Made a cool BINAURAL recording today...

P

Phloodpants

New member
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... YOU GOTTA USE GOOD HEADPHONES! Binaural recordings don't translate too well to speakers. It's particularly effective with Etymotic canalphones!



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!
 
man!That is wild stuff!From the sound of the branches you were stepping on I can tell you dont weigh a whole lot.LOL.Now I know why the Marantz PMD-650 cost so much!The quality and surround sound "feel" is unreal.

Thats wild man.First time I ever heard anything like that I must say.
 
That's too cool. I like to do sonic tapestry things. Would you mind if I added that to my library of sounds? I'd like to mix that in with some music sometime.
 
Wuhuhuw ! ! !

Like, that was pretty trippy, dude. I just smoked some killer reef, and like, wow! :) :)

That is pretty cool stuff. Roger Waters actually did a lot of binaural techniques on Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut." And it's really about the only cool thing about it besides David Gilmour's song at the very end (is it Not Now John?).

I'd like to experiment with the technique myself. This is probably a pretty silly question, but do you suppose I could stick my Behringer ecm8000s inside a manican's head and achieve something similar? Do you think I'd get any phasing problems with that?
 
Just listened and was impressed by the concept. Clean and understandable why the mics are so pricey. No help from drugs on this listen. I might listen again under different mind sets;) If I find myself in the right mood.

chessrock,
You can't find anything else on "the final cut" that strikes your mental fancy? Wow. Perception is everything, I guess:confused:

Thanks for sharing a Wisconsin walk.

Theron.
 
Actually, the mics I used are quite inexpensive! I made them from Panasonic WM-61 omni condenser capsules. I took a yellow foam earplug, cut it in half, burned a hole for the capsule with a soldering iron and glued it in. A thin stereo Y cord pillaged from a cheap pair of earbuds connects to a little box with a 9v battery and a simple phantom power circuit. From there it goes out to a pir of XLR connectors into my Marantz. It's unbalanced, but it's only a few feet so no problems with noise. Very hot output too!

They fit almost flush with the entrance to my ear canal.

Chessrock... yeah, I suppose you could do that with your Behringers. You could drill fat holes in the head so the mics can fit inside with the tips coming flush with the ears. The Behringer mics use a Taiwanese clone of the Panasonic capsules. (damn good ones)

But your own head works better than a dummy head!

Lt. Bob... go right ahead!
 
Man, think of the possibilities all of this stuff holds for virtual reality. We've already got those cool goggles that give realistic panoramic views of things. Couple something like that with binaural micing, and I think we're on to some seriously cool stuff.

Think what this could do for the porn industry!
 
I was there when my brother (Phloodpants) made that recording, and it was even more amazing to listen to right there...in the same environment it was recorded in. It added to the realism because you couldn't tell that it was a recording, because you expected to hear those sounds in the woods. Sitting at home it's not quite the same.
 
my Jack Russell went just absolutly bezerkkkk...and all I had on was the headphones, cranked. He was barking...running around. So I flipped it on the speaks....he kept twisting his head.... we both loved it.

it sounded kinda crispy....did it to anyone else??

oh...take those crows and slow them down to half speed...(like drop the pitch and time)....and they sound like the best teradactyls (sp?)...you've ever heard.
 
Phlood, I was so inspired by your recording . . .

I actually spent a few hours making a dummy binaural head. And a few more reading about binaural micing on rec.audio.pro.

I've got this Richard Nixon Halloween mask that practically fits your entire head. I paper-mache'd the inside of it. Only I used liquid nails instead of paste. :)

I'm probably going to die from the fumes and exposure to my skin.

Anyway, I poked two holes in the ears, filled it up with towels and foam, and stuck a couple of Behringer ecm8000's throught the sides (ear holes) sticking out slightly. I read that the problem with true binaural micing is that you get the effect of the shape of the ears twice: Once when you record it with capsules in your ear canals, and again when you listen back to it - if you know what I mean.

I made some recordings, and wow. It is realistic. You kinda' lose the effect the farther away from the mic you get. But it's cool. I can hear the humming from the air conditioning in my recording, and I actually think the air conditioning is on . . . and when the phone rings in my recording, I have to check to see that it's not my real phone.

