Immersive Audio and How to Achieve It

@kota1 

Immersiveness is the wrong term for what I have in mind. What I am after is the illusion of a live performance, perceived realism in tibre, size and volume. I will discuss this in detail in a future post. 

@kota1 

I know when I'm immersed and when I'm not -- I most certainly do not require a scientist to perform or validate such assessments for me. 

OK @stuartk , I respect your preferences. Here is a nice perspective from Giles martin on immersive audio. He says when his father mixed the Beatles records in the studio he was attempting to paint the walls with music. His description is now with atmos, they are actually bringing those walls to life. He left out the other part but if you need at least 9 speakers to bring the walls to life what are the walls like with only two speakers, well I could say flat, or less than alive (about :25 mark):

https://youtu.be/Wy4KqZYaj3c

kota1

... A live performance "immerses" you and frees you up to move around the room, the dance floor and still be immersed ...

Your statement reveals you have very limited experience with live music performances. You might be surprised to learn that many of the sonically best music venues have no dance floor at all.

I agree with cleed’s response above.

I don’t necessarily prefer a live performance, especially if the sound system sucks or I have a bad seat. If the sound system is monophonic, I’d rather hear a good stereo recording of that performance.

With a good stereo recording with natural ambience, my system can reproduce three dimensions of the performance, and that’s "immersive" enough for a lot of music. However, I do enjoy having sounds come from various directions, whether it’s through a multichannel system or creative use of out-of-phase sounds, like Eddie Kramer employed on Electric Ladyland. Also, getting immersed in music may depend as much on the listener’s state of mind as it does on the gear.

@drmuso

First, love the system you posted and especially that rack of LP’s. I agree I would rather hear a great recording of a live performance than be stuck at one that sucks (crowd noise, bad seats, too loud, etc). I think your speakers are very capable of providing an immersive bubble with a good recording. You might like the atmos mix of this live hendrix recording. In my room its like being there. Speaking of Eddie Kramer see:

The historic playback session was accompanied by a discussion with producers Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer and John McDermott, moderated by journalist and music critic Randy Lewis. Kramer, who engineered all major Jimi Hendrix releases, was responsible for the album’s stereo mix. During the discussion, Janie Hendrix, sister of music legend Jimi Hendrix, described the timing of the live album as the perfect moment in which “technology finally caught up to Jimi.” When asked by Lewis whether Jimi Hendrix was aware of the potential of the live recording of the Forum show all three producers confirmed he listened to it but the plan for a live album never came, that is until now.

https://music.mxdwn.com/2022/11/13/los-angeles/dolby-atmos-host-listening-party-for-jimi-hendrix-experience-los-angeles-forum-april-26-1969/