The Story of Stereo: Part 1
b'Our ears are amazing things\\u2026evolution has created an ability that allows us to tell the direction of a sound\\u2026left and right, up and down, front and back\\u2026we can tell how close something might be, whether it\\u2019s stationary or moving, and if it\\u2019s coming towards us or going away\\u2026in other words, we hear sound in 3-d\\u2026very helpful for humans on the plains of Africa who had to be worried about being eaten by a lion\\u2026\\n\\nThis directionality also makes listen to music so enjoyable\\u2026the very same things that prevented us from being eaten allow us to appreciate music, whether it be live or recorded\\u2026\\n\\nWith a live performance, we\\u2019re in the same space as the musicians, so our ears and eyes work together when it comes to how we interpret what\\u2019s going on in front of us\\u2026we\\u2019re able to pick out all kinds of individual details\\u2026that includes the bad stuff like unwanted echo and reverb\\u2026and we\\u2019re always at the mercy of whoever is controlling and the mixing the audio for a gig\\u2026\\n\\nBut let\\u2019s focus recorded music\\u2026how do you create that illusion of sitting in front of a performer?...and I\\u2019m talking about the ability to close your eyes and visualize where everyone is onstage?...the singer out front\\u2026the guitarist slightly to your right\\u2026the keyboardist is slightly to your left\\u2026you can tell that the drummer is further back than everyone else, but parts of the kit are slightly spread out\\u2026and the bass player is in there somewhere, but doesn\\u2019t overwhelm the rest of the instruments\\u2026\\n\\nFor the last 60-plus years, technology has relied on a set of principles and techniques that allow recorded music to sound exponentially better that 99% of live performances\\u2014at least in terms of audio quality\\u2026listening to music this way is a totally immersive experience\\u2026\\n\\nWe call it \\u201cstereo\\u201d\\u2026and this is how this part of our musical lives came to be\\u2026it\\u2019s The Story of Stereo, Part 1\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'