Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of
sound reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording t ...
by using multiple
audio channel
An audio signal is a representation of sound, typically using either a changing level of electrical voltage for analog signals or a series of binary numbers for digital signals. Audio signals have frequencies in the audio frequency range of ro ...
s from
speakers that surround the listener (
surround channels
Surround channels are audio channels in surround sound multichannel audio. They primarily serve to deliver ambience and diffuse sounds in a film or music soundtrack.
History
Dolby Stereo (1975) was the first standard cinema sound system usi ...
). Its first application was in
movie theater
A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
s. Prior to surround sound, theater sound systems commonly had three ''screen channels'' of sound that played from three
loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...
s (left, center, and right) located in front of the audience. Surround sound adds one or more channels from loudspeakers to the side or behind the listener that are able to create the sensation of sound coming from any horizontal direction (at ground level) around the listener.
The technique enhances the
perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
of sound spatialization by exploiting
sound localization
Sound localization is a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance.
The sound localization mechanisms of the mammalian auditory system have been extensively studied. The auditory system u ...
: a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance. This is achieved by using multiple discrete audio channels routed to an array of
loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...
s. Surround sound typically has a listener location (
sweet spot) where the audio effects work best and presents a fixed or forward perspective of the sound field to the listener at this location.
Surround sound formats vary in reproduction and recording methods, along with the number and positioning of additional channels. The most common surround sound specification, the
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU:
*
* is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...
's
5.1 standard, calls for 6 speakers: center (C), in front of the listener; left (L) and right (R), at angles of 60°; left surround (LS) and right surround (RS) at angles of 100–120°; and a
subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is ...
, whose position is not critical.
Fields of application
Though cinema and soundtracks represent the major uses of surround techniques, its scope of application is broader than that, as surround sound permits creation of an audio environment for all sorts of purposes. Multichannel audio techniques may be used to reproduce contents as varied as music, speech, natural or synthetic sounds for cinema,
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, broadcasting, or computers. In terms of music content for example, a live performance may use multichannel techniques in the context of an open-air concert, of a musical theatre performance or for
broadcasting
Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
; for a
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
, specific techniques are adapted to
movie theater
A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
or to home (e.g.
home cinema
A home cinema, also called home theater, is a home entertainment audio-visual system that seeks to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer grade electronic video and audio equipment and is set up in a private home. In ...
systems). The narrative space is also a content that can be enhanced through multichannel techniques. This applies mainly to cinema narratives, for example the speech of the characters of a film, but may also be applied to plays performed in a theatre, to a conference, or to integrate voice-based comments in an archeological site or monument. For example, an exhibition may be enhanced with topical ambient sound of water, birds, train or machine noise. Topical natural sounds may also be used in educational applications. Other fields of application include video game consoles, personal computers and other platforms. In such applications, the content would typically be synthetic noise produced by the computer device in interaction with its user. Significant work has also been done using surround sound for enhanced
situation awareness
Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...
in military and public safety application.
Types of media and technologies
Commercial surround sound media include
videocassettes
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasset ...
,
DVDs
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
, and
SDTV
Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...
broadcasts encoded as analog matrixed
Dolby Surround
Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. The terms Dolby Stereo and LtRt (''Left Total'', ''Right Total'') are also used to describe so ...
compressed Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...
and
DTS, and
lossless audio
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressi ...
such as
DTS HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio (DTS-HD MA; known as DTS++ before 2004) is a multi-channel, lossless audio codec developed by DTS as an extension of the lossy DTS Coherent Acoustics codec (DTS CA; usually itself referred to as just DTS). Rather than being ...
and
Dolby TrueHD
Dolby TrueHD is a lossless, multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories for home video, used principally in Blu-ray Disc and compatible hardware. Dolby TrueHD, along with Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) and Dolby AC-4, is one of th ...
on
HDTV
High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...
and
HD DVD
HD DVD (short for High Density Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. , which are identical to the studio master. Other commercial formats include the competing
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format.
The ...
(DVD-A) and
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the compact disc (CD) format.
The SACD format allows multiple a ...
(SACD) formats, and
MP3 Surround
MP3 Surround is an extension of MP3 for multi-channel audio support including 5.1 surround sound. It was developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Thomson and Agere Systems, and released in December 2004.
MP3 Surround is backward c ...
. Cinema
5.1 surround formats include
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...
and
DTS.
