[ARSCLIST] Audio engineers as aural architects

[Barry Blesser <bblesser@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After 5 years of research into auditory spatial awareness, which is
discussed in my book Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural
Architecture, I concluded that many audio engineers actually function as
aural architects designing musical space. Such people create the spatial
experience of listeners, paralleling the role of acoustic architects who
designed concert halls in previous centuries.

While there is an extensive literature on the acoustics of real spaces, and
while there is some consensus on optimal properties of concert halls, there
is very little available knowledge about the analogous role of
audio/sound/mixing engineers. In real spaces, the laws of physics tightly
constrain the parameters of reverberation, while with modern synthesizers
the range for freedom is almost infinite. This requires the mixing engineer
to have a model of what is good and what is bad. Although still primitive,
that language of musical spaces allows the model to be communicated.

Another issues that I neglected to explore is the lack of spatial acoustics
in older recording using close placed microphones or acoustic horns. In such
cases, there is no spatial acoustics, and the resulting music sounds flat
and remote. When restoring or listening to these classics recordings, should
reverberation be added so that the listening experience corresponds to what
the audience would have heard?

Information about the book is available at the MIT Press web site:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10947 or you
can email me to request a copy of the Introduction and Table of Contents.

I would welcome any discussion with those audio engineers who function as
aural architects in order to understand their spatial model. I regret not
having engage in an open dialog before having published the results.

With Appreciation,
Barry Blesser
bblesser@xxxxxxxxxxxx