[SirBenn21]

It would be great for people outside of US to be able to purchase the tracks. I don't understand why is HDTrack not offering its service outside of US? It really isn't really fair and in not offering it outside of US its shutting itself out of a huge market.

They will unfortunately suffer the wrath of Pirates. Sad really and a bit silly on the side of whoever is the marketing team.

Ben

 

[CARRION FEAST]

Wow, excellent. Ain't nothin' like a good binaural If you're into headphones, this is worth owning. Nuff said

 

[IPodPJ]

Got the 24/88 version.  It's 1.6 GB worth of files in FLAC format.  Sounds very good and is neat to listen to if you want to experience binaural.  I just wish it wasn't all percussion.  I'd like to have some nice binaural music to listen to and I hope Chesky will make something like that for us.  Thanks, Chesky!

 

[wower]

Too cool. Thanks for the pics.

 

 

[mukulymn]

downloading ths album right now

 

 

[jax]

I've listened to the samples on HD Tracks and it strikes me as having direct bloodlines to an older (1990), quite well-known (in audiophile circles), percussion recording: Dåfos (Mickey Hart). Though not a binaural recording it has very similar qualities to what I heard in the samples and is most definitely a go-to recording to show off a speaker system, and would certainly give headphones a workout as well.  
 
I don't know that I'd spend that much time listening to this on headphones, though so I'm hesitant to get a copy, if only for the novelty of it.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what's been done here, and wish that there were more binaural recordings with a much wider variety of music.  I just don't know that this genre is something I do enjoy as much on headphones.  I do own quite a few very dramatic percussion albums, Dåfos being the closest in spirit to this one. For those who are big percussion fans, one of my personal favorites is by the Iranian father-son Trio Chemirani - their recording Qalam Kar is just amazing! These guys give percussive instruments a whole different "life spirit" that is quite unique and engaging and absolutely mesmerizing, especially if you have not heard the Persian instruments and techniques before.  Great music to get you going! Another in the same genre, Infinite Breath-Nafas by Madjid Khaladj which is a bit more contemplative in nature if I remember correctly.  Great stuff!

 

[Armaegis]

I have a question about this part...
 
Quote:

Simply put, the intent of binaural recording is to capture sound exactly as the human ears hear it. Even more simply put, one of the most common ways to do that is to place high-resolution microphones inside the ears of a purpose-built dummy head, its ear-shaped molds designed to simulate the fleshiness/pliability/resonance and shape of actual ears. (This can be taken further still with a full simulated head/neck/shoulder/torso setup.)

 
So I understand the intent of putting the microphones into the dummy head/ears... for measurement purposes it should give us the best representation of what we actually hear. But if the music is recorded this way then later reproduced on headphones, doesn't the sound ultimately pass through two sets of ears and thus isn't faithful to the original sound?
 
 

 

[CEE TEE]

Hi Armaegis,
 
I think what binaural recording is supposed to do is help capture the live event the way we might have heard it if our head was there.  Then, when we play back through custom iems for example, the sound does not pass by (or through) our pinnae and ear canals...a very deep insertion iem projects it pretty directly to the ear drum.  
 
The shape/size/attributes of the head and pinnae will differ a bit from ours, but if the microphones could pick up at least what our ears are capable of hearing (if not more) and if the source/iems we have can play back at least what our ears are capable of hearing, it might be our best shot at being virtually "there."
 
That's the threory, I think to address your question.  I tried to buy it last night but am waiting for HDTracks to send me my password (forgot it)... 

 
Quote:

I have a question about this part...
 
 
So I understand the intent of putting the microphones into the dummy head/ears... for measurement purposes it should give us the best representation of what we actually hear. But if the music is recorded this way then later reproduced on headphones, doesn't the sound ultimately pass through two sets of ears and thus isn't faithful to the original sound?
 
 

 

 

[Armaegis]

Hmm, actually I didn't even consider IEMs... makes me think there should be two subsets for binaural recording: one for headphones, one for iems. The former should have the recording microphones on the outside of the dummy head, the latter on the inside.
 

 

[rroseperry]

it actually works pretty well with iems. Even though the stage is not as wide as with headphones, the placement is sort of uncanny.

 

 

[WilCox]

The "Long Distance" track is a totally amazing!  360 degree sound field and a total out-of-head experience.  You would swear you were in the same physical space with the musicians.  
 
Like other have mentioned, I would like to hear this with more traditional music - jazz or classical.

 

[dagothur]

This is quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever heard in terms of audio.  The sound had a 'sphere'.  I could hear that one drum was higher than the other, or a cymbal was a few inches forward from another drum.  Made my Denon D7000s VERY happy.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

I have a question about this part...
 
 
So I understand the intent of putting the microphones into the dummy head/ears... for measurement purposes it should give us the best representation of what we actually hear. But if the music is recorded this way then later reproduced on headphones, doesn't the sound ultimately pass through two sets of ears and thus isn't faithful to the original sound?
 
 

NO. All dummy heads have a built-in EQ that reverses the HRTF of the dummy head and thus allows us to hear the recording without the first set of ears.
 
 

 

[Armaegis]

I'm totally misunderstanding something here... if that built-in EQ reverses the HRTF of the dummy head, then why put the microphones into the head to begin with? Why not just space two microphones a few inches apart?

 

[Permagrin]

The sound changes as it moves through the outer ear, etc. so this way you get a more accurate reproduction of what it would sound like if you were there during the performance.