Quote:
I'm no expert on these things, but I was under the impression that although the industry suspects Zuccarelli's 'Holophonics' is a 'dummy head' process, there remained some uncertainty as to whether he was doing something else, too. Perhaps times have moved on and more is now known about his process. I do know that he attracted some severe criticism in the press, for his explanation of the psychoacoustic basis of his model.
I must say, although I realise that phase-coherence is a major problem with a 2-way (or more-way) loudspeaker, but, even making allowances for this caveat, I was very disappointed with how unconvincing my 'Virtual Audio' demo track sounds through my (entirely respectable) hi-fi, by comparison with listening through single-driver headphones/earphones. I know the technology has been used in hybrid situations on Rollercoasters etc. in theme parks, so as to have a small speaker integrated into each side of the headrest.
It was assumed at the time that "Holophonic" was different but this was based on
Zuccarelli's own claims. He initially claimed "Ringo" was named as such because it emitted a "ring" or tone that interfered with incoming signals. This mixing of signals then caused the amazing spatial effect. He claimed it was based on bats. When other scientists and doctors looked into his claims and were unable to verify them, they reached out to him for help/comments/etc. He claimed he couldn't prove his hypothesis to them because of patent considerations
As a lover of science and knowledge in general, it always troubles me when a hypothesis can
never be proven by another scientist yet the person claiming the hypothesis claims it is fact.
When the scientific community discredited his claims, he changed his story. It was no longer "Ringo" because of a ring...but rather the system was a
real human skull, with latex skin and real human hair, It was called “Ringo” cause it was the skull of a Mexican boxer called Ringo who died in the ring. He then took this skull and he put little bags of liquid where the inner ear is, so he tried to construct as near as he could an entire person’s head with a sack of liquid for the brain, and so on. He also never revealed exactly how he recorded it. AFAIK, it was recorded on DAT or VHS or Betamax.
Many of his ardent fans are quick to point out his album of recordings of everyday activities but they fail to understand that his demo record was carefully staged for maximum effect. They are NO DIFFERENT NOR MORE CONVINCING than those that I have heard using a binaural mannequin such as the Aachen Head or KU-100.
Also, to this day, he claims that his Ringo is the ONLY 3D audio recording system in the world. He also claims he was given an Oscar for amazing scientific achievement but it was then revoked due to conflicts among his scientific peers. He also claims that Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, and Vangelis, have approached him about using his process, but because of patent considerations he has declined.
There is NO hard data or studies to support the claims of Holophonics that would suggest it is different from binaural recording.
If you don't believe me...just look up his "amazing" patent for "Ringo". Described in the patent is that it comprises a dummy head, with artificial ears, and microphones in the ear canals. Hmmm...sounds familiar... much like
a binaural mannequin head. Additionally, the patent describes how frequency content is is equalized to compensate for the sound passing through the ear canal. Again, this is part of the various equalization schemes used by the likes of Bruel & Kajer (HATS), Neumann (KU-100), and Head Acoustics (Aachen Head). All of these dummy heads offer some flavor of this equalization.
All of this is available online and if you are truly interested in binaural recordings, I highly recommend you pick up a book called "Spatial Hearing" and read stuff released by the above dummy head companies. Avoid chasing down Ringo because all you will find is a wild goose chase filled with BS stories and lies.
Now...for years and years he would use a torso and shroud to hide his unique "robot".
This is what he was hiding...
Hmmm.....
Looks like a dummy head to me!
And even after all the scientific evidence to the contrary he claims the following...
Quote:
Originally written by Hugo in January 2012
Imaginen lo que los ACUSTICOS van a a decir!!!
Por 32 años dijeron que Holophonics Tm era binaural (la teoría FALSA que dice que calculamos la posición de los sonidos comparando los retardos y las diferencias de intensidad entre las 2 Orejas, negando la existencia de localizacion con una sola oreja)..
Translation: For 32 years they have said that Holophonics Tm is binaural (the FALSE theory that says we calculate the position of sound by comparing the delay and differences of the intensity between the 2 ears which negates the existence of localization with only one ear)..
