The Most REALISTIC Mic In The World???

[@MasterStatusUK]

the brief panic felt as I'm immersed in the sound of pouring of water whilst sitting amongst all my outboard gear

[@ocdude07]

I definitely had a reaction when Jane spoke. I legitimately thought someone was behind me. That's really wild, but you're right, only with headphones on.

[@gmodunes]

I was wearing a set of good AKG studio cans, but Jane's voice did not sound like it was coming from behind me, but from the far left. Maybe this doesn't work for everyone's ears.

[@rumar4u]

@@gmodunes There’s a thing called Q-tips that can help you out.

[@audioartisan]

WOW! That's exactly when it hit me! And yes, behind. This is amazing!

[@jomgaard3035]

@@gmodunes I think she was far left - acdude07 was mistaken, it was Christian who went behind with the water.

[@alejandronieto576]

I jittered in angst like a frightened puppy.

[@gnattydreadz]

As an Audiology student Im a total nerd about this stuff. As you explained this microphone takes our perception into account when recording. Frequencies above 1000 Hz hit the pinna in different spots and reflect into the ear canal causing a slight delay in phase between the direct path sound and the reflected (later in phase) . These phases can add constructively and amplify sounds we perceive by up to 20 dB! And like you said with ITD (Time delay) sounds that are lower than the wavelength of your head (average human is 12 inches ear to ear = wavelength of around 800 Hz) will bend and travel to both ears. Look into 'Head related transfer function'' if anyone wants to learn more about this stuff. It was interesting hearing from your friend with hearing loss. People with hearing aids also suffer with these phase and time delays because the microphones on the hearing aid doesn't take into account all the things our pinna and ear canal add to sounds. Thank you for sharing this!

[@JohnBomboy]

Love the timbre of the narrators voice. It's like David Attenborough is covering music gear.

[@timothychun1558]

If you were a professor at a university, you would have facilitated the best and most interesting lecture experience. This video was amazing

[@ThemFuzzyMonsters]

Peter Gabriel’s last studio album “Up” had a lot of binaural ambiance added during its final mix. I always thought of binaural as an ambiant sort of thing because it tends to provide very little sense of proximity (unless the source is very near) which not well suited for common recording applications. It seems great for surround mics or to complement close mic-ing. The drawback is that if your space doesn’t sound great, your binaural mic will honestly represent that weakness.

[@konstapelwalander]

Another very important factor is the ear shape. Smarter everyday showed that by putting some manipulation of your ear geometry the accuracy of your predicted sound direction more or less disappears. The sense of direction is tuned for your ears, and as the dummy has a different ear and head shape, that would affect the audio positioning to some degree I think!

[@TheCrowHillCo]

I agree, the way in which your brain interprets stuff appears to be largely contextual. Pretty profound really but I'm starting to suspect that one of the reasons we're able to do so much more with the data our senses provides us (say than other animals) is because we're born without fully developed brains. I think the way in which you calibrate your brains whilst they're still developing in the first two years of life can have a profound effect on what you can do with this data. See Rick Beato's son for example.

[@PipEastop]

@@TheCrowHillCo Hey, try this. Shut your eyes and get someone to make a scratchy sound in front of your face, centred left to right. Fingernails on rough paper or something like that. Get them to move it UP and DOWN. You can accurately point to it going up and down. Easy. Now, deform the pinna of your ears a bit so that they are folded slightly differently. Use elastic bands or your fingers - lumps of plasticene, bits of cheese, whatever. Either way you'll then find your UP and DOWN sense disappears. Now, you see why we have those fancy ear shapes? And it's unique for each of us - so we can't swap ears with someone else. It would follow that if you used a dummy head with copied casts of your ears it would work MUCH BETTER (for you only)! BTW, thanks for your videos, Christian. Very entertaining and educational.

[@matthewmcmichael6416]

This has been one of my favorite channels this year!! Keep up the fascinating work Christian!

[@kabedford]

This binaural thing is revelatory! I love the idea of musical performances intended for individual listeners wearing headphones. The startling personal intimacy you could produce/experience would be really something! Please do keep making these videos, Christian! I have learned so much from watching/listening. Thank you! :) Happy and safe New Year to you! :)

[@JWForce1059]

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere in the comments, so I will just mention it: There's a professor at Princeton named Dr. Edgar Choueiri, who is a plasma physicist by day, who has developed a crosstalk-cancelling device for use with speakers. Granted, it is extremely expensive, as the two packages cost $50k USD and around $5-6k USD respectively. It involves the use of microphones being placed in your ears and a series of test sweeps run in concert with head placement tracking to calibrate things, but the really neat thing is that an algorithm can send reversed frequencies of the left ear's pickup from the right channel, and vice versa, along with the content of the opposite channel to cancel what each ear would pick up from it in an ordinary stereo listening setup, and more closely matching what you would have heard from the performance if listening live.

