Does binaural recording work?

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[LordVictorHalgaard]

Binaural is for headphones, and yes, it does work... end of story.

[bluebass]

Hey Paul, probably he meant -> mellifluous = having a pleasant and flowing sound (Cambridge Dictionary)

[antoinep]

My wife accuses me of having a dummy head every time I buy more audio equipment.

[dtsdigitalden]

Hey Paul, Daren from New Westminster here, haha. Thanks so much for your thoughts on this. I had not even considered the effects of unique pinna, and how that could colour audio capture, not to mention the width of different people's heads. Also didn't consider that it would double the effect once played back.

BTW, I hope I didn't misspell mellifluous:

"Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style)."

This also applies to your speaking style.

Again, many thanks!

[CarAudioInc]

I wonder if it would work better with iems vs over the ear headphones better. That way it bypasses the meat flappers (lol w/e they're called) But then you'd still have the second part of the phenomena he's talking about as in you would hear stuff, as someone with different shaped ears would. Very interesting.

[dhpbear]

5:00 - I don't believe they're trying to mimic the inner workings of the ear. Instead, sampling of the sound as it reaches one's ears!

Also, I believe a lot of people use the term 'binaural' interchangeably with 'stereo', just as 'monaural' with 'mono'! I don't believe any truly 'monaural' recordings were ever made :)

[lancelotkamaka]

Hi Paul, I really really love binaural audio. So much that I've decided to get the sennheiser smart ambe headphone. The only problem is that I hate wearing something in my ear. would it be possible to get a headphones with built in microphones to achieve the same effect? Thanks so much in advance.

[boyalexandergriffioen]

Head spacing of mic's is actually a bit narrow because you miss, the "head" (pathlengths are longer because of the object depending on angle of arrival) The Schoeps KFM6 and/or the Jecklin disc are some ways to adress this. Omnidirectional mics like those in the BA head like a bit more width. Depending on the distance to the source you probably end up at between 20 and 40 cm (with no object in between) to get a realistic picture. With directional mics you could do this but they sound not as good as omni's

[catified]

The British army settled Canada. They enlisted at 16, served 20yrs in Canada. Then they were granted 100 acres to farm (problem was they had to clear it of massive trees usually) plus a pension and most died around the age of 52. And now you know eh?

[JeanKatana]

Well, with this artificial head chesky does an excellent job, I have to say!
Space and positioning is outstanding!

[ElLocoBedoya]

To answer the original question, yes. It does improve stereo imaging, especially on headphones. That's why most natural piano recordings and other acoustic solo stuff is done with a Blumlein array. Sounds good on speakers, sounds great on headphones. And it has little phasing and psychoacoustic interference.

[normanbott]

Recording with just a suitably arranged pair of mics. is 'Blumlein pair stereo' isn't it ? I get the idea behind it the 'head' arrangement and I've been meaning to get a bin-aural recording just for interest . Haven't got around to it yet : one for the Christmas list I think. Oh and it's 'mellifluous' I believe, and yes that does describe your voice very well. I'm English and we DO have a LOT to answer for.

[davisd]

I would say that the best way to listen to binaural recordings is through a set of IEM's. The binaural mic records in the ear and the playback also starts off in the ear. I don't think there is much of a chance of replicating unwanted distortions with this method Paul such as pinna and head, hair differences etc. A headphone will approximate this effect in the same manner that a stereo soundtrack presents itself in an IEM vs a headphone; the biggest difference being isolation, then those above mentioned imperfections (pinna and canal shape but NOT head, hair, neck etc. as this is now isolated due to the virtue of the headphones). I believe that all recordings contain distortions, it's just a permanent part of the process. With that said, binaural recordings now offer a choice not unlike the tube vs solid state choice. Just like tubes in amps provide distortions and most of the time, at higher levels, the binaural experience is one of those distortions that possess huge appeal like the warmness of a good tube amplifier. Binaural recordings are a step closer to the 'human effect' as I call it, and I find them to be the most entertaining recordings.

[alexzuzizi]

Yes, the voice is great, you are great, videos are great. Pleeeaaaseee keep on posting!

[tims]

Yes! I have been waiting for this subject to come up in these videos. Thanks Paul!

[ryon]

Interesting point you made about ear canals and clarinets, woods or metal. So, lets think about that a little bit before you take it as righteous? You said that our ears distort the sound but our brains can understand, thats amazing and i agree, *but*, in terms of *instrument timbre* i think it's the other way around. I think the instrument distort the sound and somewhat send this information throught the air so you can hear the *instrument timbre* because, somehow, the "air" is distorted. Sounds about right?
I come to that because when i hear a comparison of two different loudspeakers throught my own loudspeaker or headphones i can hear the difference tones even tho my headphone or loudspeaker doesn't have the same tonality. How can this be possible? I think that's because when it was recorded, the microphone gets the *timbre* of the sound that was sended throught the air. What do you think?

[honeyken]

It was in the 1950s that my friend Al Doty used the "kuntz Kopf" to record nature sounds. His 2 track Nagra portable 1/4 inch tape recorder did a great job of capturing the sounds. When he played it back through his Altec "Voice of the Theatre" speakers, it made you duck when the pheasant flew over head from right to left. It was not as good with the headphones (of that day).

[boyalexandergriffioen]

A teacher of me and a great sound engineer did experiment with this. He found out that if you listen to real life through a head with visual feedback. Sitting in the garden watching birds with the head in front of you. After a while your brain adapts. And you can listen to binaural recording made with the same head with the most realism imaginable. But the effect takes a day to get and wears of very quick if you stop wearing the headphones.

[alext]

I have heard some amazing results through this technology at can jam. It was on some hd820s.

[josegazal]

Paul, I remember you published a video about crosstalk cancellation. In my humble opinion, binaural recordings must be considered in conjunction with crosstalk cancellation for speakers, externalization for headphones and head-tracking. The state of the art xtc and externalization algorithms are also personalized by measuring personal binaural room impulse responses. Please check the work of Dr. Choueiri (3D3A lab at Princeton and Theoretica Audio) and Dr. Stephen Smyth (Smyth Research). Also in my humble opinion, those technologies will reach mass market once engineers find a fast and hassle free way to model HRTF from pictures or scanning users. Cheers.