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) is an 8-channel cinema configuration that features 5 independent audio channels across the front with two independent surround channels, and a
Low-frequency effects
The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is a band-limited Audio signal, audio track that is used for reproducing deep and intense low-frequency sounds in the 3–120 Hertz, Hz frequency range.
This track is normally sent to a subwoofer—a ...
channel. Traditional
7.1 surround speaker configuration introduces two additional rear speakers to the conventional 5.1 arrangement, for a total of four surround channels and three front channels, to create a more 360° sound field.
Most surround sound recordings are created by film production companies or video game producers; however some consumer
camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-sw ...
s have such capability either built-in or available separately. Surround sound technologies can also be used in music to enable new methods of artistic expression. After the failure of
audio in the 1970s, multichannel music has slowly been reintroduced since 1999 with the help of SACD and DVD-Audio formats. Some
AV receivers
An audio/video receiver (AVR) or a stereo receiver is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater, home audio, or hi-fi system. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them and pro ...
, stereophonic systems, and computer
sound card
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio ...
s contain integral
digital signal processor
A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit chips. ...
s or digital audio processors to simulate surround sound from a stereophonic source (see
fake stereo
Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...
).
In 1967, the rock group
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
performed the first-ever surround sound concert at "Games for May", a lavish affair at
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
’s
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...
where the band debuted its custom-made
speaker system. The control device they had made, the
Azimuth Co-ordinator
The Azimuth Co-ordinator was the first panning control for a quadraphonic sound system, at that time a new concept. Pink Floyd became the first band to use it in their early shows.
The Azimuth Co-ordinator uses four rotary rheostats housed in a l ...
, is now displayed at London's
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, as part of their Theatre Collections gallery.
History
The first documented use of surround sound was in 1940, for Disney's animated film ''
Fantasia''.
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
was inspired by
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...
's operatic piece ''
Flight of the Bumblebee
"Flight of the Bumblebee" () is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his opera '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan'', composed in 1899–1900. This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingl ...
'' to have a
bumblebee
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...
featured in his musical ''Fantasia'' and also sound as if it was flying in all parts of the theatre. The initial multichannel audio application was called '
Fantasound
Fantasound was a sound reproduction system developed by engineers of Walt Disney studios and RCA for Walt Disney's animated film '' Fantasia'', the first commercial film released in stereo.
Origins
Walt Disney's cartoon character Mickey Mouse ...
', comprising three audio channels and speakers. The sound was diffused throughout the cinema, controlled by an engineer using some 54 loudspeakers. The surround sound was achieved using the sum and the difference of the phase of the sound. However, this experimental use of surround sound was excluded from the film in later showings. In 1952, "surround sound" successfully reappeared with the film "This is Cinerama", using discrete seven-channel sound, and the race to develop other surround sound methods took off. For the release of the 1953
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
film
''The Robe'', the studio felt the film needed a larger soundstage to match its wider
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter.
Its cr ...
presentation and released it with four-track magnetic stereo sound with left, right, center and mono surround channels.
In the 1950s, the German composer
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
experimented with and produced ground-breaking electronic compositions such as ''
Gesang der Jünglinge
''Gesang der Jünglinge'' (literally "Song of the Youths") is an electronic music work by Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was realized in 1955–56 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk studio in Cologne and is Work Number 8 in the composer's catalog. The voc ...
'' and ''
Kontakte
''Kontakte'' (, 'contacts') is an electronic music work by Karlheinz Stockhausen, realized in 1958–60 at the '' Westdeutscher Rundfunk'' (WDR) electronic-music studio in Cologne with the assistance of Gottfried Michael Koenig. The score is N ...
'', the latter using fully discrete and rotating
quadraphonic sound
Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio formed by analogy with "stereo"">portmanteau.html" ;"title="/nowiki>portmanteau">formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 s ...
s generated with industrial electronic equipment in
Herbert Eimert
Herbert Eimert (8 April 1897 – 15 December 1972) was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer.
Education
Herbert Eimert was born in Bad Kreuznach. He studied music theory and composi ...
's studio at the ''
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
(; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...
'' (WDR).
Edgar Varese
Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Middle Ages; it was, howeve ...
's
Poème électronique
''Poème électronique'' (English Translation: "Electronic Poem") is an 8-minute piece of electronic music by composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, ...
, created for the
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...
