[Phloodpants]

I was up in Wisconsin today visiting my parents. They have a nice woods behind the house.

I made this recording with my trusty Marantz PMD-650 and a pair of tiny omnidirectional mic capsules stuck in my ear canals.

Basically, it's me walking through the woods. Lots of walking sounds, sticks breaking, crows and other birds, an airplane or two, and if you can pick it out, the sound of the neighbor kids from a great distance!

At about 5:45 into the track, I stand still for a while and you can hear the crows circling above the treetops!

Check it out... gotta be wearing headphones! It's particularly effective with Etymotics.

http://www.hoppehome.com/binaural/06... the woods.mp3

It's 11MB, so you gotta have broadband or a lot of patience.

For anyone who might not be familiar with the concept of a binaural recording... the idea is that if you record exactly what enters the ear canal and then play that back on headphones, all the spacial cues and frequency response effects of the shape of your head will be present in the recording. Binaural recordings are incredibly realistic!

 

[BoardC3]

what is binaural?

 

[Phloodpants]

a definition plucked from the net...

Quote:

Binaural recording is a technique of stereo recording which uses a "dummy head" rather than simple microphones as the transducers. A dummy head is a full-scale model of the human head, occasionally including the shoulders and torso, with microphone capsules placed inside the ear canals. Using this technique, the location information contained in the frequency, amplitude and phase responses of the left and right channels closely match the cues required by the human auditory system to localize sound sources. The term "binaural" implies that the intended playback system is a pair of stereo headphones. When the same recording is intended for stereo loudspeaker reproduction, the term "transaural" recording is used.

Except I am using my own head rather than a dummy head. (keep the smart remarks to yourself please

)

 

[dohminator]

Oh wow. That is so cool.

 

[andrzejpw]

Just wondering. . . are there any special effects with these recordings>

 

[Xander]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw Just wondering. . . are there any special effects with these recordings>

No. That's the beauty of it.

 

[Phloodpants]

Yup... nothing but the pure sound. No EQ, no FX.

 

[gloco]

Cool, i've been looking into buying a mic and battery box from soundprofessionals so i can stealth concerts. I gotta listen to your track later on!

 

[andrzejpw]

oh WOW!

This is incredible!

 

[Nezer]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw oh WOW! This is incredible!

binaurals usually are. It's even more impressive if the HRTFs are tweaked for you.

Dolby Headphone does something similar in the digital domain to make it sound as if you are listening to speakers 20 feet away. As far as I'm concerned it's the ultimate crossfeed filter. Unfortunatly I find thier reverb to smear details.

 

[2 channel]

Hey Phloodpants,
That is a cool recording!!! Makes me want to get some mics myself and start experimenting!

Nice Job!

2

 

[2 channel]

Binaural thought...
What if you did the same thing and recorded music while sitting in a room and litening to it on a set of speakers that imaged really well? Would you have the same soundstage effect through the headphones?
Maybe someone has already done this?

might be something interesting to try!

2

 

[phidauex]

Very cool phloodpants!

You need to post the exact characteristics of your head now, dimensions, amount of hair, mass, density, etc. Was your skin clean? Or oily? Because that will affect the high frequency 'skin effect' over your skin. What color is your hair? LET US KNOW.

And then we can all try to make our heads the same and style our hair like yours, to experience the same effects.

Good idea with the binaural stuff, its very neat

Peace,
phidauex

 

[Phloodpants]

2-channel--- yes, you could definitely record the music playing in a room through good speakers. It would sound almost exactly like being there.

Quite a lot of work to get a good crossfeed effect, but what the hell? I'm sure it would be better than a circuit.

But you do have the detrimental effect of extra processing and you are losing a lot of the sound quality advantages of headphones.

BTW, I hope no one gets the impression that I am the first to do this. Not even close! I hear it goes back to the 30's.

Tchad Blake is possibly the most famous binaural recordist. Check out "In the Caves of the Iron Mountain" for a really great binaural recording!

Also, I stumbled across this last night...

www.quietamerican.org

...and I have to admit, I am envious of what this guy has done! He had made binaural recordings all over Asia. He has used his binaural mics like a photographer uses a camera.

...which is exactly what I have been planning to do in Europe late this year when I move to Amsterdam!

So he beat me to the concept, but I'm still going to do it. More the merrier I think. It's a great concept. Nothing takes you to a place like hearing it as if you are there...

 

[Phloodpants]

Phidauex, I am 6'6" tall, I have a larger head than most humanoids, blond/brown hair (shaggy at the moment) that is receding faster than civil rights in America. My skin was fairly clean at the time, but I did have a wicked 5:00 shadow.

I can't recommend any plastic surgeons, nor would I suggest trying to look like me, but I would suggest you try making your own recordings!