SPACE – Recording Environment

What does SPACE actually do?

SPACE resolves the typical overdubbed characteristics of sample libraries. You can precisely place each player, and adjust section levels and room size. You indirectly control the acoustics of the room environment by moving individual players (and their associated spot mics) closer and further apart from one another, and closer or further from the room mics. This would be part of any live ensemble recording, but is never possible with conventional sample libraries where player positions and their relationship to the mics are established during the recording session and can't be altered later. Others may try to approximate what SPACE does with a reverb, but it's simply not possible. With SPACE you can almost completely eliminate the room if you want a very dry, tight sound; doing this with another library would require truncating the sample tails, and they'd sound unnatural. On the other hand, with space you can get as tight or spacious a sound as you wish, and you can still add you favorite reverb to SPACE’s output.

Why is SPACE needed?

Non-DVZ libraries are recorded as ensembles with locked-in room sound. DVZ libraries are individual desk samples with separate spot and room mics to avoid fixed room signatures. SPACE then recreates scalable mic bleed and room mic depth. This is why both live ensembles and DVZ don’t sound like overdubs. SPACE also provides individual output level controls to balance the five section stems, a very helpful feature for those setups when you use a mixed stereo output instead of discrete stereo section stem outputs.

How does SPACE work?

In live ensemble recordings, the spot mics pick up all players, not just the nearest player’s sound; this cross-bleed contributes the lion’s share of the live “room sound” quality. SPACE’s patented technology is the only process able to simulate the traditional Decca Tree room mic array as well as leakage (cross-bleed) between the spot mics on the stage. SPACE creates this realistic effect after-the-fact by uncoupling the recorded spot mic for each of the individual sampled desks, plus the overall room mic contribution of each desk, then reassembling those components depending upon how you place the players and adjust SPACE’s environmental controls.