@tonylombardi said:
Thanks for the replies guys!
This is an interesting phenomenon I haven't really heard about. Do either of you know what causes this widening of the image? How come I never notice it in recordings I listen to?
Also, King what exactly do you mean by "collapsing" the field? How do you go about doing this? I suppose you can make a stereo file into mono, but I don't really know how this is usually done.
Anthony Lombardi
To collapse a stereo signal, one can simply pan the individual channels towards each other (this is easily possible in GigaStudio's DSP Station, although some sampler engines cannot do this internally and must rely on simple panning or post processing).
One very good post-processing option is the Waves S-1, which can not only expand or collapse a stereo signal, but which can also pan a stereo signal using psychoacoustic tricks. I know that Dietz, who mixes most of Herb's demos, is a fan of S-1, and this could actually be a reason you're hearing some width anomalies. The downside of S-1 is that the monitoring position needs to be a classic triangle plot or the soundstage can drift. I personally don't consider it too much a weakness--and in any case, you won't run into this phenomenon just collapsing signals with S-1.
It sounds like you may want to embark on some basic audio engineering studies. All of this stuff is very nuts and bolts engineering knowhow which was formerly handled by studio personnel, but these days, a MIDI-based composer needs it under his belt to compete. Most project budgets aren't sufficient to afford a dedicated mix engineer, and even VSL can't mix itself (although it comes very close at times).
Concerning the size of a signal in the soundstage vs. amplitude:
Sounds spread in the stereo field with volume increases due to room saturation. As reflective patterns build up, they become omnidirectional and exist in a very even level throughout the entire room. So a sound which may be a pinpoint at pianissimo can easily spread across an entire soundstage at fortissimo, especially if recorded with any distance.
That said, the VSL instruments, if anything, are the most precisely imaged samples I've heard to date. Probably any smearing of image you're experiencing is a deliberate mix choice. The Silent Stage is an extremely well-diffused room as one can hear in the "whip" and "hammer" percussion instruments. There is sufficient size, absorption, and very aggressive diffusion built into that room so that even the loudest dynamics are far from the saturation point. Back to the Hammer percussion instrument, that is a very loud source signal, and it is still nowhere close to saturating the room even in its peak frequency range. Ditto with huge instruments like the gigantic bass drum. Even at fortissimo, the room is not "speaking" louder than the source, which is a testament to both the room's design and the VSL engineers' critical distance computations. The room has a very desirable impulse response, which is one reason the VSL instruments take reverb so remarkably well and are so flexible. The recordings are far from dead, yet the reflective content is sufficiently balanced to the direct signal so that the room imprint can be shaped into just about any size virtual soundstage you desire. The mic plots and the room itself are part of a very sophisticated overall sound design. I have heard some negative comments about the recording methodologies of VSL, but have never seen any of these actually prove its point. In fact, they ring false and seem to be based in speculation rather than hands-on experience. I was an early adopter of VSL, and have produced a great deal of material with it, and it mixes easier and more flexibly than any library I've used to date. Any engineer who heard these signals coming into his control room would be on cloud nine. They are exquisite. Nothing like it really exists at this point in time.
Not to say there are no other great libraries out there. I believe there are many wonderful choices. But it is safe to say that VSL changed the landscape, and that Herb and his team have succeeded in raising the bar.
