio, this type of imaging becomes more focused and developed in the engineer’s mind. This perceptual visualization is not to be confused with synesthesia; a phenomenon in which a sound or tone triggers a visualization of a color for the listener. The imaging in question is more of a 3D visualization of audio. This picturing of sound is nothing new and has been utilized in movies for over 80 years. Footsteps walking away, a stampede of cattle approaching and someone yelling from a distance are all instances of audio imaging that is required to make a movie more realistic, for that is how we hear the world around us.
If we stand near a busy street and close our eyes, we can visualize our environment by our audio perception and how near or far something might be. We can perceive how fast that item might be approaching or moving away from us and we can perceive from which direction the vehicle might be coming or going. Just by listening, we can usually tell the size of many vehicles and whether it’s car, a motorcycle, a small truck, a large truck or an 18-wheeler. If an airplane flies above, we can determine its distance and possible size based upon the sound it generates. As a person becomes accustomed to listening for different sounds, they might become more discerning and even be able to distinguish between models and makes of each vehicle based on the sound it makes.
Bring on the Perspective Changes
As our technology advances and improves, the listening experience is more acute, and engineers, musicians and listeners alike have become more demanding in regard to their audio experience. Although stereo imaging was first demonstrated at the Paris Electrical Exhibition in 1881, the first stereo patent was filed a half-century later — in 1931, by Alan Blumlein. It wasn’t until the late1950s that audiences began to hear stereophonic sound in movie theaters, but because many movie houses were slow to upgrade to a stereo system, most motion pictures were still released in monaural sound, with stereo being reserved for the bigger and more expensive blockbusters of the time. This practice of monaural releases went on until 1975 with the advent of Dolby Stereo. In our present time, it is hard to imagine experiencing certain movies from Pixar Films and The Avengers to the war film The Hurt Locker without 5.1 surround sound.
Starting in 1958, music industry veteran Sidney Frey released the first stereo album titled Johnny Puleo and His Harmonica Gang, on the Audio Fidelity label. After that, many record labels began releasing stereo records, but again, most of the record buying public had monaural playback systems and couldn’t benefit from the new technology. Between 1958 and 1968, record companies still released monophonic records alongside their stereo releases. Stereo sound often meant a hard left/right panning separating vocals from the band and while it is interesting to listen to in retrospect, it does not represent a true stereo imaging of the music played.
In 1967, Pink Floyd demonstrated the first-ever surround system by setting up a quadraphonic (front, back, hard-left, hard-right) system for a concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Fueled by a newly invented joystick created by Bernard Speight of Abbey Road Studios, the band was able to bring an added dimension to live music imaging by sending different sounds around the room to each of the four speakers. I’m aware that in consideration of our current technology, there is not much of a “wow” factor in this revelation, but as a teenager growing up in the psychedelic era of the late-1960s, it was pretty impressive to hear the imaging as parts of the music and sound effects moved around the room.
The Pursuit of Imaging
Fifty years later, our technology has developed to a point where 5.1 surround sound is as common as monophonic records were back in the day, and it is a technology that we have come to expect in our video games and movies. In a live sound situation, imaging can be a little more quixotic depending upon the size of the venue. As might be the case, we often don’t have the luxury of playing in venues where the sound system can be fully utilized and, in smaller venues, stage volume alone can interfere with the imaging of the sound. Fortunately, many bands have moved from stage monitors to in-ear monitors, and while this is helpful in keeping the overall stage volume in check, it still doesn’t alleviate the need of putting a microphone on each instrument.
A band that has given up stage monitors and uses IEMs becomes acclimated to hearing a customized or stereo mix, and while the FOH mix may be a truncated version of the band’s sound, bands still need a good mix in their ears. As audiences have also become accustomed to hearing in high-fidelity, the FOH engineer is required to figure out a way of mixing the band without being overwhelming. So, to give the mix a bit of a technical boost, a little kick drum and maybe a touch of bass is required in the sound system along with the vocals. Unless one is taking a direct signal, the guitars and keys should cut through the mix. The snare and toms are usually loud enough in a small room, but to give the feeling of a full mix, one can send the signal to a reverb and return that reverb to a channel that can be assigned left and right without using the direct signal from the drum.
This is not necessarily a left/right stereo imaging, but one could see this as a vertical way of imaging and enhancing the live mix. And if you are still wondering if there will be a sound if a band’s downbeat happens to fall on a stage that is without microphones, the answer is simple: Not a chance!