-designed
Philips Pavilion
The Philips Pavilion (; ) was a modernist pavilion in Brussels, Belgium, constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58). Commissioned by electronics manufacturer Philips and designed by the office of Le Corbusier, it was built to hous ...
at the 1958
Brussels World's Fair
Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel Plateau, Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bu ...
, also used spatial audio with 425 loudspeakers used to move sound throughout the pavilion.
In 1957, working with artist
Jordan Belson
Jordan Belson (June 6, 1926 – September 6, 2011) was an American artist and abstract cinematic filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented, abstract films spanning six decades.
Biography
Belson was born in Chicago, Illinois. ...
,
Henry Jacobs
Henry Sandy Jacobs (October 9, 1924 – September 25, 2015) was an American sound artist and humorist.
Early life and education
Jacobs was born in Chicago, Illinois. After a tour in the United States Army Air Corps, Air Corps —during which time ...
produced Vortex: Experiments in Sound and Light - a series of concerts featuring new music, including some of Jacobs' own, and that of
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
, and many others - taking place in the Morrison Planetarium in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Sound designers commonly regard this as the origin of the (now standard) concept of "surround sound." The program was popular, and Jacobs and Belson were invited to reproduce it at the 1958 World Expo in Brussels.
There are also many other composers that created ground-breaking surround sound works in the same time period.
In 1978, a concept devised by Max Bell for
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (H ...
called "split surround" was tested with the movie ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
''. This led to the 70mm stereo surround release of ''
Apocalypse Now
''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...
'', which became one of the first formal releases in cinemas with three channels in the front and two in the rear. There were typically five speakers behind the screens of 70mm-capable cinemas, but only the left, center and right were used full-frequency, while center-left and center-right were only used for bass-frequencies (as it is currently common). The ''Apocalypse Now'' encoder/decoder was designed by Michael Karagosian, also for
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (H ...
. The surround mix was produced by an Oscar-winning crew led by
Walter Murch
Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes '' THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', '' American Graffiti'', '' The Conversation ...
for
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1991) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...
. The format was also deployed in 1982 with the stereo surround release of ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...
''.
The 5.1 version of surround sound originated in 1987 at the famous French Cabaret
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...
. A French engineer, Dominique Bertrand used a mixing board specially designed in cooperation with
Solid State Logic
Solid State Logic Ltd. (SSL) is a British company based in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, England that designs and markets audio mixing consoles, Audio signal processing, signal processors, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video p ...
, based on 5000 series and including six channels. Respectively: A left, B right, C center, D left rear, E right rear, F bass. The same engineer had already achieved a 3.1 system in 1974, for the International Summit of Francophone States in
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...
, Senegal.
Creating surround sound
Surround sound is created in several ways. The first and simplest method is using a surround sound recording technique—capturing two distinct stereo images, one for the front and one for the back or by using a dedicated setup, e.g., an augmented
Decca tree
The Decca Tree is a spaced microphone array most commonly used for orchestral recording. It was originally developed as a type of stereo A–B recording method adding a center fill. The technique was developed in the early 1950s and first commerc ...
—or mixing-in surround sound for playback on an audio system using speakers encircling the listener to play audio from different directions. A second approach is processing the audio with
psychoacoustic
Psychoacoustics is the branch of psychophysics involving the scientific study of the perception of sound by the human auditory system. It is the branch of science studying the psychological responses associated with sound including noise, speech, ...
sound localization
Sound localization is a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance.
The sound localization mechanisms of the mammalian auditory system have been extensively studied. The auditory system u ...
methods to simulate a two-dimensional (2-D) sound field with headphones. A third approach, based on
Huygens' principle, attempts reconstructing the recorded sound field wavefronts within the listening space; an "audio hologram" form. One form,
wave field synthesis
Wave field synthesis (WFS) is a spatial audio rendering technique, characterized by creation of virtual acoustic environments. It produces ''artificial'' wavefronts synthesized by a large number of individually driven loudspeakers from elemen ...
(WFS), produces a sound field with an even error field over the entire area. Commercial WFS systems, currently marketed by companies ''sonic emotion'' and ''Iosono'', require many loudspeakers and significant computing power. The 4th approach is using three mics, one for front, one for side and one for rear, also called
Double MS recording.
The
Ambisonics
Ambisonics is a ''full-sphere'' surround sound format: in addition to the horizontal plane, it covers sound sources above and below the listener.
