3-D Pictures/3-D Sound Parrallels

[P3D <JGoldenRRP@xxxxxxx>]

I am responding to Gabriel and Dr.T's discussion on acoustics and their
analagous relationship to....or not to stereography...

Dr. George A. Themelis wrote
>I have tried hard to think of a sound analogy... It turns out that even
though stereoscopy and stereophony have so many things in common, one thing
where they differ (and here is the core of the argument) is that in
stereoscopy the viewing device is of more fundamental importance. I am not
into stereophonics but the closest analogy I can think of is if you are asked
to perform your piece is a stereophonic studio vs in an ordinary room where
the acoustics are very different.  Then it could make a difference on how
different pieces sound and how they compare to each other... but I doubt that
the difference will be as important as in the case of stereo vision. How
would for the closest analogy stereoviewer=headphones projector=speakers
                               
I am not sure if this would fit the bill in your discussion.
Gabriel

This is an interesting subject that I have long thought about....being that I
am a sound designer for film/video and multimedia....and my introduction to
stereography (other than childhood VM reels....and a classic red/blue monster
3-D flick in college)....was through Ron Labbe....who asked me to do the
sound design for his 1989 feature length live narrated 3-D projected show
SPACE SHOTS 3-D....later titled THE THIRD DIMENSION.

It was Ron who got me into Stereography...and here I am today....with RBT and
all other aspects of 3-D swimming around my head.....but back to 3-D
sound....below is a caption for an my installed exhibit called"Explorations
of the Third Dimension" describing my involvement with 3-D pictures and
sound.

"I live in Newton, Massachusetts, where I am a sound  designer for the film,
video, music, software and museum  markets.  Manipulating the stereo audio
spectrum to create the illusion of space is a major part of my work.  One day
I may be recording a dry voice for narration of a historical film, the next
day I'm adding effects galore to an electric guitar, creating a moving wall
of sound for a music video.  The point is, I create aural images...that have
depth and space to them.  My goal is to make things sound good, coming out of
a professional sound system....or from a small radio on top of a
refrigerator. 
 
3-D stereo photography is the visual parallel to my work with sound.  My
philosophy is to use 3-D to enhance the visual experience, and not to use it
as a gimmick to make pictures worthwhile to look at.    
My goal is to provide a powerful and pleasant experience of this medium.  I
do it through exhibits like this one, or through one of my projected 3-D
multimedia shows, like Stereo Metamorphoses.   The end result is that I get
to share my dimensional images and sounds with others, in stereo ....for both
ears...and both eyes.  As an art form, scientific tool, or entertainment
format, a 3-D stereographic image is truly the next best thing to being
there!"
END QUOTE!!!

So anyway.....just a few things to add here....when I work with sound.....I
feel that the "depth of field" in sound is created by what we term "delay" or
"reverb"....or a combination of those two.  The color or contrast that in
film, I would translate in to what we call "equalisation" and "compression"
  ( although therer are tons of other methods of processing I am not going to
go in to now) processing for the audio chain that the sound goes
through....as I create a finished sound effect. 

I did a lot of that in Ron's Space Shots 3-D....and as well for 
"The Eyes Have It"  (Liberty Science Center 3-D theatre installation....now
installed the Florida Science Center)

Example:  During a long sequence of View Master shots of 60s cartoons.....I
placed many effects to fit the 3-D illusion....many of us recall the Road
Runner.....stepping off a cliff in to the Coyotes trap of what seems to be
fathomous depths below.....of course the Road Runner, due to the Laws of
Cartoon Physics....floats in the air, beep-beeps...and zooom back to the
safety of the Mesa.....and soon the angry Coyote steps in to his own
trap.....and of course....the laws of gravity and reality take effect.....the
Coyote is seen in one shot free falling....and in the next....way, way down
there....you see a tiny plume of dust where he has fallen.

Sound effect:  Well a combo here of using the sound of a firework whining
down in pitch for the falling Coyote (sound effects being created often have
nothing to do with the picture they are matched to....we all know when we see
a TV fight...that a fist to the jaw never sound that way in real life)....and
for the second distant shot....I use low frequency "whump" sound....but that
whump was drowned in  reverb with a delay on the lower volume "direct
sound".....to give the sense that it was far, far away....coupled with the
fact that I used equalisation and volume....to make sound reflections apppear
at different places within the stereo spectrum, as if you were hearing the
sound bouncing off huge canyon walls....all this for the listeners
perception.

In some of the close up shots....if the image had a subject where the sound
would have come from the left or right....or the top or bottom of the
image....we tended to that in the way we mixed the 'stereo image",, panning
the direct sound effect commmensurate left or right...or combination
of....coupled with delays and reverbs to give you a sense of a small
room....or a hallway, of a huge long tunnel...etc....etc.

Of course....if you do not have the proper sound system to do this
all....forget it....in fact in many cases.....a lot of theatres are wired
primitively for center channel mono.....which sadly is to our ears, like a
'flattie" picture is to our eyes. Enough on this....gotta go and make some
sound effects.....re: the sound of me doing my numbers for the bookeeper who
will be here tomorrow for my third quarter ....blahhhhh
Regar-d-d-d-s Jon Golden 



------------------------------