Steve_Graham@ub.cc.umich.edu (10/30/90)
I seem to have been misread by someone last time around. I didn't say or mean to imply that the three-mike system of recording lacks depth: quite the opposite. I am intrigued by these new systems that are supposed to generate the appearance of sounds coming from all sorts of directions (up/down/around) via two speakers. However it seems to me that the only way to do this successfully is during recording. I can see how directional cues could be generated artificially (and in fact have experienced the phenomenon of having out-of-phase sounds appear to come from somewhere behind me, via the two front speakers--try Blade Runner for instance for Dolby surround with no extra speakers) but I can't see how any decoder could possibly know where unprocessed sounds are "supposed" to come from and generate the appropriate cues.