Unlike some other multichannel surround formats, its transmission channels do not carry speaker ...
form, also based on
Huygens' principle, gives an exact sound reconstruction at the central point; however, it is less accurate away from the central point. There are many free and commercial software programs available for Ambisonics, which dominates most of the consumer market, especially musicians using electronic and computer music. Moreover, Ambisonics products are the standard in surround sound hardware sold by
Meridian Audio
Meridian Audio is a consumer Audio equipment, audio and Home cinema, home theatre equipment manufacturer based in the United Kingdom. Bob Stuart and Allen Boothroyd founded the company in 1977 under the name Boothroyd-Stuart. In 1985 the company ...
. In its simplest form, Ambisonics consumes few resources, however this is not true for recent developments, such as Near Field Compensated Higher Order Ambisonics. Some years ago it was shown that, in the limit, WFS and Ambisonics converge.
Finally, surround sound can also be achieved by mastering level, from stereophonic sources as with
Penteo, which uses
digital signal processing
Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are a ...
analysis of a stereo recording to parse out individual sounds to component panorama positions, then positions them, accordingly, into a five-channel field. However, there are more ways to create surround sound out of stereo, for instance with the routines based on
QS and
SQ for encoding
Quad
QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...
sound, where instruments were divided over 4 speakers in the studio. This way of creating surround with software routines is normally referred to as ''upmixing'', which was particularly successful on the
Sansui QSD-series decoders that had a mode where it mapped the L ↔ R stereo onto an ∩ arc.
Standard configurations
There are many alternative setups available for a surround sound experience, with a 3-2 (3 front, 2 back speakers and a low-frequency effects channel) configuration (more commonly referred to as 5.1 surround) being the standard for most surround sound applications, including cinema, television and consumer applications.
This is a compromise between the ideal image creation of a room and that of practicality and compatibility with two-channel stereo.
Because most surround sound mixes are produced for 5.1 surround (6 channels), larger setups require matrixes or processors to feed the additional speakers.
The standard surround setup consists of three front speakers LCR (left, center and right), two surround speakers LS and RS (left and right surround respectively) and a subwoofer for the
low-frequency effects
The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is a band-limited Audio signal, audio track that is used for reproducing deep and intense low-frequency sounds in the 3–120 Hertz, Hz frequency range.
This track is normally sent to a subwoofer—a ...
(LFE) channel, that is low-pass filtered at 120 Hz. The angles between the speakers have been standardized by the
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU:
*
* is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...
(International Telecommunication Union) recommendation 775 and AES (Audio Engineering Society) as follows: 60 degrees between the L and R channels (allows for two-channel stereo compatibility) with the center speaker directly in front of the listener. The Surround channels are placed 100–120 degrees from the center channel, with the subwoofer's positioning not being critical due to the low directional factor of frequencies below 120 Hz.
The ITU standard also allows for additional surround speakers, that need to be distributed evenly between 60 and 150 degrees.
Surround mixes of more or fewer channels are acceptable, if they are compatible, as described by the ITU-R BS. 775-1,
with 5.1 surround. The 3-1 channel setup (consisting of one monophonic surround channel) is such a case, where both LS and RS are fed by the monophonic signal at an attenuated level of -3 dB.
The function of the center channel is to anchor the signal so that any central panned images do not shift when a listener is moving or is sitting away from the sweet spot.
The center channel also prevents any timbral modifications from occurring, which is typical for 2-channel stereo, due to phase differences at the two ears of a listener.
The center channel is especially used in films and television, with dialogue primarily feeding the center channel.
The function of the center channel can either be of a monophonic nature (as with dialogue) or it can be used in combination with the left and right channels for true three-channel stereo. Motion Pictures tend to use the center channel for monophonic purposes with stereo being reserved purely for the left and right channels. Surround microphone techniques have however been developed that fully use the potential of three-channel stereo.
In 5.1 surround, phantom images between the front speakers are quite accurate, with images towards the back and especially to the sides being unstable.
The localization of a virtual source, based on level differences between two loudspeakers to the side of a listener, shows great inconsistency across the standardized 5.1 setup, also being largely affected by movement away from the reference position. 5.1 surround is therefore limited in its ability to convey 3D sound, making the surround channels more appropriate for ambiance or effects.
)
7.1 channel surround is another setup, most commonly used in large cinemas, that is compatible with 5.1 surround, though it is not stated in the ITU standards. 7.1 channel surround adds two additional channels, center-left (CL) and center-right (CR) to the 5.1 surround setup, with the speakers situated 15 degrees off center from the listener.
