Originally Posted by
Effem
Too little is known either about the way the senses INTERACT with each other and a good example of that is film music soundtracks. Watch a good film and really enjoy the soundtrack during the performance, then listen to the soundtrack on it's own and it sounds pants.
You broach a very interesting subject, something that almost deserves its own thread. However, since the topic of this thread is perception vs assumed, hypothesized 'objective' state of affairs, this subject fits nicely in.
This has been happening to me all the time. I would watch a movie, and suddenly notice how the background music in the movie sounds fantastic. I would then immediately (for some reason), make a quick mental comparison with the quality of the music presentation in the movie vs. the quality I'm getting when listening to music only. I would often get to a conclusion that, for some reason, the music in the movie has better presentation than my regular audiophile setup.
Why is that surprising to me? Well, what's puzzling is that when I'm watching a DVD on my Playstation 3, I think I'm getting really good sound quality. However, when I'm listening to a CD on the same player, I find the presentation seriously lacking when compared to the same CD played through my Logitech Squeezebox Touch.
So, according to the above math, there is no way that a soundtrack on a DVD played on PS3 can beat the sound from the Touch.
What is the above telling me? There seems to be an additional emotional component at play. While watching a movie, my visual sense gets engaged, and tends to lend some acuity to my hearing sense, thus tricking me into thinking that I hear deeper, wider soundstage and overall, more present, more convincing soundscape.
But, as you said, if I obtain just the soundtrack CD and listen to it, suddenly the magic is gone.
Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?
Alex.