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soundstaging

I'm going to run a little long on this, so if you want quick stuff, move on.

Soundstaging in the concert hall rarely happens. Most times when you are in a concert or opera hall, if you close your eyes, the sound comes from a very ill-defined fog in front of you. I have experienced exceptions, and have learned that the horseshoe-shaped opera houses in particular can send the sound to some very weird places.

The Met from up top:




I had never sat in the top ring near the front of the house before. The singers' voices reached me directly, and sounded wonderful. The orchestra sound came at me from straight ahead, as if someone lifted the orchestra up eighty feet or so, and the musicians were sitting just a few feet in front of me. It was very direct, beautifully balanced, hugely involving from the very first note, and loud. Still, with eyes closed, I had no clue which instruments were to the left, or right, or rear, or front, except for the fire-engine red harp, which seemed to be slightly above and to the right the rest. I have sat pretty much everywhere else in the house over the last forty years or so, and the "eyes closed" test always comes up with spatial info that tells my brain nothing, other than "somewhat in front of you," or maybe "overhead," or, if on a side ring, "somewhat in front of you and somewhat on top of you." Sound does weird things as it bangs around on side rings.

Carnegie side boxes:



Again I'm in the cheap seats, about half-way back. Carnegie is just nicely balanced pretty much everywhere. If you are in an upper ring on the side, you can kinda sorta make out where the instruments actually are if you close your eyes. Eyes closed from this seat *does* give one very particular spatial clue: you can clearly hear the sound travel from the stage to the back of the hall. None of that works if you're down on the floor or up in Family Circle, but is pretty consistent on the side boxes as long as you are in the front of the box. (Rear seats on the side muddies everything, as you head is next to the wall.)

Avery Fisher/Geffen Hall



Mud, all the time, every time. Can't tell nuttin. Orchestra balance varies wildly, and imbalances seem to be worst out in the middle of the hall. If the brass are too loud, they'll sound like they're in the middle of your head, cracking it apart. (They are.) The only time I can tell where instruments are with my eyes closed is if I'm in the first few rows. That's the place to sit, as the hall's effects on the sound are minimized. Exception: during the summertime Mostly Mozart series they move the orchestra out onto a platform over the first fifteen rows of the audience, and put additional audience seating on what used to be the stage. Much better balanced, but "eyes closed" will tell you nothing about instrument placement.

Dizzy's Coca Cola Club:



Close your eyes here and you'll know exactly where each instrument is. Most jazz clubs are so tiny the space gets overpowered; here the sound is luscious, and you can certainly pinpoint instruments. Elegant, civilized, and, thanks to subsidies, not frighteningly expensive.

The point of all this is that "soundstaging" is, for me, largely an artifice of the recording/reproducing process. Still, when it's clear through my ancient Spica TC-50s, it is compelling, and an indication that the system is setup about right, so that's a good thing.

WW


"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.

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