I posted a message on the Film Sound Design list to see if there was any interest in a B-Format effects library now that there's a free mainstream-compatible decoder plug-in from TSL/Soundfield. Here are some of the responses:
"I don't know... Call me old school but having to deal with that plug on every channel? Ugg! Maybe I don't understand it but I really don't like 5.1 source material. It more than doubles the tracks and I still want little single one off things that I can pan and move... Pain to do with a 5.1 source." "As much as it pains me, I’m going to agree with Coll. B-Format is fascinating in theory and in isolation allows for some amazing manipulations, but in practice in a film (narrative or documentary) it is at best overkill and in fact can even be distracting. I think there may be some exceptions in experimental work and I’d love to see more of that. But those are situations where the use of library sounds is not likely - more likely would be the capture of production atmospheres in b-format or custom fx work." "I agree as well. B-format is a bit to (sic) niche for my tastes. Flexibility is king. If I did want surround recordings, I think I'd almost prefer double MS... that schoeps plugin awesome!" And from another list, where a current discussion is about depth of field in music recording: "I have heard an auro 3D demo, adding or taking away the height layer of a recording of street sounds definitely made a huge difference, basically going from surround to almost real. I think recording height could be a really cool thing." "Recording with height is amazing. A friend of mine has been experimenting with this and 5.1 sounds flat and horrible in comparison. His system even sounds better than Auro 3D." "I think this might be the right thread for posting my question... I often use a M/S setup for recording stereo. The composer of a forest sound installation has asked me to record a multi channel piece which has speakers set high in the canopy, so that sounds/music also moves up and down as well as left to right. Is there a set up I can use that will portray this extra dimension. The composer proposes hiring a Soundfield SPS200, though I'm not convinced that condenser capsule will give me high quality sound. Is there a way I can add capsule to my Neumann kma120/184 M/S setup, perhaps another stereo pair, or a second figure 8 capsule... Any ideas?" Makes me want to weep. John _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
