Binaural Interface + Mic Setup Recommendations

S

SmokeyDolphin

New member
Hi there, SmokeyDolphin reporting in.

I'm looking for some advice that can help me to come to a decision quickly, so that I can get to fiddling with hardware, and learning some basics to sound recording.

Objective:

Good sounding (clear, slightly warm) binaural setup for a beginner at a reasonable price-point (less than $1K).

Question:

What audio interface and microphones would you recommend? I was thinking of the Scarlett 2i2, though I don't have any idea for the microphones.

My start-up was recently selected to compete in a leading Accelerator, commencing next month. I would like to document and potentially publish the journey to YouTube when the program concludes. (By 'document', I mean that I would like to sit in-front of a camera and mic for a 20-30 minutes a week and talk. I will also experiment with some other content creation, such as a cooking YT channel, and if I have the time, a gaming channel for a long-running strategy game that I am pretty good at (top 30/40 million+ players).

Regarding Binaural: I am a bit of a head-fi/hi-fi guy, and I really appreciate dynamic binaural recordings. It may not make a huge difference for a sit-and-talk YT channel, but I think the extra volume of information that comes from room reflections, ambience and so forth does a lot to develop immersion in a recording, however great or small.
 
An almost impossible question to answer Smokes! Let us begin with headphones?
A near top of range pair could easily swallow your $1k so you need to decide how to apportion that budget twixt the vatious parts. The only real way to chose cans is to go and listen to some. I shall assume you will want open backed? They generally give the best fidelity but then maybe you need to keep noises out?

Interface: 2i2 is fine but my personal reccy would be the MOTU M2 (I have the M4, same but for two extra lines in and out)

Microphones: Need to be small I guess. Will they need to go inside a dummy head or will you 'wear' them? For general mucking about you could do worse than a pair of Behringer C2s. VERY cheap yes but you see, a good AI and headphones is going to use up a good chunk of your bag of sand. Get the C2s, have a play then look for better when funds recover?

As I often do I am going to point you at www.soundonsound.com They did a feature fairly recently I seem to remember on dummy head recording and their forum will I am sure have many suggestions about mics and cans.

Dave.
 
I've always fancied a Jeklin disk - Canford Audio - with perhaps these mics, but the standard for binaural is the Neumann KU800 at 6 grand!

Other than that - I suppose you could make all sorts. A high density foam 'head' and a couple of lavalier omnis in the ear canals?

Personally - I'm not really interested in this technique as it's just not very useful only being able to use heaphones. I suppose you could bodge a pair of glasses frames with some bendy wire to let you put the small omnis in your own ear cavity but you'd need to sit perfectly still for an impractical length of time.
 
SmokeyDolphin said:
Regarding Binaural: I am a bit of a head-fi/hi-fi guy, and I really appreciate dynamic binaural recordings. It may not make a huge difference for a sit-and-talk YT channel, but I think the extra volume of information that comes from room reflections, ambience and so forth does a lot to develop immersion in a recording, however great or small.
Click to expand...
The information that comes from room reflections etc. will be captured on any (stereo) mic if it's far from the source. The only extra information a binaural mic setup captures is what a head and ears add, which is really only meaningful in headphones or earbuds. And if the room isn't all that interesting or good sounding and the source you're capturing is essentially a point source, stereo or binaural capture is pretty pointless.

I know that when I'm watching a YT video with someone talking, hearing the room pretty much always detracts from the experience. I want the information. The speaker's room sound is a distraction.
 
I found the 3Dio FS XLR (FSXLR-2W-002) on Amazon. It is in your price range. I don't have any experience with it, but it's probably the only thing you will find for less than $5k.

Binaural recording isn't terribly popular, so there has been no reason for companies to make budget versions.
 
There are several ways to make binaural and "semi" binaural recordings. You might want to look at some homemade options if you just want to experiment. Then if you decide to go full bore into using professional equipment you can make the bigger investment.

Check out this person's attempts to do this type of recording.
TrackSeventeen.com
 
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bouldersoundguy said:
The information that comes from room reflections etc. will be captured on any (stereo) mic if it's far from the source. The only extra information a binaural mic setup captures is what a head and ears add, which is really only meaningful in headphones or earbuds. And if the room isn't all that interesting or good sounding and the source you're capturing is essentially a point source, stereo or binaural capture is pretty pointless.

I know that when I'm watching a YT video with someone talking, hearing the room pretty much always detracts from the experience. I want the information. The speaker's room sound is a distraction.
Click to expand...
This is a fair point that I probably haven't knowingly picked up on when watching YT.

This is an example of the style cooking video I wanted to try, just so I can better share the audio signature I like:



If I opt for a single-mic instead, do you have any recommendation?


ecc83 said:
An almost impossible question to answer Smokes! Let us begin with headphones?
A near top of range pair could easily swallow your $1k so you need to decide how to apportion that budget twixt the vatious parts. The only real way to chose cans is to go and listen to some. I shall assume you will want open backed? They generally give the best fidelity but then maybe you need to keep noises out?

Interface: 2i2 is fine but my personal reccy would be the MOTU M2 (I have the M4, same but for two extra lines in and out)

Microphones: Need to be small I guess. Will they need to go inside a dummy head or will you 'wear' them? For general mucking about you could do worse than a pair of Behringer C2s. VERY cheap yes but you see, a good AI and headphones is going to use up a good chunk of your bag of sand. Get the C2s, have a play then look for better when funds recover?

