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Illusion of Distance in your mix... ?


rasputin1963

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I was listening this morning to Steely Dan's cuts "Aja" and "Deacon Blue".

 

Yes, they're a teeny bit pretentious and a weeny bit self-indulgent, but they're great recordings nonetheless. Every instrument in the mix EQ'd just to buttery perfection. [Was Massenburg's Parametric EQ available yet at this time in history?]

 

What impresses me now, especially about "Deacon Blue", is the way, if you're listening with stereo headphones, the lead vocal appears to perch atop the whole mix, and to be considerably distant from the listener... yet is still perfectly clear and intelligible through the orchestration.

 

In other words, this stereo panorama appears to have a Y-plane and a Z-plane along with the usual X-plane stereophonics.

 

I wonder how they created that precise illusion of distance and height using mikeing and EQ'ing only. For I don't hear any telltale reverberations that might give subliminal cues as to the spatial placement of that lead vocal.

 

Very nifty for 1976 or 7, I think it was.

 

Comments?

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Have to smile each time someone mentions William Burrough's steam-powered dildo band. For me the music was the novelty, not the mix. The mix is good, or nifty as you call it, i would call it tight and right. Just listen to the two tunes you mention, not on headphones however, don't forget, human related psychoacoustics, respectively hearing with stereo headphones is not the same principle as for two-channel loudspeaker stereophony.

 

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I've always had mixed feelings about that record. To be honest I haven't listened to it in years. I'm curious as to how I would hear it now. From what I remember...

 

Yes it's a great mix and all that. The recording was a bit sterile to me. The drums had no ring, just a thumpy, all fundamental kind of sound. Not much life.

 

Am I out of line here ? :eek:

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