[@RussellClewett]

This is how ASMR video makers get their videos to sound the way they do. Very impressive stuff!

[@maxalain9948]

I listen to ASMR all the time

[@BeastlyAnteater]

This mic is well above their pay grade

[@RussellClewett]

@@BeastlyAnteater Agreed! But they use cheap alternatives.

[@jomgaard3035]

@Joseph Hagen There are loads of binaural recording set-ups out there besides the Neumann... some use full-sized heads, others use spaced ears which get most of the way there, some are fairly DIY without the proper head density but still get most of the way there.

[@jomgaard3035]

@Joseph Hagen When you watch the videos, you will see their equipment. The 3Dio is popular, the B1-E pops up often and some other one that looks cheap but seen in a lot of vids.. Zoom don't do a binaural mic as far as I know, although there is an ambisonic mic that can calculate binaural.

[@jomgaard3035]

And finally.. Complicité's stage show, The Encounter was a great show (I saw it live), especially how it merged live-mic'd binaural with recorded binaural so that a character could walk off stage... but then still be there sonically, in exactly the same place as before in your headphones. They also combined audio in the auditorium to provide physicality to the bass whilst you sat with headphones on (take them off and you just heard say 200Hz downwards from the auditorium speakers) great for a hellicopter approach. There are some "making of" vids on youtube.

[@charlesgaskell5899]

I'm glad someone else made the connection with "The Encounter" - Christian, it's definitely something you should investigate if you don't know it already

[@Digalog]

Just love man! Profound is the way xD Quality channel , quality footage again. Bless up!

[@AlisonWheeler]

Way back in the 70s/80s I recall BBC Radio 3 experimenting with music transmission in binaural, including some Proms, though techniques have probably improved since then.

[@nessuer743]

Ohh my goosebumps... The 3D'ness of the room's reflections were so incredibly detailed and the feeling of spatial positioning made these recordings absolutely incredible to listen to. Great video as always, thanks for the show.

[@whiskyandsynths]

This is so awesome! I'll never forget the 1st time I experienced it in Glasgow Science Museum, the effect was unbelievable! I have always wondered about the application of the technique in music and media too, but aye, maybe now is the time!

[@TheOnjLouis]

Right, I want this mic. Want. Need! I did not know this thing existed. I’ve been making quasi-binaural recordings for years, at gigs, going to various events etc, I even use a set of headphones from Sennheiser for iOS that do a very good job at this, but never have I heard the like. Time to start saving... FML.

[@williewilkerson6372]

In 1983, there was a similar process developed by a man named Zacharelli. The system was called Holophonics. I still have the cassette demo. It was being demoed at the Discovery Channel in LA. He was pushing the process to movie theater chains. Even Spielberg was impressed. Nothing ever came of it because it required movie theaters to re-tool and convert to headphone use only, something movie theaters were reluctant to do at the time. Who knows, it may make an appearance after Covid.

[@terryb3204]

Holey Moley Christian! I was quite relaxed with my eyes closed, then literally jumped an up an inch out of my seat when I heard Jane's voice from the rear left. It was like being snuck up on from behind by someone that didn't bother to knock before speaking. No wonder good Feng shui requires facing one's desk toward the door! I've experienced other binaural recordings with just a voice, but your water pouring and voice being some distance apart definitely came through more 3D than any others that I've heard. Thanks so much for making such a useful well thought out demo for us! Food for thought indeed.

[@brunovalente2077]

I had a hear infection and one of the ears hearing capacity reduced to 15% or less for 2/3 weeks and I realize that I lost sense of space, for example if I would close my eyes while walking along the street I couldn't guess if a car was coming from behind or front. Scary, I finally recovered 100,% after 2 months and it all started with an in-ear headphones that accidentally hited the floor before I put in my hear and brought some bad bacteria inside. Now I value so much the stereo earing, and am very careful with everything we put inside it, even cotton stick. And also earing music in lower volumes so I preserve it the most, and no more in-ear headphones for me!!. Of course we can't predict being by a car...that sucks. Great video!

[@Jokrono]

I've done a lot of binaural stuff before and it's always really cool, but this experiment demonstrated something I just coincidentally haven't come across before, and that was that as I was listening, the left-side examples were all spaces where it is possible to stand in my room, but the right side is not, and somehow that made it feel far more noticeable. It was as if my brain was struggling to find some way to collate the information of the layout of my room with the sound, even though all of the left side examples still didn't sound like the room itself. It's as though the familiarity of the space I'm in is some sort of bounding box for the sonic image of the recorded room. I'm going to have to try this more when I next get my hands on the Dave I have access to.

