Invitation to the Acoustic Renaissance for Audio
By the Founder of ARA, Professor Hirokazu Negishi
1 Executive Summary
A private proposal to Audio world
The Acoustic Renaissance for Audio (ARA) is a private proposal
to the Audio world. The ARA committee is an private organization for
promoting the movement. The ARA is a campaign to the general
audience, to promote the value of acoustics for audio and hence
the arrival of the third paradigm, multi-channel which is a natural progression after
Mono and Stereo. We are sure all of you are well aware of the
importance of acoustics although the general audience is overwhelmed
by the ever-marching electronics revolution and they tend to forget
the steady evolution of acoustics. Nominally, the ARA is an educational
campaign for promoting acoustic value amongst the public, however
the reason behind it is that unless there is an orchestrated movement
to bolster the audio world, its current downturn will not be arrested.
Thus apart from the ever-decreasing high-end audio, there is a
real danger that the overwhelming effects of other things, such as multi-media/ virtual
reality, will push audio into becoming just one of their components.
The third paradigm - Multi-Channel is with us
There is however an opportunity after
, four decades since the beginning of the stereo business, which is only now available. That
is multi-channel sound reproduction which has been primed by Home
Theatre. Although Home Theatre is not pure audio and multi-channel
sound is not yet perfect, it could be the beginning of the third
paradigm for sound reproduction after Mono and Stereo. These paradigms
are categorized by the way we listen to reproduced sound. Mono
could be heard anywhere in the room whereas stereo was designed
only for the 'hot-spot'. Now, multi-channel will allow a wider
listening area again.
A demonstrable difference exists for the general audience
Multi-channel will provide an audible difference over stereo
for the general public, which is quite scarce these days. Although
"good sound and good acoustics" is the prime purpose
for audio, revolutionary electronics brought the first "good
sound" to such a high level that only a handful of 'hot-spot'
specialists can argue the subtle differences between stereo equipment.
However, stereo could not present a 360-degree sound direction/surround-sound
ambience, whereas multi-channel can provide not only "good
sound" but also "good acoustics" which provides
an audible difference for everyone over stereo.
2. Purpose of The Acoustic Renaissance for Audio
To revitalize audio-related academia/industry (hereafter 'the
audio world'). The ARA will be a campaign targeted at the general
audience to promote the value of acoustics for audio. The ARA
will also serve as a moral backbone as well as a practical guideline
for the audio world so that the general perception of the audio
world will be bolstered, and people working for audio will be
more appropriately recognized. It is also inevitable that audio
will become part of multi-media/virtual reality means. As the
audio world has to prepare not only for pure audio technology but also
for the integrated/inter-disciplinary era, the ARA could be regarded as a useful vehicle for the audio world to review its position.
3. The Acoustic Renaissance for Audio
The ARA is a movement to revive the audio world which is now fighting
a tough battle. It is a campaign for the general audience.
Our definition of audio is to provide "good sound and good
acoustics" in sound reproduction. The key point for the ARA
is to restore the importance of good acoustics. Today's electro-acoustics
for audio is so unbalanced that the electronics become almost
distortion-free, whereas acoustics today are still fighting against
apparent distortions. Our interpretation is that the advancement
of electronics has provided good sound but this is not, in itself, enough for good
acoustics. Future efforts must concentrate on improvements
from the acoustical view point.
The arrival of Home Theatre, and hence the Multi-Channel for Multi-Listeners
era, is the best reason to justify the ARA as it is a new norm,
and it is now taking off many part of world. It will be the third
paradigm after Mono and Stereo. Apparently the current home theatre
movement arose in the US movie industry and spread to HDTV multi-channel
reproduction. Neither of these developments are for the pure audio which concerns only
sound reproduction (no image). In this context there may be some
resistance to the multi-channel paradigm from the pure audio camp.