I've got some headphones that I really like (akg k240), so I can really appreciate this shit. Thanks so much for posting that stuff, Phlood. You really made it a fun day for me.
 
Cool! This stuff really is amazing!

I see your point about the "two ear" thing... interesting but I think that's a pretty minor concern. With headphones, the shape of your ear doesn't come into play TOO badly because the sound from the phones is going straight into your ear and not from all directions.
But it does seem to matter a little bit though, which explains why the Etymotic canalphones work even better. www.etymotic.com

Next step for you is to put the mics in your ears. It works better than a dummy head.

The AKG 240's are pretty good phones. You can get really addicted to headphones if you go here... www.headfi.org Next thing you know you'll be building or buying a separate headphone amp and a pair of Senn 600's or Etymotics!

"I am not a mic" - R.M. Nixon.
 
I'm downloading it now.
Was checking out that site, Phlood.
Oh, forty seconds DL time left.
Gonna check it out now.
 
The could make some relaxing stuff.
You know, for people who can't get out in the bush.
The sound was incredible.

I may have to get another tool.
 
Phloodpants said:
the shape of your ear doesn't come into play TOO badly because the sound from the phones is going straight into your ear and not from all directions.
Click to expand...

After further reading, I should correct myself: It is better to put them in your ears or use prosthetic ones for better reporduction over headphones. But the effect will not translate well to speakers because of the whole "ear canal X2" thing. Not using ear canals or ear canal simulators will give you a good compromise between the two, translating and reproduced much better on traditional speakers than "true" binaural (the method you used out in the woods), although you sacrifice a little of the effect over the phones.

It's a tradeoff. I think it would be cool to track and mix an entire album using true binaural, and marketing it as just that. Calling the album - "headphone music," "the headphone album," or something to that effect. Then I would advertise it heavily on that web site you just gave us the link for. :)

I just tried something pretty cool, by the way, with my binaural experimental recording. I tried pulling the headphones away from my ears a little bit and listening to it that way. To compensate, I cranked the volume up higher and boosted the bass. It's very cool, but also EXTREMELY CREEPY. The recording is of me talking to "Richard Nixon," who's basically just sitting in the vocal-recording area of my basement while I walk around, talk, and play guitar and shit.

It's creepy, because I'm listening to myself talking to "Richard" from Richard's perspective. :) I'd like to post the sound clip, but I'm afraid it might make some people uncomfortable. There are times when I get really close to Richard when I talk, and I even try whispering things in both of his ears just for fun. Those parts get creepy, because when I listen back, I honestly feel like my personal space is invaded, and I don't like the sound of a dude talking that close to me . . . and especially a dude's breath that close to my ear . . . even when it's me ! ! ! And it's nothing sexual, if anyone's worried - just me going "testing 1, 2, 3 and stuff."

If anyone is curious, PM me, and I'll send you the link . . . but seriously, I don't want to make it publically available, because it's really quite uncomfortable to listen to at times and might take you off guard if you don't like your personal space invaded.
 
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You know Chessrock, you and my brother (Phloodpants) should get together sometime and share ideas and stuff. It looks as though you guys are in the same neighborhood...sort of. :)

BTW, there are a number of binaural recordings available. My Bro just bought one recently where they recorded all the music inside some caves and such. I'm sure he'll chime in with some details.
 
Yeah, there are a preicous few albums recorded binaurally! One that I found is incredible is called "From the Caves of the Iron Mountain" by Steve Gorn, Jerry Marotta and Tony Levin. It was recorded by Tchad Blake who is considered the best binaural recordist. He uses mics similar to to mine actually. (In the ear types.)

You can pick it up here... http://www.papabear.com/cave.htm Highly recommended!

Another cool site for binaural recordings is here... http://www.quietamerican.org
This guy has traveled all over Asia and used his recorder as a photographer uses a camera. He's got audio of all kinds of everyday events. Very cool stuff and gives an intersting perspective on Asian culture. You've seen the pictures, now hear it as if you are there!
I have to admit, I am a little jealous, as this is exactly the thing I intend to do when I move to Holland late this year! He beat me to it, but I get dibs on Europe!:D
 
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