[@tobysaunders1462]

Such a fascinating video Christian. I've known a little bit about binural recording and microphones but so many small questions, which have been answered! So much food for thought, thank you indeed.

[@jeremiahis]

This was great. My mentor in college impressed upon me that sound in the studio changes by even slightly turning one's head and that we even hear sound differently just because of the differences in the anatomy or our heads/ears. The idea of making a mic that aims to replicate the way we hear is genius. . .and yet so seemingly obvious. Very cool. Thanks Christian!

[@ydlp7705]

Actually (on the one ear thing), I had the chance to see a masterclass of a researcher in Binaural (Lucie Hardoin if i can remember correctly). She said that you're constantly learning how to locate sources in spaces, so, even if you've lost an ear, you're brain can still learn how to locate sounds around you (with every layer of tools that you have to locate sources), which is amazing as you think about it! In the case of your friend that lost hearing in one of his, he did lost the "Delta"t, the time difference that sounds has when it come from right or left, but (as he mentioned) he still has the filtering effect (his head remains the same, his HRTF remains the same). As an exemple, stereophonic mic setup such as XY doesn't have this "Delta"t but still, you can locate sources with the difference in volume. Binaural add this layer of filtering, a tool that helps you locate sources. Same if you had an accident and your head's somehow different, same if you just changed haircut. Well, this subject is really full yet not well known. A shitload of persons still calls binaural 3D sound, 5D sound or whatever ahah. Keep it up, I truly appreciate your content.

[@thebinauralguy1131]

Great stuff Christian! Informative and compelling. Happy to have more ears listening to binaural content!

[@anders_wall]

If you are on a budget, get one of those makeup heads, a pair of silicone ears and the best small capsule omni mics you can afford. Easy to find online and perhaps a fun DYI for the holidays :)

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Yes and I have been told there are kits available that are commonly used in colleges as an assignment.

[@nativeVS]

A pair of 4060 or 4061 taped to ear hangers in one's ear are an even easier way to walk around and record pretty much exactly what one is hearing.

[@anders_wall]

@@nativeVS sure, lav mics are great and can work wonders. The DPA's are roughly €400 each and then you need the microdot to XLR adapter and that's another...I don't know €50? So roughly a €1000 for a pair. Lom audio has some great alternatives that won't break the bank and sound similar to the DPA's. :-)

[@nativeVS]

@@anders_wall Ex West End (or insert Rental house of choice here) 4061s tend to come relatively cheap and some are more than decent enough when taking apart the body, but yes new DPAs do have a bit of a price (but then again they are bloody useful as Boundary mics, for drums and sticking inside pianos, so in the long term well worth the price).

[@anders_wall]

@@nativeVS I'm with you a 100%. We used to tape them onto the walls of our concert hall. Perfect for that extra boom and depth, not talking about how great they are for capturing the audience. DPA even makes a rubber(y) plate-thing that you can use to "convert" them to boundary mics. That's another XX euro :)

[@maflova87]

Great video as always Christian! I think what I like the most about hearing binaural recordings vs stereo using headphones, is that with stereo recordings there is the effect of perceiving the sounds inside the head (we just do not realise it because we are very used to it). With binaural recordings, sounds are externalised, which relates more to how we hear, so it gives a completely different experience of sounds. I've done some test with "Dave" in the past, and I find it hard to tell when sounds are in the front or the back, I guess the average HRTF (head-related transfer function) used in the KU100 does not works well with me. I have had better results testing other microphones. Also, it is important to notice that certain sounds elicit more ILD and ITD according to their sonic characteristics.

[@paulmarriott7683]

Wow, phenomenal, and yes I looked behind when Jane spoke !

[@TheStudioFreq]

Christian, wondering why the pouring examples are sounding a couple feet vertically above my head level. Maybe ceiling and floor reflections? As there wasn't any video I don't have visual reference to support the X/Y/Z placement in the room of how hight (vertically) the water was being poured. Hats off to you on this Christian - for helping to spotlight Binaural. I'm a composer/audio engineer (and Spitfire customer), and have just built a new studio with a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos/Auro 3D/Binaural studio for Music/Film/games/VR and streaming. Such a fun time to be alive! Thanks for the fun video. Alex J.