However, it is so obvious that multi-channel has a clear advantage
over two-channel stereo in many ways. It is interesting to observe
that Americans are normally good at creating eye-catchers, but
in this arena, nothing has yet come forward. On the other hand,
Britain would be the ideal country to initiate the ARA because
it is the homeland of the audio world. As already mentioned, the
ARA is a movement on behalf of the general audience by the audio world
in an orchestrated manner in order to convince all that the third
pardigm is with us. It also implies that fringe activities such
as home theatre, are recognised as an important part of the audio
world which will lead into the third paradigm as well. This may
bear a resemblance to the Renaissance: that although practical
moves were already in progress in remote areas, it was when the
centre of traditional culture, i.e. Florence, gave its recognition,
that the Renaissance became a pan-European phenomenon. As history
tells us, Britain could receive similar fame by the ARA to that
enjoyed by Florence in the Renaissance.
3.1 What Body? - - The ARA committee
The ARA committee is a voluntary body to promote the ARA movement.
At this stage it is like a Non Govermental Organization (NGO).
Most of members are from Britain, the chairman is Bob Stuart (Meridian Audio). Professor Malcolm Hawksford (University of Essex)
is another key member and other members are Tony Griffiths (Recording consultant), David Meares (BBC), Francis Rumsey (University of Surrey), Ross Walker (Quad Electroacoustics), Alan Shaw (Harbeth Acoustics), Stan
Curtis (Wharfedale), Jason Kennedy (Hi Fi Choice), John Borwick (Gramophone), and Andy Szeliga (Canon Audio).
Hiro Negishi (Canon) -- the ARA founder (and visiting professor to University
of Essex) -- is recently joined by Hiroaki 'Bike' Suzuki (JVC) and Dr. Takeo Yamamoto (Pioneer) to start ARA Japan.
The ARA formulated a technical sub-committee in early 1995
which proposed the HQAD, High Quality Audio Disk ,
an application based on the DVD/SD/MMCD format.
3.2 How it has started?
May 1994, Hiro Negishi sent a private proposal to his British
audio colleagues and many of them responded positively. First
key person was the late Sir Raymond E. Cooke OBE, who was the chairman of
KEF Electronics Ltd. He helped Negishi in finding the way the
ARA should proceed in British Audio world. Secondly, two members from academia,
Malcolm Hawksford and Francis Rumsey, supported him in refining
the proposal and both are propagating the ARA message in their
respective manner. Thirdly, two industrial figures, Ross Walker
and Bob Stuart encouraged him in promoting the ARA proposal into
real audio world. Those collective efforts brought the ARA
membership under one banner, designed and presented by Allen Boothroyd/Cambridge
Product Design Ltd. Then, Bob Stuart organised the technical sub-committee
for the HQAD proposal which had attracted a lot of attention internationally.
3.3 What the ARA Should Cover? - - from a moral campaign to practical
rating
The main activity is to be a campaign by the audio world,
to lead the general audience towards the arrival of the third paradigm.
Firstly, it is important to arouse an awareness amongst those
within the Audio world on why the ARA was formulated. Approaches to
other parts of the audio world had taken place in order to promote
the ARA as a global interest in common. Although this would be
a non-profit-making activity, it could perform some kind of promotional
activity for the ARA. One possible approach is the logo applied
to a product /service body which would have been assessed and
passed a certain standard by a board consisting of institute/
manufacturers/ agents etc. (similar to the Design Centre label/logo).
There could be several groups or tiers of merit so that customers
could bear this in mind against the price. It could be applied
to music software, audio hardware, and organizations.
If this sounds like yet another audio magazine's annual award,
it is in fact as different as the body is to the spirit! However,
this analogy also reminds us that it is vital to have an excellent
understanding and full collaboration with journalists in the audio
world.
3.4 What Is the Benefit from the ARA Activity? - - revitalize
the Audio World
For academia, the quality of the student/researcher will improve due to
their increased awareness of the importance of audio. For industry,
better business could be achieved because of higher status amongst
audio/ multi-media/ virtual reality business. All of these will
be the core of the next century's home entertainment business,
at the terminal of the information super-highway.
On the other hand, if nothing takes place, the current gradual
back-sliding may bring the Audio world into becoming a second-rated
citizen in the next century.
3.5 Timing - - ideal for home theatre/surround-sound take-off
Now is the time for action.
4. Background
4.1 The Third Paradigm Has Arrived - - mono, stereo, and now
multi-channel
The audio world started with mono which was the first paradigm
until the early 50s. Then stereo came to succeed mono - this became
the second paradigm. Now the third paradigm, multi-channel is
with us. Of course one may regard the LP, the magnetic tape, the
CD and other digital means also as important, but in our view,
these are not significant enough to formulate a paradigm.
