freaky headphone fun

[chrispick]

Check out this audio clip and its spatial voodoo. Definitely listen through headphones. Speakers won't do it justice.

http://www.holophonic.ch/archivio/testa ... phonic.mp3

Whoa...

[npatton]

Any ideas how that was made? I'm curious if it was a binaural recording, using microphones mounted in the ears of a technician. The way sound interacts with the shape and mass of our heads as it goes toward our ears (microphones) replicates the experience we have hearing every day, thus creating the illusion of 3D space.

I recently picked up a CD and DVD of a binaural recording done in Lincoln Cathedral in the UK. The performance was totally improvised over the space of an hour, and on the DVD you can see the technician walking around the cathedral to capture the sounds as they moved through the huge space. Hearing this performance on headphones is breathtaking, as it just about puts you there! A bonus feature on the DVD is an interview with Dallas Simpson, the recording technician, on how and why binaural works much better than stereo for achieving this effect.

(The performance was by Troy Donockley and Dave bainbridge, and is called "From Silence". Very ambient/Celtic/new age in it's sound, with pipes, whistles, synths and guitars. There are samples at Troy's website http://www.troydonockley.co.uk/discography.htm, but it seems to be down today for some reason.)

Very cool! Thanks for posting this!
n

[chrispick]

It's holophonic sound. It's a binaural-like technique. Here's a definition:

http://itotd.com/articles/335/holophonic-sound/

[Frodo]

SRS has/had something like this-- didn't quite work for home theater, but they've done some interesting things with two-channel surround.

What I loved about this particular recording was the sense of up and down. Pretty cool.

Me want.

[npatton]

Thanks for the link, Chrispick! (Something new every day...) I'd love to hear more examples, if for no other reason than to have my mind messed with!

n

[Frodo]

... if for no other reason than to have my mind messed with!

n

n-- you mean reading these forums doesn't mess with your mind enough already?

[npatton]

Only the pdf threads.

Interestingly, I sent this to a friend of mine who runs a small studio here in town, and through his AKG headphones, he didn't get the full range of motion I did through my Sennheisers. He said the sound was "left and right, slightly above, below down to my shoulder and low behind my head. It never seemed to go in front or over the top of my head."

My ears felt it go all over the place. Interesting how different cans can affect the sound...

n

[monkey man]

Check out this audio clip and its spatial voodoo. Definitely listen through headphones. Speakers won't do it justice.
http://www.holophonic.ch/archivio/testa ... phonic.mp3
Whoa...

Thanks for the fun distraction, Pickster.
Usual story:
Everyone has some fun while the monkey downloads, and he hears the file about a week later when the thread's dead!

This time it'll be worth it, though.
Thanks again, C.

[twistedtom]

This is interesting; I have read about the ear shape and cavities of the head playing a role in sound but never listened to some thing like this. Remember the modeling synth? I think it was a Roland, it used models of vocal cavities to help emulate instruments.
This also reminds me of some of the studies on how prehistoric animals would hear and sound.
I just got the new Tool CD, the cover has a set of real 3d glasses on it so you can see the inside pages of the CD jacket in 3d, it is wild.






Question reality

[logo80]

amzing!

[Frodo]

Only the pdf threads.

Interestingly, I sent this to a friend of mine who runs a small studio here in town, and through his AKG headphones, he didn't get the full range of motion I did through my Sennheisers. He said the sound was "left and right, slightly above, below down to my shoulder and low behind my head. It never seemed to go in front or over the top of my head."

My ears felt it go all over the place. Interesting how different cans can affect the sound...

n

Interesting--

I got some sense of in front, but using a set of Sony V6s, I also found that most of the movement was coming from behind.

Too bad you can just turn the headphones around to make the sound come from the front!!

Now, where are my AKG's?

[monkey man]

Hey, fellas.
Surely the brand and model 'phones used in constructing this would play a vital role here?
Npatton's Sennheisers seem to do the trick.

Although I haven't yet heard the clip, I hope my HD-25-1s are up to the task.
I swear by them for a balanced, natural, "American Hi-Fi" (think old skool) sound.
Man, they're flat as a tack.

I remember borrowing 6 or 7 pairs of AKGs and Sennheisers, including 8-900 Aussie-dollar pairs.
One pair made Boston's toms sound like they had metal skins, and "Son of a Preacher-Man" had almost radical siblance!
880 Aussie dollars, thank you very much.
Well, for 520 Aussie dollars, the HD-25-1 was in a league of its own.
I was shocked at how people's tastes have strayed from the truth (judging by the market), and that hype can be sold for more in the name of "accuracy".
Well, you might get 'em to the point where you'll hear an inadvertantly-recorded (aren't they all?) ant fart in the studio accurately, but is this natural?

'Taint natural, I say.

PS: It's interesting to me that the most natural-sounding 'phones I could find happen to be the most painful to wear!
Anyone who has these would empathise, I'm sure; they leave my ears practically bruised!
Hopefully they lose their spring in time, or I can re-educate the plastic a little.
Still, I make the observation that the more hyped a model, the more "luxurious" comfort is likely.
Go 'Corners.

[billf]

What a trip. Thanks for posting that Chrispick.

[twistedtom]

The sound travels around and up and down. Mostly I haer it behind. It travels the same on my Sony MDR-7506's as my AKG K-44. have not tried my other head phones have to much to do gota go.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Check out this audio clip and its spatial voodoo. Definitely listen through headphones. Speakers won't do it justice.

http://www.holophonic.ch/archivio/testa ... phonic.mp3

Whoa...

Cool stuff. Great on my Bose noise cancellation headphones. I did a little recording in 1988 for a biophonic demo. They recorded with the mics on the styo head of a dummy (not me, thank you!). At one point they placed the head in thepiano strings while I did my imitation of George Crumb. Very nice results, but a dead end in terms of marketing.

I sometimes get a similar effect with the "wide stereo" setting on my somewhat modest TV systems. Not sure how that happens either, but I would certainly pay good $$$ to get a plug-in for DP that would do that, especially with a joy stick controller. Working in a theater with 10+ speakers and stereo channels comes close, but even then, if you don't mix in the space, the results are not always what you expect. We did a project like that in 1990 for a production of Faust Parts I & I (in a single evening). Having withes fly over the audience and giant dogs panting in a circle around the audience. That really is a lot of fun.

So who is going to develope this plug in? I think I'll mention it the SoundHack guy (Tom Erbe). He's local and I owe him a message...

Thanks for the interesting diversion.