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Post subject: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 11:45 pm
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The 3D audio experience

Ever since I experienced multitrack discrete Surround Sound and demodulated quadrophonic recordings from Santana, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Clapton, Elvis, and many others, I have longed for Surround Sound to be the norm with stereo and mono being an option rather than the other way around. It adds another layer to creativity in my estimation. YMMV. Surround audio for video is commonplace, but we still drag our heels in the music world.

With that said, put your headphones on now because here is a guitar related example of where it can go. The biggest obstacle is not so much in the technology available, but as early quad days showed, the cream sits at the top of the production.

For those of you who are not familiar with binaural, originally from 1881, you are in for a treat. For the rest of you, enjoy.

Headphones are mandatory. Speakers will not give you the effect.

Before the guitar, an introduction to Binaural Sound:


The Binaural Guitar trio:


Now for a completely different Binaural Guitar #2


Hope you enjoyed it.

FSB

Note: Many will see this as a gimmick. Not so. Even stereo was experimental with ping pong recordings and other such novelties. Today stereo is a cherished and developed format. Binaural is over a century old. Lou Reed, Street Hassle, 1978, first binaural pop record. This format is looked to be the answer for mobile Surround Sound playback ... so it may become more common as stereo compatibility is worked out. :D

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 12:42 pm
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Thanks for the post, I do love those binaural mic I have played with them, I do not own a pair $5000 to $7000 is to rich for my blood, but they are quite a mic

As a sound engineer I always said we did it wrong with left and right stacks, as humans we do hear directional, that's how we survived in the wild, we could tell the direction of the sound, hence if danger is lurking we can hear of what direction it is coming from.
When I have an orchestra playing, where I work, we do not mic the whole orchestra when recording I just use a pair of Neumanns to do the job, ( that's all they want anyway, recordings are for archival purpose ) but when you listen you can hear the subtle nuance of sound coming from the orchestra; example upstage right there might be a ratchet sound than upstage center a bell rings, down stage left a french horn sounds out, while downstage right the violins start to vibrate, now when you are there you can hear where these sounds are coming from and pin point who had made that particular sound.
Now we come to Left and right stacks, while you can achieve the perception of space using the Haas effect, this tricks the brain into perceiving fantastic width and space, as you play with the delay time setting you’ll notice that if it’s too short you get a pretty nasty out-of-phase sound; too long and the illusion is broken, as you start to hear two distinct and separate sounds – not what you want here. Somewhere in between it’ll be just right and you’ll find just the space you want. You’ll probably also want to tweak the levels of each side relative to each other, to maintain the right balance in the mix and the desired general left-right balance within the stereo spectrum. Still after all said and done, it is never going to sound, in my opinion and to my ears, the way it will sound live without PA, I can sometimes get pretty close using psycho-acoustic & sound design tricks
mud


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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 7:26 pm
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Thanks Mud for the post adding your take, observations, and experience to the mix.

I too am familiar with less is more (ie: 2 or 3 mikes) in recording such as with an orchestra or a big band. I say less is more; but, as you know, that isn't always the case depending on the final mix to be passed on to the listener.

I do agree that depth works well in a stereo arrangement when it capitalizes on great techniques and TLC. I found this to be very true from some of the pristine Opera house recordings along with some more popular music. Not so much with rap, however. :lol:
My experience will be different than some and far from today's über techies in the pro audio realm. I did work with mono, Canada's first stereo and first surround sound telecasts, however. The Surround was SQ with Sansui and Polydor involvement with video and audio from our studios and the 4 channel sound of the symphony being relayed via our FM station down the hall. The audio was 2 inch multi-track recorded out of order ending with a later edited final mixdown. It was then encoded for a difficult simulcast that was picked up in homes with audio receivers that demodulated our signal. The video matching was a challenge to block to say the least. So basically one's FM quad radio played the surround sound while the TV had the orchestra on screen. That was 46 years ago!

As with many things, the successful end result was short lived probably because of the cost in house and at home.

