This is interesting, sort of “Half Atmos?” It would be interesting to track down the recording, if it exists.
September 11, 1976
New 4-Channel Approach
Could Revitalize Medium
LOS ANGELES-
FyF Studios, a 1½-year-old studio just outside Athens. Ga., has developed a new approach to 4-channel recording and playback which places all four speakers in front of the listener instead of around him and which it contends can revitalize sagging interest in 4-channel.
In the traditional 4-channel setup, speakers are placed in four corners creating the "surround" sound and producers and engineers cut 4-chan-nel LPs with that in mind.
The FyF system, however, according to Hal Peller, studio president,
"is a 4-channel frontal plane in which all four speakers are in front of the listener, two on the floor, and two on the ceiling, enabling the producer to more closely recreate the live concert sound."
This is accomplished, says Peller, by placing sounds during the recording process in a physical correspondence with the listener's perception of live music.
Through special recording techniques, the producer is able to place the various sounds of musical instruments in their proper physical location so the net result when they are played back using the FyF technique is that the bass drum sounds, for example, are heard emanating from the floor, the snare drum sounds from two feet above that, the guitar sounds from either the right or the left, and vocals from about five feet above the floor, so that each element is perceived in a realistic physical relationship to the others.
The system was designed by Barry Schlosser, 25, an associate member of the Audio Engineering Society and audio consultant to FyF, who is doing album production employing the new technique at the studio.
Schlosser believes the main reason why 4-channel records haven't really gone over the way some had predicted at the onset-in addition to the criticism about musical quality, the lack of a standard encode/decode system (currently there are three, SQ, QS and CD-4), the extra expense to the consumer for two additional speakers, and the hassles involved in arranging a living environment to accommodate traditional 4-channel listening-is that the human ears are more attuned at perceiving frontal information and are actually irritated by information or sounds coming from the rear.
The new technique does not involve any new electronics per se, but is a method for mixing or "placing sounds" vertically and horizontally in four frontal speakers. The method is also compatible with existing SQ, QS and CD-4 equipment.
Musicians record basically the same way, adds Schlosser, as they would for normal stereo in the studio but he has experimented with various miking techniques such as placing two mikes at the top of each instrument and two at the bottom.
“We have even done some crazy things," he notes, "like having certain people standing higher than others but one thing we are still experimenting with is what miking techniques are best suited to the FyF sound field."
The FyF control room is set up with three monitoring systems, 4-channel, stereo and mono with the two pairs of small loudspeakers at the top and bottom comprising the FyF monitors.
The incoming signals, according to Schlosser, "are then routed to a quad-panner which enables the signal to be sent to the appropriate FyF monitor in front of the listener. Each signal is processed on its own quad panner in a similar fashion until the desired balance is obtained.
"After a suitable mix is achieved, the signals are recorded on a 4-chan-nel tape machine with track designation standardized so top left is track 1, top right is track 2, bottom left is track 3, and bottom right is track 4." The first project using the technique, an album entitled "The Ants Get Away" with a group called Sun Tower, is about half complete, indicates Schlosser, who is producing and engineering.
"It's our own production," he says, “and it will be a total production in the sense that there will be other sound effects in addition to the music like rain falling down, for example. I think the LP should be finished by year-end."
Schlosser feels it's a little premature to talk about marketing the LP but says they will be talking to record companies about the project.
"Initially," he says, "we were thinking about marketing it through schools but working with a label might be a viable approach also. We just haven't gotten down to the nitty gritty of that yet. As we go along, I'm sure we will be talking to more people about the concept.
As for mastering, Schlosser says he is leaning towards CD-3 when the album is completed but concedes SQ or QS are probably easier to market to the consumer because they don't require a special and expensive cartridge.
"Again," says Schlosser, "we will wait until the tapes are finished as well as having more discussions with CD-4, SQ, and QS proponents."
The young audio consultant also points out that the FyF system is one project the studio is involved in, which also has facilities for recording and broadcast production.
"We are still adding some equipment and building some facilities," he notes. "Actually, it's a converted ranch house."
One of Schlosser's other projects which he is in the midst of designing is a recording facility based on geodesic structures, the architectural principles of futurist Buckminster Fuller which are domes based on triangles.
Schlosser says he believes that type of architecture is a perfect one and one in which special acoustical properties are generated.
Other areas still to be explored with the FyF system, according to Schlosser, in addition to what are the best miking techniques and what en-code/decode system works the best with FyF, include what are the best ways ambient information can be generated from four loudspeakers and what provisions should there be on recording consoles to facilitate FyF system recordings.
