Non-diegetic space in recorded music
Rob Bridgett · Focal Press eBooks · 2021
Another fascinating area of sonic space to consider is the space inherent in the recorded score itself, and how that translates to, and interplays with, the diegetic 3D game-world spaces people see on screen. It could be argued that by having music recorded in a recognisably reverberant live space, perhaps an interesting cathedral or cave, one which imprints the space into the recording of the music in an interesting and characterful way, there could be a dissonance with the 3D reverberated spaces that are presented in the diegesis of the game, for example a cave or tomb. Certain genres of music even carry with them an expectation for the presence of some kind of musical performance space or production-added space. Cuban music very often only feels authentic when the presence of a mid-sized hall or room is audible in those recordings. Similarly, choral and classical music will almost always be recorded in large live-sounding spaces.