This convention is used to cover an increased angle between the front loudspeakers as a product of a larger screen.
Surround microphone techniques
Most 2-channel stereophonic microphone techniques are compatible with a 3-channel setup (LCR), as many of these techniques already contain a center microphone or microphone pair. Microphone techniques for LCR should, however, try to obtain greater channel separation to prevent conflicting phantom images between L/C and L/R for example.
Specialised techniques have therefore been developed for 3-channel stereo. Surround microphone techniques largely depend on the setup used, therefore being biased towards the 5.1 surround setup, as this is the standard.
Surround recording techniques can be differentiated into those that use single arrays of microphones placed in close proximity, and those treating front and rear channels with separate arrays.
Close arrays present more accurate phantom images, whereas separate treatment of rear channels is usually used for ambiance.
For accurate depiction of an acoustic environment, such as a halls, side reflections are essential. Appropriate microphone techniques should therefore be used if room impression is important. Although the reproduction of side images are very unstable in the 5.1 surround setup, room impressions can still be accurately presented.
Some microphone techniques used for coverage of three front channels, include double-stereo techniques, INA-3 (Ideal Cardioid Arrangement), the
Decca Tree
The Decca Tree is a spaced microphone array most commonly used for orchestral recording. It was originally developed as a type of stereo A–B recording method adding a center fill. The technique was developed in the early 1950s and first commerc ...
setup and the OCT (Optimum Cardioid Triangle).
Surround techniques are largely based on 3-channel techniques with additional microphones used for the surround channels. A distinguishing factor for the pickup of the front channels in surround is that less reverberation should be picked up, as the surround microphones will be responsible for the pickup of reverberation.
Cardioid, hypercardioid, or supercardioid polar patterns will therefore often replace omnidirectional polar patterns for surround recordings. To compensate for the lost low-end of directional (pressure gradient) microphones, additional omnidirectional (pressure microphones), exhibiting an extended low-end response, can be added. The microphone's output is usually low-pass filtered.
A simple surround microphone configuration involves the use of a front array in combination with two backward-facing omnidirectional room microphones placed about 10–15 meters away from the front array. If echoes are notable, the front array can be delayed appropriately. Alternatively, backward facing cardioid microphones can be placed closer to the front array for a similar reverberation pickup.
The INA-5 (Ideal Cardioid Arrangement) is a surround microphone array that uses five cardioid microphones resembling the angles of the standardized surround loudspeaker configuration defined by the ITU Rec. 775.
Dimensions between the front three microphone as well as the polar patterns of the microphones can be changed for different pickup angles and ambient response.
This technique therefore allows for great flexibility.
A well-established microphone array is the Fukada Tree, which is a modified variant of the Decca Tree stereo technique. The array consists of five spaced cardioid microphones, three front microphones resembling a Decca Tree and two surround microphones. Two additional omnidirectional outriggers can be added to enlarge the perceived size of the orchestra or to better integrate the front and surround channels.
The L, R, LS and RS microphones should be placed in a square formation, with L/R and LS/RS angled at 45 degrees and 135 degrees from the center microphone respectively. Spacing between these microphones should be about 1.8 meters. This square formation is responsible for the room impressions. The center channel is placed a meter in front of the L and R channels, producing a strong center image. The surround microphones are usually placed at the critical distance (where the direct and reverberant field is equal), with the full array usually situated several meters above and behind the conductor.
The NHK (Japanese broadcasting company) developed an alternative technique also involving five cardioid microphones. Here a baffle is used for separation between the front left and right channels, which are 30 cm apart.
Outrigger omnidirectional microphones, low-pass filtered at 250 Hz, are spaced 3 meters apart in line with the L and R cardioids. These compensate for the bass roll-off of the cardioid microphones and also add expansiveness.
A 3-meter spaced microphone pair, situated 2–3 meters behind the front array, is used for the surround channels.
The center channel is again placed slightly forward, with the L/R and LS/RS again angled at 45 and 135 degrees respectively.
The OCT-Surround (Optimum Cardioid Triangle-Surround) microphone array is an augmented technique of the stereo OCT technique using the same front array with added surround microphones. The front array is designed for minimum crosstalk, with the front left and right microphones having supercardioid polar patterns and angled at 90 degrees relative to the center microphone.
It is important that high-quality small diaphragm microphones are used for the L and R channels to reduce off-axis coloration.
