Re: [ARSCLIST] Acoustic playback

[stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Another factor that should be considered is the fact that most recordings
made during the acoustic era (and probably later) were made in echo-free
"padded" studios, which eliminated an important element in the realism
of sound! Our brains depend on echo and reverberation for locating
sound sources...a process we developed when this location was an
important part of survival (how well one located the bear determined
who ate whom!) and sound with no echo lacks any naturalness.

This is probably why reverb was substituted for true stereo on
"simulated stereo" records and fooled a lot of buyers!

(as an example, play "Freshie" by Waring's Pennsylvanians, 
which was for some reason recorded in an acoustically "live"
room!)

...stevenc
http://users.interlinks.net/stevenc/