[BC] Mono Expands on the FM Band

[khcs@juno.com]

Thomas wrote:

>I could never understand stereo in the first place. OK,
humans have two ears so stereo gives us two speakers.
But we also have two eyes. Why not two televisions
side by side? We have two arms. Why not two steering
wheels in motor vehicles? Stereo just never made sense
to me. Phasing problems, need two of everything, who
ever thought up stereo? Quad? What a laugh!

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I really kind of wonder if you're not joking.  Did you forget the "<g>" at the end?  Binaural is, of course, really great.  I once set up a pair of RE-15's about a foot apart, and ran them into a Crown reel-to-reel.  When I played the result back later, listening with headphones, the effect was eerily like being there.  

True stereo is OK -- when you have the high notes on the piano coming out of the left speaker, the low notes out of the right, the kick drum in the middle, the rest of the drum kit panned around, and other instruments panned into various spots, well, that's something else.

Quad?  I experimented a lot with pseudo-quad setups, and on live recordings it works out splendidly.  Like the Beach Boys live album, where you are surrounded by crowd noise.  Or Will Glahe's "Oktoberfest" album, where you can literally hear the "clink-clink" of beer steins all around you.  It's pretty awesome.


Glen Kippel
KHCS
Palm Desert, CA