> > However, I have found that a mixed mediated+ -non-mediated environment can > contain significant local confusions. Years ago at York, I used an SF mic > to record Dylan Menzies idly playing the piano, in a room equipped with a > periphonic playback system. When I played it back, he then took to > accompanying his own earlier playing. When he did so, the distinction > between mediated and non- mediated instantly blurred. When he stopped the > accompaniment, the recorded nature of the mediated environment became > obvious. >
That's very interesting. This is an almost identical observation to something I've read described from 100 years ago! Thomas Edison (inventor of the phonograph) used "tone tests" to convince prospective buyers that his phonograph was 'indistinguishable' from the real thing. He would get a real performer to sing in unison with the phonograph ... and one of the rules that the singer had to follow was that they were not allowed to sing, ever, without the accompaniment of the phonograph. Because if they did, the difference would be immediately obvious. (read this in ... Thompson 1995, p.152, Milner 2009, p.6) (let me know if you want detailed reference). I'd postulate that the difference has something to do with auditory stream segregation ... by singing together the 'realness' of the real becomes projected onto both sounds. Did Dylan Menzies also try to copy the reproduced sound he heard? In Edison's tone tests, the performer had to try to imitate the recording of themselves (the illusion of reality was created by changing reality to meet the reproduction!) Incidently ... there is support for the suggestion that the perception of "reality" is a function of pre-conceptions rather than coincidence with reality .... in the New York Journal (1890) a reporter commented, upon hearing Edison's phonograph, that he heard recordings ‘*rendered with so startling and realistic effect that it seems almost impossible that the human voice can issue from wax and iron*’ There are other similar reports. You would think that with 100 years of technology, we would have managed to shoot way past that calibre of impression ... but have we? why not? Etienne -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20120604/0ac7c500/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list [email protected] https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