[@ChrisLeverMusic]

the 'royal grand 3D' in the Nord piano library as the name suggests is recorded with one of these Dave's and is my go-to! It's the only one I'm aware of so really curious to hear some more :-)

[@DCPImages]

The other tool is head movement (as distinct from sound movement) which allows the ‘head filter’ to have a shifting reference point (even if there is only one ear) and thereby to sense the change in quality of the sound as the ‘head filter’ shifts, which gives valuable location / distance / direction information.

[@DavidJohnAshman]

Nice video. Ahhh the old stereograph for the ears! Brings back memories of when I used to have the akm binaural mics that you put in your ears. I used to record on holiday a lot. Allowed me to capture everything I went to. They were very sensitive and would pick up a lot of your own body noise so you had to be careful. Tchad Blake did Pearl Jam album called binaural. He used to used binaural at Real World a lot. I recorded a lot of stuff but still on mini discs from years ago. 'Majorca 2001' comment by Daniel Pemberton made me laugh. Binaural beats is an interesting topic. It allows you to entrain your brain onto different states/frequencies by putting different frequencies into both ears and your brain works out the difference. I used to use the brainwave simulator for it but haven't touched it in years, it used to be on the PC back in the day. Nice work Christian. Would be interesting to compare this with 2nd order ambisonics mics etc.

[@davidb9682]

Interesting stuff. Reminded me of first hearing Edgar Froese's album "Aqua" in mid 1970s, and his use of a binaural head. He only used it on one track I believe, NGC891, for aircraft and traffic noise. It really blew me away at the time and still worth a listen for the historic use of binaural.............with headphones of course.

[@Viewfinderrr]

Thanks for doing that! Great test of my brand new Shure 1840 headphones! Happy Holidays!

[@SullieBurgess]

Heya Christian! Check out the dearVR MICRO free plugin - it allows you to alter mono and stereo audio in your DAW to become binaural through the use of EQ and Head Related Transfer Function - it would be perfect for your binaural mix of your album! It's absolutely fascinating as it poses the problem of where we pan sound sources outside of confines of the stereo field whilst not being disconcerting to a listener. It's also tricky to mix to sound "good" on headphones AND then stereo speakers as you discussed in your vid. I think it's a mixing skill all on its own and a tonne of fun to play around with! Any questions, let me know - it's something I loved studying during my Msc!

[@mikedevlin2048]

DPA have the 4560’s a set of matched 4060’s on a headset... I use 4060s to produce binaural soundtracks to support photographic documentary projects... it really is a fantastic tool

[@eirikriiseandersen5588]

Hi! This is a great way to make recordings. I made some very realistic recordings in this way in 1991 / -92, then as a student at the Norwegian Sound School. Later called NISS, Norwegian Institute for Studio and Performing Arts. As you emphasize, the effect of this depends on the listener using headphones. But, in a blend with sound directly from a mixing desk, as in a small intimate concert, where one uses binaural recording of the ambient sound, this is an absolutely fantastic way to make recordings. NB! I recorded with a binaural headset, made by AKG, where the principle was the same, except that you had the microphones on you, while you heard what the recording would be like, while you were recording. So, you see the microphones were also integrated in the headset.

[@danjwalker]

Anyone else hear the pops when the video changes angles around 14:00 during the piano recording? I imagine there would just be one audio source and the camera angles would be cut separately above the one audio track. SO I can't understand why the audio would even pop during each angle change.

[@stuart_rose]

Thank you for the tip about The Portal, oh what a narrative and tonal ride it is! Your videos, full of substance and whimsy, have been beacons of light through the darkest times of the pandemic this year. And, Spitfire products give creative hope and inspiration for navigating a way out of this hole/mess. Bless ❤️

[@pjdahmen]

Very good Tutorial and nice Atmosphere .well done

[@galacticecho7027]

Thank you, Sir! You yourself are also an inspiration!

[@TheJonHolstein]

I will try to remember to listen to this on my omnipolar speakers. I have found that surround effects baked in to stereo sound, actually works better with such speakers.

[@jomgaard3035]

A relaxing recording I like listening to when I can't sleep is 20 minutes of rain and thunder and wildlife, recorded and shared by some random guy on Head-Fi - using binaural headset (mics placed as on a pair of headphones, using his own head as the dummy head). Make your own with a pair of DPA 4060s !

[@PCoyte]

Complicite did an amazing binaural theatre production called The Encounter using that Neumann. Through listening, Simon McBurney and others that use binaural mics are improving awareness and encouraging change.

