> > What about all the talk of analog summing that was going on here > > not so > > long ago? > > Air is still the best medium for summing signals. > > I have a bank of 128 Genelec 1031 speakers arranged in two > hemispheres with an acoustic baffle between the two and an omni mic > at the centre of each hemisphere. I run the signals out to the > speakers, and collect the results at the mics and bring those signals > back in. This is _way_ better than analogue summing, and provides > much more detailed and articulate imaging, and a sound that is just > not possible in digital mixing. > > Of course, the distance of the speakers also effects the sound > quality and the degree to which the air mixes the signal well, so I > have played around with various distances. I find a radius of 20 > feet to be just about perfect (this is all in a 200'x200' underground > volcanic cavern whose walls have been smoothed and acoustically > deadened especially for this purpose). Distance between the two > hemispheres also effects imaging, so they are spaced 70' apart, and > of course the baffle between them is made of tempur-covered > insulation atop a carbon-fibre substrate that covers a 6" thick layer > of sandwiched teak micro-layers (each about 1/32" thick) bound > together with a special wood epoxy made of milkweed sap, the moss > from brazillian ironwood bark and endangered tree frog excrement. > > We've also played around with the use of various other gasmixtures > (other than air) for the transmission of sound waves, and while some > have interesting effects on the sound, nothing beats air. Besides, > our experiments with a mixture of chlorine gas and helium resulted in > the death of two of the assistant engineers, poor fellows... > > We're still designing the surround matrix for when we take on 5.1 > projects. I really hope 10.2 doesn't catch on any time soon... > > Analogue summing indeed! ;-P > > kelly Found this on "another" list I belong to. Hope it is OK to cross-pollinate. If not, I'm sure the moderator will yank this message. However, I think it provides a very useful summing technique that many LUG members will want to try..... ;) blair -- blairfisher@...