I have just plain stereo and wouldn’t change it for the world. Have had all sorts of setups throught the years… it’s so much easier when I don’t have to worry about speaker mapping or what the player/browser would do with a plain stereo signal on a 5.1 or a 7.1 setup. Sometimes, everything’s kosher, most of the time it’s a mess.
Like it or not, stereo has been the default way to record audio for the last 80, 90 year, and it has proven that it’s simple, yet effective at making the music “come alive” in the listener’s mind. Sure, surround does it better, but there is too much maintenance into it, plus mastering albums in surround is a real PITA, especially electronic music (not real instruments, so how are you gonna map that effect/sound 🤷). Most TV stations also air plain stereo. Cameras, phones - plain stereo. Most series - also, plain stereo. Movies are basically the “odd ball out” because they’re a combined multimedia experience (video and audio) and they’re usually just shots of real world stuff happening in front of a screen, so it’s not that difficult to surround map the sound on them (i.e. the video tells the story of how the auido should ”move").
stereo has been the default way to record audio for the last 80, 90 year
No it hasn’t been. 70yrs would be a stretch. Even in the 60s you’d still have Mono albums released regularly, as well as alongside Stereo releases. Stereo television broadcasts weren’t introduced until 1984 in the United States. For reference, the first Dolby Surround cinema release was Apocalypse Now in 1979.
Easier to find a 75" in 4k than 720p resolution I guess?
But I can’t rationalize the sound aspect.
I have just plain stereo and wouldn’t change it for the world. Have had all sorts of setups throught the years… it’s so much easier when I don’t have to worry about speaker mapping or what the player/browser would do with a plain stereo signal on a 5.1 or a 7.1 setup. Sometimes, everything’s kosher, most of the time it’s a mess.
Like it or not, stereo has been the default way to record audio for the last 80, 90 year, and it has proven that it’s simple, yet effective at making the music “come alive” in the listener’s mind. Sure, surround does it better, but there is too much maintenance into it, plus mastering albums in surround is a real PITA, especially electronic music (not real instruments, so how are you gonna map that effect/sound 🤷). Most TV stations also air plain stereo. Cameras, phones - plain stereo. Most series - also, plain stereo. Movies are basically the “odd ball out” because they’re a combined multimedia experience (video and audio) and they’re usually just shots of real world stuff happening in front of a screen, so it’s not that difficult to surround map the sound on them (i.e. the video tells the story of how the auido should ”move").
No it hasn’t been. 70yrs would be a stretch. Even in the 60s you’d still have Mono albums released regularly, as well as alongside Stereo releases. Stereo television broadcasts weren’t introduced until 1984 in the United States. For reference, the first Dolby Surround cinema release was Apocalypse Now in 1979.
Yeah, you’re right, I messed up counting backwards 😂.
Still, stereo is good enough for me, I just can’t be bothered with complicated setups any more 🤷.