[@PeteCalandra]

The Yamaha P515 has a binaural CFX patch. Big difference with headphones

[@ame7165]

hmm, i have a pretty expensive DAC from Schiit (upgraded bifrost dac with usb), and fairly expensive headphones (sennheiser hd650's), and a matching amp, and the "front" recordings didn't sound like front to me. they sounded like side. the "rear" recordings, however, did sound like rear. and i know it's not my headphones because that really old italian barbershop binaural recording gives me VERY accurate positional imaging. i wonder why? i might have to try this on my noise cancelling bose headphones and see how they do

[@alejandronieto576]

Thanks Christian for your dedication.

[@samshrimpton407]

I’ve been wanting a KU100 for nearly as long as I’ve been making music. Almost certainly going to google renting one!...Far too expensive even then, I’m guessing 🤣 It’s been touted as the future of recording for decades, but like you said, I think it’s needed the consumer market to catch up, in regards to headphone tech..and I think we really are finally almost there! I would personally be stoked to hear your album done binaurally and pretty jealous to boot! Maybe like a side A, with all arrangements played live on piano, and side B with them all being synth/modular interpretations, or something along those lines. Don’t know how you would do the synths binaurally though...Tons of guitar amps? Can’t wait for this binaural pianobook addition!

[@mcplaylist4748]

Blaady brilliant as usual Christian, I completely agree and in the last few years there has been a huge surge in the younger 'audiophile' community where many listen purely on headphones due to the limitations of their accommodation, in many cases through very expensive headphones/amps. What a great opportunity to bring to life a live show or studio recording for people in an age where a youtube Livestream/zoom meeting just can't compete with the real deal!

[@Mincher]

This reminds me of going to museums as a kid and standing in one of those 'Street life in 1800' soundscape exhibitions that had speakers hidden all around. Neat stuff. I also wonder if Crosstalk is increased or diminished by a surround sounds speaker setup.

[@midinotes]

An interesting contrast to this is the speaker simulation DSP on my audio interface, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP which actually simulates the effect of listening to speakers when you are listening through headphones. I guess the principle is to actually introduce cross talk between the left and right channels into the headphone signal, but with various degrees of delay and equalisation. To be honest though I never use this feature on the interface with headphones as I’m used to the sound I hear, but it does give the impression of speakers rather than isolated L and R signals in each ear. Perhaps useful for those who regularly listen to their music on the move? You would imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to reconstruct one of these binaural ‘heads’ with a decent pair of mics instead for a lot less than this one. A very interesting topic Christian and thank you for exploring this and, at great expense, hiring this kit to provide us with a true demonstration (and a wonderful Christmas present!)

[@davidgraham952]

Amazing tech knowledge - mind blowing Xian!

[@jrettetsohyt1]

And can you make a few convolution irs? Maybe popping a balloon once up front and once farther away in your room; and then once simply outside in the open. Thanks!

[@vangledosh]

It still blows me away how good speakers sound and how accurately sound can be recreated through recording. Even shitty speakers from a phone still sounds remarkably good for some coil and magnets.

[@musicalmagicede5190]

Looking at the way you recorded the piano piece at the end: there are headphones that can record binaurally, so then you use your own skull instead of the dummy. I own the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart, Roland has something similar. Loved your remark on the "head turning" when listening to a binaural recording of people; I tried this on my daughter with a recording I made in a crowded shop where people passed by talking. It was fun to see the reaction 🙂

[@gertlungmaskin1210]

First time for me to test Neumann KU100 was at Sveriges Radio back in 1977.

[@vladaudio3967]

I as well have started to lose a little bit of my left ear hearing capability. It seems to be affecting the high frequencies I can hear, it's not really a drastic change, but It feels like there is an imbalance and it can be quite bothering sometimes especially when dealing with effects like reverb, delay. I'm still able to do my work, but it's that constant awareness that there is something wrong with my ear that can make it a bit unsettling.

[@bill_simpkins]

Our body also picks up vibrations which helps us determine direction. Headphones can't do that, neither really can two speakers that well. When we listen we TURN our heads too to help dial it in while our bodies queue in on even more vibrations. Our brain compares what we heard and felt at different positions. We also get some sound that travels through our heads into our hearing sensors. It's complicated huh!?

[@mvsr990]

When I was kid, I had an audiobook/dramatization of Stephen King's The Mist that was produced in "3D Sound" - absolutely terrifying to listen to in bed at night.

[@Oldtoby1138]

I was gonna jump into the comments just to mention this very thing! There was a series of these audiobooks (one of Clive Barker's Books of Blood stories - "The Body Politic"). Amazing!

[@audioartisan]

Yes, definitely when Jane spoke. It was unexpected and for a millisecond I actually thought my wife had walked into the studio to tell me something because the door to my studio is exactly where I heard Jane's voice coming from. This was with headphones on, and my eyes shut. Amazing! Now I want to compose tracks with this technology. You could really get some amazing psychoacoustic ambient tracks using this technique. Thank you!

