Center channel vocal only

[solaris]

Ok what recordings place the main vocals in the center with nothing else,

 

[Dylan Berichon]

The Billy Joel SACDs come to mind.

The Beatles "Love" DVD-A as well, as I remember, although they had some other effects in the center channel along with the vocals.

Parts of the Doors "LA Woman" DVD-A are also this way, as I recall.

 

[JonUrban]

James Taylor SACDs (except October Rd), Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil (listen to Mick breathe), the Elton Johns, there are more I am missing.

 

[dr. simple]

Crowded House.

The Chicago DVDAs are mostly vocals, but bass and "lead" instrument as well. I like to put my ear right up to the center channel on the flute solo on "Color My World" and the guitar solo on "25 Or 6 To 4".

 

[spenceo]

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell. All lead vocals from center, although other instruments as well. One of the only multi's I own that I prefer the center OFF.

Spence

 

[DaneelOlivaw]

Simple Minds' Once Upon A Time dvd-audio (along with an occasional lone synthesizer). And IIRC all the reverb for the vocal emanates from the right/left mains so Jim Kerr sounds like he's singing directly into your ear.

 

[solaris]

a french SACD Home:Benjamin Biolay
has only vocals in the center

 

[Eggplant]

Umm . . . would you believe (drum roll . . . )

Silverline?

Okay, Immergent. My original demo sampler (compiled from various Imm compilations) features nearly-lone vocals from Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Beach Boys, Jonathan Waite, and (best of all) Huey Lewis?

Next in the would-you-believe category -- Blue Oyster Cult/Agents of Fortune.

John Mayer's Room for Squares have several such tracks, including Why Georgia (at least until the bass guitar and drum kick in).

Some of the above have an occasional guitar lick or other overdub present -- check out Pat Benatar/Heartbreaker or Blue Oyster Cult/Don't Fear the Reaper for some center-channel fun.

The T. Rex DVD-A has Marc Bolan's vocal isolated nicely.

Carpenters SACD is great for enjoying Karen's lone voice.

I enjoy studying a cappela vocals so much, I made a "Center Channel" compilation of all the above, plus Elton, Billy, Steely and others.

 

[quadtrade]

You can take the center and stick it were the sun won't shine. It just screws up music . Two reasons, the idiots who mix are determined to use it, even if it f*cks up the whole soundfield, and most people have a silly tiny speaker at that position. We should be the one place that informs folks of the problems it causes, not celebrate the insanity of its use.:sun My mid year rant. AP saw my "tiny" speaker mixed in with my JBL Jubals and says"why use it when we all have speakers like that!"
Thanks Tom Holman for nothing but F*CKING it all up!!!!!! My mid year center channel rant. Back to regular programing. (by corporate clowns) That sure seems to be the operative word!!!!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

You can take the center and stick it were the sun won't shine. It just screws up music . Two reasons, the idiots who mix are determined to use it, even if it f*cks up the whole soundfield, and most people have a silly tiny speaker at that position. We should be the one place that informs folks of the problems it causes, not celebrate the insanity of its use.:sun My mid year rant. AP saw my "tiny" speaker mixed in with my JBL Jubals and says"why use it when we all have speakers like that!"
Thanks Tom Holman for nothing but F*CKING it all up!!!!!! My mid year center channel rant. Back to regular programing. (by corporate clowns) That sure seems to be the operative word!!!!

I ain't gonna argue with you, at least, when you are in mid-rant. You might want to try L'ARPEGGIATA: La Tarantella Christina Pluhars, L'Arpeggiata Alpha SA 503 (SACD). It has the vocals/solos only in stereo (L/R channels) with the center just providing providing ambience. Works quite well.

Kal

 

[Ge Someone]

My mid year center channel rant.

A mid year rant is great for the center channel.
As with the whole surround thing, it only sounds good when setup correctly (unfortunately for some ).

 

[JonUrban]

You can take the center and stick it were the sun won't shine. It just screws up music . Two reasons, the idiots who mix are determined to use it, even if it f*cks up the whole soundfield, and most people have a silly tiny speaker at that position. We should be the one place that informs folks of the problems it causes, not celebrate the insanity of its use.:sun My mid year rant. AP saw my "tiny" speaker mixed in with my JBL Jubals and says"why use it when we all have speakers like that!"
Thanks Tom Holman for nothing but F*CKING it all up!!!!!! My mid year center channel rant. Back to regular programing. (by corporate clowns) That sure seems to be the operative word!!!!

Go Tad! (PS - You don't have to use the '*' if you don't want to at QQ - you can say anything! )

PS - Who's Tom Holman?

 

[solaris]

you really need a JBL Jubala center(maybe in blue) if you want to give 5.1 a fair shake
Tom Holman is not F*CKING it all up!!!!!!
Tiny center speakers are
I wish I had Money and room for 5 identical speakers myself

http://www.tmhlabs.com/research/research.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-JBL-L65-Ju...ryZ50597QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Cai Campbell]

I am generally not a fan of a center channel unless it is used for vocals only. I don't know what it is, but I LOVE the sound of an immersive 5.1 mix with a fully isolated lead vocal in the center channel. In fact, that is my very favorite flavor of a surround mix.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

You can take the center and stick it were the sun won't shine. It just screws up music . Two reasons, the idiots who mix are determined to use it, even if it f*cks up the whole soundfield, and most people have a silly tiny speaker at that position. We should be the one place that informs folks of the problems it causes, not celebrate the insanity of its use.