As I often do I am going to point you at www.soundonsound.com They did a feature fairly recently I seem to remember on dummy head recording and their forum will I am sure have many suggestions about mics and cans.

Dave.
Click to expand...

The C2's seem great value! They are now on the list.

I'm alright for headphones, I have a pair of 800s that I honestly don't use so often because they're more power hungry than my portable setup allows; in favour of CA (Campfire Audio) Solaris with a Hansound Redcore balanced cable into an AK SP1000.

What makes the MOTU M2 take the pick for you?
 
Do a search for articles by Mike Skeet. He was into binaural recording very early on and produced some wonderful looking home made dummy heads. A friend of mine wrote to him and he received a set of closely typed sheets full of useful hints and tips in return. I met him once - he was a real character but knew his stuff and made some excellent recordings - his garage door recording is legendary even today.

There's a little bit about his techniques at

Skeet Music - About Binaural Stereo

Skeet-Music offers quality recordings of classical, jazz and esoteric music. Many recordings made with Binaural Stereo dummy head technique.
web.archive.org

and

www.muzines.co.uk

Are All Those Microphones Necessary? (Electronics & Music Maker, Aug 1981)

Hi-Fi Supplement
www.muzines.co.uk www.muzines.co.uk

but I'm sure there must be more somewhere...
 
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SmokeyDolphin said:
This is a fair point that I probably haven't knowingly picked up on when watching YT.

This is an example of the style cooking video I wanted to try, just so I can better share the audio signature I like:

Click to expand...

It's hard to tell with the music competing for my attention, but all the location audio sounds mono to me. Some (the knife on the cutting board?) might even have been dubbed. And there was some room sound, but not that much (not that one can hear much through the music track).

******************

I pretty much trust my ears, but just to be certain I captured a section of audio from that video and did a null test. I didn't hear any ambient room sound at all. There was one spot that might have been some location sound interacting with the music, but it wasn't ambient room sound. All the location audio in that video is almost certainly captured with one mono mic.
 
Foley! The wooden chop board is a real give away. I cut chicken on one a lot, and it’s never made the noise of steel on stone once. That was a stylistic choice, and I’d bet the sound effect was chosen fro the rough cutting sound. Wooden chopping board slicing with chicken is silent! This is just close miked Foley, and that close perspective with distant visuals makes it stand out. I bet you it was a 416 in mono.
 
That is great information, thank you!

Now considering the Mini Fuse 2, 2i2 and MOTU M2, though it appears the M2 is best at this stage.

What would be a recommendation for a good value mic in a mono setup? (I can try both mono and binaural, see how each fits the job, but to start it seems mono may be the simpler and more appropriate choice, particularly considering the limited time I have to familiarize myself with some fundamentals).
 
You didn't actually say why you picked binaural - it's actually something that I have never needed in nearly 50 years audio recording?

Your video confused me a bit - what exactly to you want to record? This, and where you will be recording will be far more important than almost anything else.
EDIT
I just saw this
My start-up was recently selected to compete in a leading Accelerator, commencing next month. I would like to document and potentially publish the journey to YouTube when the program concludes. (By 'document', I mean that I would like to sit in-front of a camera and mic for a 20-30 minutes a week and talk. I will also experiment with some other content creation, such as a cooking YT channel, and if I have the time, a gaming channel for a long-running strategy game that I am pretty good at (top 30/40 million+ players).

Have a look at these links - mics for video pieces to camera
mics for video
shotguns
lavs - shotguns, floor mounts

These three videos will let you hear lots of the differences - and maybe help guide you away from things that won't work for you.
 
SmokeyDolphin said:
That is great information, thank you!

Now considering the Mini Fuse 2, 2i2 and MOTU M2, though it appears the M2 is best at this stage.

What would be a recommendation for a good value mic in a mono setup? (I can try both mono and binaural, see how each fits the job, but to start it seems mono may be the simpler and more appropriate choice, particularly considering the limited time I have to familiarize myself with some fundamentals).
Click to expand...
Things aside - an inexpensive pair of Lavalier Microphones like these Pro JK Mic-J 044s work quite well - then a Foam Head - Silicone Ears and some drilling work will net you a very good Binaural setup - the Scarlett 2i2 is a good interface - I wouldn't fool around with others because the Scarlett is rock solid - you could easily get into this for less than $300.

​

 
@rob aylestone The 416 shotgun seemed closest to what I am looking for from a sound perspective of the options in the video, though price and mic-type aren't right. Trying to find something to wet-feet in the audio-recording space right now.

Do you have any suggestions for a mic that carries a bit of warmth, w/ good clarity/sensitivity for the 'close' feel at lower price-point?
 
Well, my opinions have changed in the past year and now I’m very happy with the Shure SM7B, even though unlike everyone else, I prefer to use it further away, but is that still too expensive. You might like the sound of a Shure SM57? The President of America has used them for a very long time.
 
After a lot of research, I think I will land on the SM7B after all - but a final bump to the thread for any comparable mics recommendations before I pull the trigger.

I have purchased a MOTU M4, because it was only $40 more expensive than the M2 at my local.

Thanks to everyone for their insight so far :)
 
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