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Editorial by Gene Pitts
Owner and editor of the audiophile voice.Multi-Channel Show
Well, I've been back from the Vegas Show for almost a month, but I can't say that I've recovered yet. It's my own fault', however, taking red-eye flights at both ends, ones where I had to change planes in Detroit. Not that I dislike Detroit, mind you, but what's saved in air fare comes out of one's hide. Worse, it also came out of my attention, too. For example, it took two days for me to figure out which of the Budget Suites buildings my room was actually in. By the end of the show, I was working off Monday's calendar of events but it was Tuesday.
Multi-channel sound was the biggest news in Las Vegas (after the 120,000 attendees and the awful parking), and I am not referring to the 5.1 used for home theater. The best-attended press conferences were perhaps those put on in a large auditorium in the Alexis Park by Tom Holman and billed as "the Surround Sound Roundtable Supersession." Rather than touting one format or another, SACD vs. DVD-A for example, Holman's panelists gave several startling glimpses of what might be sonically achieved with BIG computers, FAST internet connections, and STRONG imaginations. In fact, Holman opined, all formats might become completely transparent to one another, given the proper computer facilities. Guitarist Peter DiStefano told how computers allowed him not only to multi-track but also "be Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer or Martin Scorsese - all in my bedroom." I wasn't overwhelmed by his music, though that was a matter of my taste versus his, but I certainly did like his attitude about making music in all of the room. This wasn't ping-pong stereo, either, but rather music that got out and around the listener.
Probably the biggest name on Holman's bill was Herbie Hancock who put on a 10.2 demo by manipulating older stereo recordings with some new algorithms and "virtual microphones." It is not well appreciated that the point-one channel is full range in the standard, though it is mostly used for subwoofer information these days. Hancock's point seemed to me to be that it was time to think seriously about moving beyond two-channel stereo, about ignoring the difficulties with the old quad system, and perhaps see that one could use "surround in a natural way."
Other presenters included Gateway Mastering's Bob Ludwig and Bjorn Dybdal of Bjorn's Audio/Video in San Antonio.
Another excellent multi-channel demo was put on by Bob Stuart, principal of the U.K.'s Boothryod-Stuart and Meridian Audio, as well as inventor of the Meridian Lossless process used by DVD-Audio. Two tracks particularly stick out in my memory. The first was largely ambience music, something like Brian Eno's Music for Airports, except that it was New Age-y rainforest music. The arrangement of the channels was two in front at normal ear height, two in the middle with an upward component that was audible even though these speakers weren't moved higher than the front pair, and finally the back pair. The other track was of the Neville Brothers and had a rather unusual location for the lead signer, far to the left, while three other voices of the chorus were spread from m id-left to the far right. All very effective.
David Kawakami of Sony put on yet another very effective demo of surround sound, this time from SACDS. Until now, multi-channel recordings had taken a back seat in this format. The most impressive item from friend David was a six-channel recording by the Guano Apes from West Germany, that I don't know quite how to classify save as maybe Factory Techno Pop. Like DiStefano's work, it used ALL the channel info but it wasn't ping-pong. This was the first time I've really been interested in setting up a digitally based multi-channel system, except to do demonstrations. I'll let you know.
