P3D Binaural Sound - Part II

["George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxx>]

So, apparently, a well kept secret (it was news for me) in audio recordings
is the "binaural" recordings which imitate reality just like ortho
stereoscopic photography does.

The equipment needed to create and listen to binaural recordings are
inexpensive and can be primitive.  Two microphones and two headphones.  The
first binaural recording was in 1881 in the stage of the Paris Opera using
two telephone lines.  You can imagine the quality of this sound, yet the
reports talk about astonishing results.

All this fuss about "surround sound" (again, please excuse my ignorance)
appears to be an attempt to hear realistic sound using speakers instead of
headphones.  Like trying to see stereo without "glasses" (or any viewing
device).  We know from stereo photography that this can only mean one
thing:  Compromise!  

Maybe in stereo sound things are different, but what is wrong with
headphones if they are inexpensive and the quality of (binaural recorded)
sound is superb?  

Incidentally, I showed my MD player to a friend at work, a big Grateful
Dead fan and his first reaction was: "But you need headphones to listen to
it!  I don't like headphones!"  I tried to explain that it made no sense to
have a built-in speaker in this little device, which is made for digital
recordings and playbacks.  I then commented that maybe that's why he does
not particularly like stereo photography where he has to use a viewer, and
he agreed!

I have been doing binaural recordings with my mini disc recorder and I am
having a blast.  I use a simple stereo microphone with an inch or so
separation.  Not exactly the separation of the ears (should we call this
hypobinaural?) but because the microphones are directional and point in
opposite directions, the results are great!  

Parenthesis:  The equivalent of hyperstereo (hyperbinaural?) would be to
attach microphones to two parabolic reflectors (equivalent to long lens
focal lengths) to pick up sounds from far away.  Then separate the
reflectors to 1/15 of the distance to the sound source (equivalent to 1/30
in photography, but our ears are twice apart than our eyes! :-)) 

I tried recording in mono and then stereo and the difference is astonishing!  

I was walking around the house listening to a binaural recording via
headphones and got fooled into thinking that my wife was calling me and was
responding to her in real time!  Talking about realism!

But when I play the MD through my stereo system with speakers, the magic is
gone.  It is like a mono recording.  Makes no difference.

The site I referenced previously (http://www.binaural.com/binfaq.html)
talks about listening to binaural recordings via speakers, surround sound
systems, etc., so apparently there is hope.

Which brings me to sound recordings for stereo photography to be discussed
next.

George Themelis
mailto:drt-3d@xxxxxxx