Equalization can also be used to flatten the response of the supercardioid microphones to signals coming in at up to about 30 degrees from the front of the array.
The center channel is placed slightly forward. The surround microphones are backward-facing cardioid microphones, that are placed 40 cm back from the L and R microphones. The L, R, LS and RS microphones pick up early reflections from both the sides and the back of an acoustic venue, therefore giving significant room impressions.
Spacing between the L and R microphones can be varied to obtain the required stereo width.
Specialized microphone arrays have been developed to record a space's ambiance. These arrays are used in combination with suitable front arrays or can be added to above-mentioned surround techniques.
The Hamasaki square (also proposed by NHK) is a well-established microphone array used for the pickup of hall ambience. Four figure-eight microphones are arranged in a square, ideally placed far away and high up in the hall. Spacing between the microphones should be between 1–3 meters.
The microphones nulls (zero pickup point) are set to face the main sound source with positive polarities outward facing, therefore very effectively minimizing the direct sound pickup as well as echoes from the back of the hall
The back two microphones are mixed to the surround channels, with the front two channels being mixed in combination with the front array into L and R.
Another ambient technique is the IRT (Institut für Rundfunktechnik) cross. Here, four cardioid microphones, 90 degrees relative to one another, are placed in square formation, separated by 21–25 cm.
The front two microphones should be positioned 45 degrees off axis from the sound source. This technique therefore resembles back-to-back near-coincident stereo pairs. The microphones outputs are fed to the L, R and LS, RS channels. The disadvantage of this approach is that direct sound pickup is quite significant.
Many recordings do not require pickup of side reflections. For Live Pop music concerts a more appropriate array for the pickup of ambiance is the cardioid trapezium.
All four cardioid microphones are backward facing and angled at 60 degrees from one another, therefore similar to a semi-circle. This is effective for the pickup of audience and ambiance.
All the above-mentioned microphone arrays take up considerable space, making them quite ineffective for field recordings. In this respect, the double mid-side (MS) technique is quite advantageous. This array uses back-to-back cardioid microphones, one facing forward, the other backward, combined with either one or two figure-eight microphones. Different channels are obtained by the sum and difference of the figure-eight and cardioid patterns.
When using only one figure-eight microphone, the double MS technique is extremely compact and therefore also perfectly compatible with monophonic playback. This technique also allows for postproduction changes of the pickup angle.
Bass management
Surround replay systems may make use of ''bass management'', the fundamental principle of which is that bass content in the incoming signal, irrespective of channel, should be directed only to loudspeakers capable of handling it, whether the latter are the main system loudspeakers or one or more special low-frequency speakers called
subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is ...
s.
There is a notation difference before and after the bass management system. Before the bass management system, there is a LFE channel. After the bass management system, there is a subwoofer signal. A common misunderstanding is the belief that the LFE channel is the ''subwoofer channel''. The bass management system may direct bass to one or more subwoofers (if present) from ''any'' channel, not just from the LFE channel. Also, if there is no subwoofer speaker present then the bass management system can direct the LFE channel to one or more of the main speakers.
Low frequency effects channel
Because the LFE channel requires only a fraction of the bandwidth of the other audio channels, it is referred to as the ''.1'' channel; for example ''5.1'' or ''7.1''.
The LFE channel is a source of some confusion in surround sound. It was originally developed to carry extremely low ''sub-bass'' cinematic sound effects (e.g., the loud rumble of thunder or explosions) on their own channel. This allowed theaters to control the volume of these effects to suit the particular cinema's acoustic environment and sound reproduction system. Independent control of the sub-bass effects also reduced the problem of
intermodulation distortion
Intermodulation (IM) or intermodulation distortion (IMD) is the amplitude modulation of signals containing two or more different frequencies, caused by nonlinearities or time variance in a system. The intermodulation between frequency compo ...
in analog movie sound reproduction.
In the original movie theater implementation, the LFE was a separate channel fed to one or more subwoofers. Home replay systems, however, may not have a separate subwoofer, so modern home surround decoders and systems often include a bass management system that allows bass on any channel (main or LFE) to be fed only to the loudspeakers that can handle low-frequency signals. The salient point here is that the LFE channel is not the ''subwoofer channel''; there may be no subwoofer and, if there is, it may be handling a good deal more than effects.
