Re: [LAU] How is the bass mixed? Per-channel frequency analysis? Histogram?

On Thu, 6 Feb 2014, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: Many home sound systems today simply sum the bass energy from both channels into a single subwoofer anyway. It doesn't matter where in the room the subwoofer is located, because our ears are too close together to detect a phase difference at those frequencies. I do live sound in a venue with an installed sound system. We have two large subwoofers, fed in phase from a single source. The problem is that the two boxes are hung from the ceiling 30 feet apart. Two point sources that widely spaced give us interference fringes all across the room. You can walk slowly across the room and hear the bass come in and disappear with every step. I simply turn off the amp for one of the subs, and no one is the wiser, and everyone is happier. So defy convention if you like, and mix the bass wherever you like, but please forgive those of us with real-world transducers, where more often than not it's summed to mono before presentation anyway! I had heard the story about phonograph needles jumping out of the track. It made sense to me. On a stereo phonograph record, in-phase energy (L+R) is represented as side-to-side motion of the needle, and out-of-phase energy(L-R) is up and down motion. It can also be thought of as the left channel is recorded on one side of the groove(at a 45deg angle), and the right channel on the other side. It seemed plausible that a kick drum panned all the way to one side or the other might send the needle into the adjacent groove. -- Rick Green We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. http://www.MoveToAmend.org