[@nico_arn]

Can someone please name the piece starting at 13:45 ? Of course, I know it but for the love of God, I can not remember what it is :D thank you so much

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Trois Gnossiennes - Erik Satie

[@kavokei1337]

As someone who's dabbled with binaural audio as a cod-scientist, this was fascinating! Really got the cogs grinding regarding the possibilities. Also, first time I've heard Lau mentioned - what a nice surprise! I've been a huge fan of their music for years, as well as the individual work of Kris Drever (plus his dad), Aiden O'Rourke (Sirius and his many collaborations), Martin Green, of course, and Inge Thomson. Lau is the centre of a massive web of unbelievable talent and music that could stir anybody's soul...

[@TheJonHolstein]

Most people today do their serious music listening on headphones, so binaural is very possible for music today. For some time, I have been thinking of binaural recording methods. I came up with the idea of using specially designed speakers/resonators, with a spread similar to instruments and mouths, placing them in an actual environment , to be able to record a realistic room sound with accurate placement of the sound-source, while still being able to record something that isn’t a live take. It would be cool, if people started to make a business out of it. Access to various room types, the right type of resonators/speakers, sound interfaces with large amount of outputs, the skill to know how to process for that type of recording (speakers/resonators and rooms, will influence the sound, and separate low end processing might be necessary), and probably access to dummies that could be placed in to the recording environment for a realistic sound absorption of a crowd are resources a potential business could provide. What really got me thinking about it, was how disappointed I am with stereo representation in headphones. Engineers typically don’t think about it, and without the crosstalk of speakers, the listening experience is very different… tilted or one sided low end… Stereo reverb effects that are one sided. I actually think that today, engineers should work for headphone listening primarily, but they don’t. I then remembered those head microphones, that in design are the perfect opposite of a pair of headphones (the mic’s places very near to where a pair of in-ear headphones would sit to reproduce the sound recorded). Those would remove the engineers idea of the stereo-field and the faux room sound of a room-reverb, and give the listener something accurately recorded when done in a room. The limitation then I thought was it would have to be a live take, and not all music can be performed that way… But then I just realized that speakers/resonators could handle the sound instead of instruments and vocalists, if they have a similar spread pattern to the source sound, then the sound can be heavily pre-processed to sound like a modern production, and still be recorded as a live event since the sound sources aren’t actually live, but play-back (of processed tracks).

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Thanks so much for this, absolutely fascinating.

[@keithquillen4086]

This is the first video I've encountered that mentions what is lost when hearing is lost in one ear and how we may somewhat compensate. About ten years ago I had an ear infection in my left ear that eventually caused a significant reduction in my hearing in that ear. I can hear a little bit if it's loud enough but the frequency range is not good. With phones on and the volume up a bit I could hear some differences in the binaural examples, but not the full effect. After listening to stereo recordings since stereo recordings were available (yeah, I'm that old) I lost that feature. I can't locate a sound like a bird singing without turning my head and trying to hear the volume difference. I get enough cross-talk from my left monitor speaker to tell the difference between a mono and a stereo mix, but I rely on the visual aspect of metering and panning settings in my DAW to approximate it. I remember stereo positioning enough to kind of fake it, so to speak. Ironically when I was in college I wanted to get involved in binaural research, but life happened as they say, and I went a different direction. But I've still got the other ear and I'm still making music.

[@Fangornmmc]

First came across binaural through NinjaTheory's game Hellblade. For people interested in audio, particularly for games, you may want to read some of the audiokinetic blog posts on Binaural and on Ambisonics. Binaural audio is especially well suited to VR like experiences.

[@davidy7004]

It definitely felt weird when Jane spoke, but I did actually look behind me when you got to that point, even though logically it made no sense to do so.

[@octatonicgardenmarcospi4978]

This was fabulous. Tks!

[@skevosmavros]

In case no one else has referenced it, check out the radio play "The Revenge". It's remarkable for several reasons - it was recorded binaurally, it was recorded on location (no sound effects added in post), and it was a radio play without words! m.soundcloud.com/bronaanorb/andrew-sachs-the-revenge Trivia - it was made my Andrew Sachs, best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers.

[@spacebwoy]

Didn't Edgar Froese use something similar on Aqua?