I couldn't agree more. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but the more I hear 5.1 music the more I'm not liking how the music is mixed forcing you to listen in one direction only. Whereas Quadraphonic mixes have a way better surround field that allow's you to walk around the room and listen in any direction. When I get a chance to mix new material I will not use the center channel and leave it as a 4.0 Quadraphonic mix. Surround music was done right in the first place in the 1970's. Otherwise they'll just keep adding more and more speakers for the home.

In all fairness to 5.1 it is it's own animal like Stereo and Mono is.

 

[Guy Robinson]

I am generally not a fan of a center channel unless it is used for vocals only. I don't know what it is, but I LOVE the sound of an immersive 5.1 mix with a fully isolated lead vocal in the center channel. In fact, that is my very favorite flavor of a surround mix.

Agreed. Generally I like isolated vocals in the center. The dislike of this set-up may have something to do with a center that is not matched to the other front speakers. I find that when vocals are isolated in the center they still mix well in the soundstage with the other 2 front speakers.

 

[seriousfun]

Remember that there are two ways to make a sonic image appear from in front of the listener. One is by using a discrete speaker channel, and the other is to use two speakers creating a phantom image.

Put a sound, such as a lead vocal dry, into a single center channel speaker, and the vocal sounds a certain way - it's as good as the speaker/amp channel will allow, and will sound pretty much the same whether you are sitting in the center, to the right, to the left, toward the front, or toward the back. Yes, many systems are compromised by using a crappy speaker in the center, and by engaging many reflections from the big TV that the speaker is sitting on.

The other way is to put that vocal track equally in R and L to create a phantom image. A person sitting dead in the middle will see the image, but move this listener to the right or left (or forward or back) and the image is lost. Also, the phantom image will differ in time and phase from a discrete image. And, the phantom will have a different frequency response from the same sound presented from one speaker.

Now, there are two extreme positions that can be chosen by engineers mixing in surround. One is to always use C discretely, like a film mix, and the other would be to never use C because it is somehow...wrong, or because some people use a crappy speaker.

Either of these extreme positions is the wrong position.

To exclude the use of C is an ignorant position, unless it is done with full knowlege and experience with C and chosen as the best delivery of that particular content. Guthrie's version of DSOTM didn't use C for lead vocals - I kind of accepted that since we have decades of memories of how those phantom vocals sounded. Using C exclusively for dry vocals is rarely the right choice, either, and they usually sound best when supported somewhat (5-10% in R&L combined with significan C), or supported by reverb or effects in the center.

Stereo mic'd orchestral music is a different story - a live orchestral experience from a good seat is mostly C, with a little L&R and a lot of Ls and Rs (rarely a discrete instrument from any position - they all occur in a wonderful soundfield), and IMO is best presented this way.

So, I say use C for most pop and rock 5.1 mixes (and implement the playback system properly at home, so don't have anything to complain about).

Now, don't get me started on the LFE channel...

 

[quadtrade]

Go Tad! (PS - You don't have to use the '*' if you don't want to at QQ - you can say anything! )

PS - Who's Tom Holman?

Try this link for some info.http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/surround2001/technology/page_11.shtml. Basically he "invented" 5.1 and now promotes 10.2 as "the way". I am not buying 8 or even 10 JBLs and could not fit them in anyway. Without him well we would not have THX and try and explain THX to someone. At CES i would always have someone ask about THX which means absolutly nothing, just approved by Tom.
I have a JVC unit for the auto which is fab, does dvd video and audio so i can play videos and switch off the screen for legal purposes. The problem with this unit is obviously no one put this in a auto and played a 5.1 disc that has that center ripping with vocals and music and whatever. Cause they stuck a menu together that allows a 10 db up or down hit on each channel to balance. The center just bounces off the windshield and can overwhelm everything very easily even down the 10db. Idiot engineers should have allowed it to go up and down much more to balance. I had to run up to Portland to the airport a couple days ago. Its a 110 miles(nothing for westeners). So i had a couple hours to check discs out. Put in a Doors disc i still had not heard, and got front blasted again, those discs have to be played at home i guess. Just caused me to rant, but seems like the center has been abused. Now with no material out at all .....just makes ya want to throw your hands up and say who cares. Gonna be an artist driven area, this multichannel market.

 

[JonUrban]

The Acuras have a seperate volume control for the center speaker. I did notice what you are speaking of when I got my first one with the ELS system. The lead vocal was flooding the fronts!

It turned out that the idiot dealer had the center speaker volume MAXED OUT!! That was a trip!

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Try this link for some info.http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/surround2001/technology/page_11.shtml. Basically he "invented" 5.1 and now promotes 10.2 as "the way". I am not buying 8 or even 10 JBLs and could not fit them in anyway. Without him well we would not have THX and try and explain THX to someone. At CES i would always have someone ask about THX which means absolutly nothing, just approved by Tom.

Check out the video here about a 10.2 sound system:

http://imsc.usc.edu/research/project/immersive_audio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_sound#10.2_Channel_Surround

Say, they're missing a couple of speakers on the ceiling!