Charles,
This is quite fun! To my ears, I definitely hear height information - both =
planes were clearly over head - but I can only detect a small difference fr=
ont to back. I tried swapping ears, but each time the soundscape seemed mos=
tly centered within my head, front to back. Some of my favorites, as always=
with binaural recordings, are insects flying "between" my ears. Another in=
teresting moment for me is what sounds like a car door closing far off to t=
he right and slightly behind. Is that what is was? Perhaps related is the c=
onversation that appears around 17:20 from the same place which, at about 1=
9:00, move closer and more behind but still to the right, yes? The most cle=
ar front-to-back effect, to my ears, is at the very end of the cut: there i=
s a truck which is far right and moves from back to front. This suggest ano=
ther method of testing modifications: place the rig next to a road with the=
head facing in the direction of traffic.
My favorite part of this recording is the sense of depth to the sound; dist=
ant sounds do indeed sound quite distant!
I listened with Etymotic earphones placed in my ear canals, by the way.
One of the problems with binaural, it seems to me, is that the soundscape d=
oesn't move with the listener's head movement. This would seem to be the fi=
nal, critical aspect to trick the brain into hearing a real soundscape. I b=
elieve I've read recently about some efforts to do just this with VR types =
of games using SoundField mic techniques.
This was with your M10, yes? I just picked one up and plan to take it with =
me on an upcoming month-long hike of Vermont's Long Trail. I often use Bern=
ie Krause's trick of strapping mics on either side of a tree for a quasi-bi=
naural effect.
You've got me interested in true binaural techniques again!
Thanks for sharing,
Oliver
|