[@coreyoliver3653]

Though I am late to the party (by way of Jonesboro, Georgia, USA), I find your observations and findings - remarkable. I came across this episode: searching for the, most optimal, sonic, capturing device; in order to aid in (finally) quelling the, polarizing and never-ending, arguments regarding the discernment of high-dollar, audiophile, hardware & software. And, my word - just the thought of, merely, a few implications (regarding your study) is staggering. It appears that you, and those close to you, seem to understand the gravity of your theory & aspirations. If only I had been hit by a Sir Issac Newton epiphany - and envisioned this, first. Oh well, ‘good luck. Hopefully, the world will know your name - one day. ‘Cheers...

[@CoffeeWithNeil]

I'm fascinated by binaural sound. I found your video very informative. Thanks for sharing.

[@mechasartre3694]

Would love a video on working with little processing power/RAM if you ever find the time and think theres a broad enough audience.

[@adub303]

Awesome demonstration, really twistin' my mellon, man (and thank you btw for saving us all 10,000 smackers 😉)

[@stevesutube]

This is a fascinating vid Christian. Nice one.

[@zacheryboyce5279]

It would be interesting to see what happens if you take a recording purely front left, and a recording front right, of the same sound then cross fade them. How similar would it be to a recording of the same sound actually moving across? How would other spacial techniques work (for example using low/high pass filters to imitate distance) with binaural?

[@alisakibin]

9:22 the effect is not lost, it becomes kinda schizophrenic, the quality of the sound is as if it’s behind you, but you hear it in front of you, it’s so strange

[@ljwaugh1]

Interesting video Christian - thanks. I've never quite been totally convinced by binaural sound, though it is very impressive and much more realistic than stereo. It occurred to me as I was listening to your binaural pieces that the sound seemed to sit too high in my aural sphere. I wondered if that was because the binaural mic head had no body attached to it and therefore was not truly representative of a human hearing system. Would be interesting to see if you placed the head on a dressed body (decapitated mannikin? :-)) to see if that made any difference, effectively lowering the sound stage and increasing the realism further. I think the effect would be more pronounced in an environment where there was a reflective floor. In addition though, the body will effectively modify the phases of sounds arriving at the ear/microphone, with some of the sound being diffracted over the edges of the body - a very subtle effect but then , the differences between real and recorded sounds is often very subtle! Do you fancy doing some experiments with a bodied microphone?

[@semproser19]

Christian, do you think you'll ever use this to make binaural samples? As in, a Spitfire library that was recorded head-inclusive-binaurally, so we get that brilliant positioning when listening through headphones? Imagine being able to compose a positionally realistic sounding orchestral piece, entirely through samples. As a BBCSO:Pro owner I love the idea of Dolby Atmos front and back but this would be another level.

[@AndyRobinson1010]

Fantastic and quite an experience, loved it!

[@tryit1568]

This is so cool !! Very educational. I kept looking behind me .😂

[@Czyszy]

Amazing recording! It literally felt like the sound was coming from around me lol.

[@DanKeenMusic]

Fascinating. I wonder, conversely, whether binaurally recording music designed for (crosstalk) speakers straight out of your studio speakers and played back through headphones could sound better than just playing the original music through headphones? Does that make sense?

[@richardlyon67]

Absolutely fascinating video. I've seen the term "binaural", but didn't understand the business of cross-talk between ears and the analogy with 3D glasses. Now I do. And the demonstrations were very effective - thank you for making this.

[@ardvrech]

@Christian Henson Music Will you be using Udo's Super 6 hybrid polysynth on your album...? - it's binaural :-)

[@AndreaGiordaniComposer]

Profound is a perfect word for the journey I've been through right now. Thank you, Christian. So exciting!

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Thanks Andrea, I am totally surprised at how mind bending this was, it started out quite whimsically!

[@kadekbalian]

I wouldn't say the effect is totally lost on speakers, especially when the sound source is moving in space, just like your friend said. HRTFs still imprint a lot of spatial information that's unaffected by the speaker crosstalk. It doesn't come through with that pinpoint accuracy as it does on headphones, but you still get a lot more of a sense of front to back positioning than with any other stereo recording setups IMO. If you listen to the binaural track Rythm by Jamey Haddad, from around the 2 minute mark someone keeps walking behind you playing cowbells and shakers. Speakers with good imaging in a good room will absolutely tell you that the instrument is behind you, even if not to the same degree as headphones.

[@matteofalco9944]

Interesting how binaural, even being such an old technology is definitely ahead of its video counterpart. This months of lockdowns and zoom meetings have showed how limiting and unfulfilling online interaction can be compared to face to face experience, even though it allows for getting things done. Once the video part will catch up we’ll probably have the next big thing in both entertainment and Virtual Reality experience for real life situations. Definitely worth considering.