Some record labels such as
Telarc
Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long assoc ...
and
Chesky have argued that LFE channels are not needed in a modern digital multichannel entertainment system. They argue that, given loudspeakers that have low-frequency response to 30 Hz, all available channels have a full-frequency range and, as such, there is no need for an LFE in surround music production, because all the frequencies are available in all the main channels. These labels sometimes use the LFE channel to carry a height channel. The label
BIS Records
BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.
BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recording ...
generally uses a 5.0 channel mix.
Channel notation
Channel notation indicates the number of discrete channels encoded in the audio signal, not necessarily the number of channels reproduced for playback. The number of playback channels can be increased by using
matrix decoding. The number of playback channels may also differ from the number of speakers used to reproduce them if one or more channels drives a group of speakers. Notation represents the number of channels, not the number of speakers.
The first digit in "5.1" is the number of full-range channels. The ".1" reflects the limited frequency range of the LFE channel.
For example, two
stereo
Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
speakers with no LFE channel = 2.0
5 full-range channels + 1 LFE channel = 5.1
An alternative notation shows the number of full-range channels in front of the listener, separated by a slash from the number of full-range channels beside or behind the listener, with a decimal point marking the number of limited-range LFE channels.
E.g. 3 front channels + 2 side channels + an LFE channel = 3/2.1
The notation can be expanded to include
Matrix Decoder
Matrix decoding is an audio technology where a small number of discrete audio channels (e.g., 2) are decoded into a larger number of channels on play back (e.g., 5). The channels are generally, but not always, arranged for transmission or recordin ...
s. Dolby Digital EX, for example, has a sixth full-range channel incorporated into the two rear channels with a
matrix
Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
* Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form
* Matrix (biology), the m ...
. This is expressed:
3 front channels + 2 rear channels + 3 channels reproduced in the rear in total + 1 LFE channel = 3/2:3.1
The term
stereo
Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
, although popularised in reference to two channel audio, historically also referred to surround sound, as it strictly means "solid" (three-dimensional) sound. However this is no longer common usage and "stereo sound" almost exclusively means two channels, left and right.
Channel identification
In accordance with ANSI/CEA-863-A
:
:::
:
Sonic Whole Overhead Sound
In 2002, Dolby premiered a master of ''
We Were Soldiers
''We Were Soldiers'' is a 2002 American war film written and directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson. Based on the book '' We Were Soldiers Once… and Young'' (1992) by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. ...
'' which featured a Sonic Whole Overhead Sound soundtrack. This mix included a new ceiling-mounted
height channel
Height channels are audio channels in surround sound multichannel audio. Height channels are located above the listening area and increase the sound field beyond the horizontal plane.
Two systems that use height channels, Dolby Pro Logic#Dolby Pro ...
.
Ambisonics
Ambisonics is a recording and playback technique using multichannel mixing that can be used live or in the studio and which recreates the sound field as it existed in the space, in contrast to traditional surround systems, which can only create the illusion of the sound field if the listener is located in a very narrow sweet spot between speakers. Any number of speakers in any physical arrangement can be used to recreate a sound field. With 6 or more speakers arranged around a listener, a 3-dimensional ("periphonic", or full-sphere) sound field can be presented. Ambisonics was invented by
Michael Gerzon
Michael Anthony Gerzon (4 December 1945 – 6 May 1996) is probably best known for his work on Ambisonics and for his work on digital audio. He also made a large number of recordings, many in the field of free improvisation in which he had a pa ...
.
Binaural recording
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create the 3-D stereo experience of being present in the room with the performers or instruments. The idea of a three dimensional or "internal" form of sound has developed into technology for stethoscopes creating "in-head" acoustics and IMAX movies creating a three dimensional acoustic experience.
Panor-Ambiophonic (PanAmbio) 4.0/4.1
PanAmbio combines a stereo dipole and crosstalk cancellation in front and a second set behind the listener (total of four speakers) for 360° 2D surround reproduction. Four-channel recordings, especially those containing binaural cues, create speaker-binaural surround sound. 5.1 channel recordings, including movie DVDs, are compatible by mixing C-channel content to the front speaker pair. 6.1 can be played by mixing SC to the back pair.
Standard speaker channels
Several speaker configurations are commonly used for consumer equipment. The order and identifiers are those specified for the channel mask in the standard uncompressed
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 ...
file format (which contains a raw multichannel
PCM
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to Digital signal (signal processing), digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio application ...
stream) and are used according to the same specification for most PC connectible digital sound hardware and PC operating systems capable of handling multiple channels.
