I decided to try my hand at doing some binaural recording, as I=92ve always=
been fascinated by the demonstrations I=92ve heard. I used a stereo pair o=
f Clippy EM172 mics I got from micbooster.com, along with a styrofoam head =
from a hobby store and some silicone ears I purchased on eBay. After a bit =
of tweaking, I got my first good recording out in the real world today, and=
I am pretty impressed with the results, although I=92d appreciate feedback=
from those who really know what they=92re doing.
My initial tests were interesting, but a bit disappointing. I was getting s=
ome pretty good sound staging, but I wasn=92t getting much differentiation =
between front and rear. My hunch was that this was because I hadn=92t incor=
porated ear canals, and had simply placed the mics so that the opening was =
at the proper location of the pinna facing outwards and flush with the surf=
ace. I picked up some surgical tubing and made canals a little over an inch=
in length. This did seem to help a lot, although it works much better with=
recordings where I=92m getting acoustics from the room, and not as well ou=
tside.
I made a recording at a wetlands that has nearby industry=97not great for n=
ature recording, but good for a binaural demo. There=92s a gravel pit behin=
d, which has large trucks. There=92s a small airport a few miles away, so a=
bit of private plane activity. There=92s also a water treatment plant on t=
he other side of the pond, so ignore the steady background noise, it=92s no=
t the fault of the mics. The head was placed such that there were a lot of =
birds to the right and left, but not many in front, unfortunately.
The file is available here (343 MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/x0jwrfmuj51s=
ejy/150713_01.WAV
Here=92s a picture of it in situ during the recording: https://www.dropbox.=
com/s/ux2x2t4dw2jyofa/IMG_1762.jpg
Of particular interest are two planes. The first goes from right to left an=
d was behind, around 7:30. Around 14:30 there=92s a plane that goes from le=
ft to right somewhat in front (although more vertical). To my ear I am gett=
ing placement both in front and behind, which was evident by reversing the =
earphones and having the positions swap, but you=92ll have to assess it you=
rself. Surprisingly I=92m getting a sense of vertical direction, but maybe =
it=92s my mind playing tricks on me. Most of the activity otherwise=97truck=
s, people talking, etc=97is behind.
I=92d love to hear people=92s thoughts. Note that I haven=92t done anything=
to the file in terms of EQ or cleanup, this is straight out of the recorde=
r.
=96 Charles
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
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