[@josedrive]

Thank you so much for your video! Your piano sound is perfect! Could you indicate models of these microphones with lower prices? I will transmit the sound of a room with few people. Only one person will receive sound on their headphones Thank you

[@MrJonnyharry]

I'd be interested to know how far you were from the dummy head as you were making the recordings, as it felt you were about to tap me on the shoulder. A comparison with walking around close to the head, and walking around further away from the head would be interesting to hear.

[@Raghav759]

That is a Binaural mic which is used for recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound

[@skevosmavros]

I own and use a Hooke headset binaural mic. You wear them, one in each rear, and your own actual head provides the binaural effects. Much cheaper than "Dave", but you do have to keep your head still, and resist scratching your head, sniffing, coughing, etc. But it's easy and discreet, people generally have no idea I'm recording. Unlike walking around with "Dave". The Hooke hardware is great, it can recorded wired to a recorder or over Bluetooth. Alas, their implementation of Bluetooth is proprietary and unsupported outside their app. Worse still, their app is awful. Fortunately, I can just connect my Hooke headset to my little Zoom recorder by cable for great results. Have a listen to their many binaural demos on KZbin. I think yamaha also makes binaural earphone mics, wired only.

[@tonymckeown1314]

When the sound appeared to come from behind me, I got all giddy and blissed out for a moment, recognising that I was experiencing a new illusion!

[@darrenglover1427]

Spooky, listening to you in the back seats of my car as I did my morning motorway jaunt. Amazing stuff. But, what is bugging me is who is the composer of the fabulous piece you played for us. Thank you again !

[@jmerdsoy]

Also, have you explored Holophonic sound? Created by an Italian named Hugo Zuccarelli who had a different concept of how our hearing mechanism works. From the few things I've heard, it sounds just as good (or better maybe) than binaural recordings but is based on a (maybe subtle) different acoustic theory. Worth a look.

[@Fjordjumper]

Right. Zuccarelli's Holophonic sound blew me away in the 80's. I had a deep craving to know how this tech worked. Three decades later I now own one of these KU 100s and am working towards releasing some creative projects, when ready

[@Fjordjumper]

And by the way, the Zuccarelli folks want you to believe their tech is different than binaural but I'm not convinced it is. They haven't proven otherwise, and many have investigated

[@jmerdsoy]

@@Fjordjumper I suspect you're right. I like his theory about the ears basically being interferometers, but that doesn't mean there's any merit to it.

[@BenGilbey]

Check out Max Cooper’s 3D Reworks 001 on Bandcamp. Great binaural tracks.

[@simononeill941]

Well done. That was a great experience.

[@musiqtee]

Fantastic video, research, effort and all! I briefly looked into binaural back in the late 80’s as a young engineer. We had some esoteric sound effects records hidden away in the studio machine room. After a deeper dive into the theory (you know, public library...😅), I concluded not to pursue it further, since the public at the time mostly used “classic” stereo speakers at home or in a car. Today, if people even use speakers, it’s often just one (!). As you pointed out, most probably use some kind of on-/in-ear listening device. That fact opens up possibilities for a fresh take on binaural? On the other hand, whereas public awareness about a working listening environment was on the rise up until, say 2005, my hunch is that since then it has ditched. The commercial reality around music & audio consumption doesn’t focus on technical issues like this now, not for the mass market. Like when stereo became the norm, we would need the backing of “big corp” to create awareness around binaural audio - there’s money in everything. But as you say, people are indeed using headphones now. Maybe this is the way to revive “hand played” music as a mainstream contender? 😊👍

[@michaelcooper1473]

Fascinating stuff! Thank you

[@wesboundmusic]

I think I once read or heard the expression 3D stereo and it made instantaneous sense to me in terms of understanding the concept of binaural. Maybe I was confusing things here and maybe they aren't equivalent to each other. But that's how I remember it anyway...😇 Thanks so much, great presentation of binaural!

[@echosonicmusic]

Somewhere in my various kit boxes is a dirt cheap binaural mic designed as a set of walkman earphones (a little more subtle than carrying an expensive Dave around). I had lots of fun about 10 years ago grabbing found sounds with it and a minidisk. I found them to be hard to lay in a mix though as the whole otherness of the binaural signal made it stand proud of anything recorded and mixed in a more traditional stereo way. Loved this experiment though ... you were pouring the water above head level I think?

[@TheCrowHillCo]

How interesting, I think (as a contributor commented above) that our hearing is strictly calibrated to the very specific shape of our ears. Because Dave's are someone else's I think we interpret the recordings differently. I was actually pouring water beneath the head. For me the front recordings don't sound in front of me but rather strangely kind of exactly where I'm sitting, neither in front, nor behind but not exactly in my exact position either?