While it is possible to build any speaker configuration, there is little commercial movie or music content for alternative speaker configurations. However, source channels can be remixed for the speaker channels using a matrix table specifying how much of each content channel is played through each speaker channel.
Most channel configuration may include a LFE channel (the channel played through the
subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is ...
.) This makes the configuration ".1" instead of ".0". Most modern multichannel mixes contain one LFE, some use two.
7.1 surround sound
7.1 surround sound
7.1 surround sound is the common name for an eight-channel surround audio system commonly used in home theatre configurations. It adds two additional speakers to the more conventional six-channel ( 5.1) audio configuration. As with 5.1 surround ...
is a popular format in theaters & Home cinema including Blu-rays with Dolby and DTS being major players.
7.1.2/7.1.4 immersive sound
7.1.2 and 7.1.4 immersive sound along with 5.1.2 and 5.1.4 format adds either 2 or 4 overhead speakers to enable sound objects and special effect sounds to be
panned overhead for the listener. Introduced for theatrical film releases in 2012 by
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (H ...
under the trademark name
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...
.
Dolby Atmos (and other
Microsoft Spatial Sound engines; see in ) additionally support a virtual "8.1.4.4" configuration, to be rendered by a
HRTF. The configuration adds to 7.1.4 with a center speaker behind the listener and 4 speakers below.
10.2 surround sound
10.2 is the surround sound format developed by
THX
THX Ltd. is an American audio company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is known for its suite of digital high fidelity audiovisual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, video game c ...
creator
Tomlinson Holman
Tomlinson Miles Holman IIVideo Interviews with Tomlinson Holman*
Living people
American acoustical engineers
USC School of Cinematic Arts faculty
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Academy Award for Technical Achievement winner ...
of TMH Labs and
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(schools of Cinema/Television and Engineering). Developed along with
Chris Kyriakakis of the
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, ''10.2'' refers to the format's promotional slogan: "Twice as good as 5.1". Advocates of 10.2 argue that it is the audio equivalent of
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
.
11.1 surround sound
11.1 sound is supported by BARCO with installations in theaters worldwide.
22.2 surround sound
22.2 is the surround sound component of
Ultra High Definition Television
Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by ...
, developed by NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories. As its name suggests, it uses 24 speakers. These are arranged in three layers: A middle layer of ten speakers, an upper layer of nine speakers, and a lower layer of three speakers and two sub-woofers. The system was demonstrated at
Expo 2005
Expo 2005 was a world expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo) ...
,
Aichi
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, the
NAB Show
NAB Show is an annual trade show produced by the National Association of Broadcasters. It takes place in April, and has been held since 1991 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show's tagline is "Where Content Comes to L ...
s 2006 and 2009,
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, and the
IBC IBC is an initialism that can stand for:
Broadcasting
*Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, Channel 13, Philippines
*International Beacon Project, Worldwide network of radio propagation beacons
*International Broadcast Centre
*International ...
trade shows 2006 and 2008,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
.
See also
*
3D audio effect
3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimens ...
*
Binaural recording
Binaural recording is a method of Sound recording and reproduction, recording Sound recording, sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a Three-dimensional space, 3D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actuall ...
*
Dolby Surround
Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. The terms Dolby Stereo and LtRt (''Left Total'', ''Right Total'') are also used to describe so ...
*
Duophonic
Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...
*
Four-channel Compact Disc Digital Audio
*
Holophonics
*
MPEG Surround
MPEG Surround (ISO/IEC 23003-1 or MPEG-D Part 1), also known as Spatial Audio Coding (SAC), is a lossy compression format for surround sound that provides a method for extending mono or stereo audio services to multi-channel audio in a backwar ...
*
Precedence effect
The precedence effect or law of the first wavefront is a binaural psychoacoustical effect concerning sound reflection and the perception of echoes. When two versions of the same sound presented are separated by a sufficiently short time delay ...
*
Soundfield microphone
The Soundfield microphone is an audio microphone composed of four closely spaced subcardioid or cardioid (unidirectional) microphone capsules arranged in a tetrahedron. It was invented by Michael Gerzon and Peter Craven, and is a part of, but not ...
*
Virtual surround
Virtual surround is an audio system that attempts to create the perception that there are many more sources of sound than are actually present. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to devise some means of tricking the human auditory system in ...
Notes
References
External links
{{Authority control
Consumer electronics
Film sound production
Home video
Virtual reality