You may ask why mono, stereo and multi-channel are the paradigms.
Our answer is that they dominate the way we listen to audio reproduction.
Mono could be enjoyed side-by-side with friends, whereas stereo
is only for the 'hot-spot', hence highly personalized. Now multi-channel
can again provide a much wider listening area, therefore it can
again be enjoyed with friends or families. Of course, we are not
suggesting that multi-channel would serve equally well for all
listeners. It will be like being in theatre/concert hall seating conditions.
In other words, the centre is still the best, but other seats
would also be served comfortably.
As already touched upon, our world would pursue multi-media/virtual
reality to its limit in order to recreate a realistic experience,
and there is no doubt that audio would play an important part
in this.
4.2. A Strategic Campaign Needed for the Third Paradigm
Unless any appropriate strategy towards the general audience exists,
it seems hard for us to convince customers that this third paradigm
is not a repetition of the ill-fated Quadraphonics in the 70s.
Unfortunately, up till now, we have not yet come across any strategic
approach in utilizing this rare opportunity within the audio world.
We are aware though that the current available technologies are
not yet perfect: therefore more improvement is needed. However,
once the playback system becomes multi-channel, we will not be
far from reaching the target. What we need in the audio world
is a strategic campaign to promote to the general public the arrival
of the third paradigm. It seems to us that this is easily
understood by people in the audio world, whereas the general public
is scarcely aware of this fundamental change, because there has
not yet been a coherent voice stating this change in a clear and
understandable manner.
4.4. The Audible Difference - - the best opportunity is here
As the purpose of audio is to provide "good sound and good
acoustics", audio owes a great deal to electro-acoustics. Thanks
to the revolutionary development of electronics, sound quality
of stereo reproduction today has reached quite a high standard
and as a consequence, the current argument for sound quality tends
to pick up only trivial differences to which only a handful of
'hot-spot' critical listeners could make a contribution. However, it seems
to us that the acoustic- related area in audio still has much
room for improvement. For instance, the direction of sound and
surround-sound ambience are key features in acoustics. Multi-channel,
which can provide 360-degree sound, is the best opportunity for
promoting the second purpose of audio reproduction, i.e. "good
acoustics".
Moreover, unlike the subtle sound quality differences between
stereo equipment, which is only appreciated by the trained ear
at the 'hot-spot', the difference between 360-degree sound over
stereo is easily detectable by the general audience. In other
words, the contrast is quite clear and demonstrable, which has
been absent in recent audio. The trend to multi- channel is irreversible.
The idea of the Acoustic Renaissance for Audio is to announce
to the general audience from the audio world that we have already
reached the entrance of the third paradigm which has a clear audible
difference over the previous paradigm, stereo. On the other hand,
the audio world has to appreciate that only an orchestrated campaign
could convey a clear message to the general public.
4.5. Audio is a Means for Art - - therefore it also deserves
a renaissance
An important movement in music in recent years should be pointed
out. This is a movement which has been led by musicians performing
with authentic instruments and in original performance styles.
For instance, The BBC's centenary Promenade Concert ("The Proms") had several concerts which fell into this category. The movement was a cry from the soul of the
musician to return to the original and find out that which has
been lost in the advancement of musical instruments and concert
halls. Musicians too are now attaching greater importance to acoustics.
Could this be anything but their acoustic renaissance?
The reason we are proposing the ARA to you is that audio is 'serving'
music which is an important part of art. It is of course art which
previously experienced the Renaissance. Without the Renaissance
we would not have today's art, and we believe that without the
Acoustic Renaissance for Audio the audio world may have difficulty
in sustaining its position as a means for the art under the new
paradigm.
5. References
1. Rumsey, Francis. 'Renaissance Surroundings' Studio Sound, September
1994, p55-56
2. Harris, Steve. 'Comment' HiFi News,40 no.1 p5, Jan 1995.
3. Hawksford, Malcolm. O. 'Digital Frontiers', HiFi News,40,
no.2 p58-59,106, Feb 1995
Back to ARA Home Page