I envy your experience, Mud, with binaural. That must have been a tremendous experience as well.

Like England does with BBC our government here supported many audio experiments both at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and at the National Research Centre (which is renowned for speaker advancement in it's world class anechoic chamber). Binaural recordings from CBC were my first introduction to the format. I still have those recordings from the 70s.

I still believe what I first heard then to the binaural that I hear now is, perhaps, the purist best of the best. Alas, it missed out on the sharing feature permitted by speakers. What binaural does do, however, it does very well. IMHO.

Cheers!
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 10:34 pm
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Pretty cool videos, thanks for the experience. Completely viable pathway for a VR music video, video game or just VR in general. Would be pretty cool w/ a Bluetooth multi headphone splitter and a black lite laser show.


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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 10:45 pm
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Glad you enjoyed it, sfceric64. Pretty funky, huh? :D
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 4:52 am
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Very interesting FSB! I had to search the web to find out more and found this:

http://www.kallbinauralaudio.com/what-i ... ral-audio/

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 8:29 am
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Mike, fantastic link. I took time to look at it when I woke up. So much good stuff. Some I knew, but plenty I did not, so I will spend some leisurely moments to enjoy it when I get the chance. Really appreciated you adding this post for others to view and listen to. :D
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 6:47 pm
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Thanks for posting this FSB. The sound through headphones is amazing. I wondered why I hadn't heard of it before, since it has been around for so long, and Mike's post answered my question.
It reads, "Binaural audio has actually been around for decades (see our blog for more about binaural history), but isn’t generally favoured by the mainstream music industry, where artificially “enhancing” music is the norm. Binaural audio, on the other hand, embraces the way the world sounds naturally – and doesn’t rely on huge amounts of compression, auto-tune or artificial reverb."
That explains a lot. Mainstream music "enhances" music way too much IMO. I love listening to live music with all the "mistakes" and "imperfections" in it. To me, it's part of the human experience and it is perfect the way it is. :D

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 11:52 pm
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Glad you liked it, Marky. Yes, there are many reasons for the lack of mainstream binaural. Still, there is a tremendous opportunity for some adventurous band, producer, and/or engineer by embracing it or, perhaps, the next generation of this format. Yes, we have stereo and surround sound with speakers. However, when you
think of the market and the audience available with headphones, time may bring all of this to fruition. Who knows? Maybe that will be a value added expense the airlines can capitalize on. :wink:
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 2:55 am
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Very interesting videos!

I am surprised a group like Yes did not embrace this back in the 1970's

My stoner nights back in the day would have been MUCH more mind blowing!

8)

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 8:39 am
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omar59 wrote:
Very interesting videos!

I am surprised a group like Yes did not embrace this back in the 1970's

My stoner nights back in the day would have been MUCH more mind blowing!

8)
I agree, Omar. Santana, ELP, Wakeman, Pink Floyd, Queen, Kraftwerk, Chase, Zappa, Hendrix, some R&B like The Four Tops, Jackson's Thriller, Earth, Wind, and Fire, also come to mind.

I'd also like to hear some Rock Operas like Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Pinball Wizard, and the like. Even if they are new versions (which they would have to be).

Hello!? Anybody out there? :wink:
FSB
Rap need not apply.

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Post subject: Re: Binaural Guitar and 3D Recording
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 2:25 pm
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Fender Strat Brat wrote:
omar59 wrote:
Very interesting videos!

I am surprised a group like Yes did not embrace this back in the 1970's

My stoner nights back in the day would have been MUCH more mind blowing!

8)
I agree, Omar. Santana, ELP, Wakeman, Pink Floyd, Queen, Kraftwerk, Chase, Zappa, Hendrix, some R&B like The Four Tops, Jackson's Thriller, Earth, Wind, and Fire, also come to mind.

I'd also like to hear some Rock Operas like Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Pinball Wizard, and the like. Even if they are new versions (which they would have to be).

Hello!? Anybody out there? :wink:
FSB
Rap need not apply.


+1

8)

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