What is your favorite binaural recording?

[GuySonic]

The back story on how the DSM moniker came to being actually started with film writer/producer/director Brett Leonard (Virtuosity, and produced/directed/written other great films) was just out of film school at UC Santa Cruz before doing his first major release film. Met him in 1987 as one of the interesting customers frequenting a local Santa Cruz Hi-End audiophile gear shop. He was carrying around a brief case containing a 'holophonic' sound cassette tape saying he was very interested in this type of sound for film productions.

So I invited him up to the house to audition some of my ambient/music auditioning of personally made recordings using a special mic I recently developed. He listened on both headphones/custom stereo monitors. Played some orchestral music recordings, but what he really responded to were pure ambient recordings of ‘mad dog’ merrymakers at a friend’s (a.k.a “Dr. Dirt”) 800 acre family ranch mostly done in and around a small lake. After listening for a short time, he stated these recordings where exactly what he was hoping to hear, and that these recordings contained true ‘dimensionality.’

So needing a name for mics/method not binaural, I instantly on-the-spot started calling them “DSM” for Dimensional Stereo Microphones, and many years later changed the ‘S’ to mean ‘Stereo-Surround’ which is more accurate to the type of sound recorded. However, lately considering renaming as “DSSM” partly because the letters DSM, even though now a trademark of mine, are more recently being used for naming a hundred other things (some really nasty!).

Brett had written a movie “horror” script for his first film, had sources for funding lined up. So along with his then ‘Girl Friend Friday’ over dinner suggested I do some/all of the sound using my mics. I flatly told him I had just developed this mic, and still missing solid experience and accessories for doing a major film project. Brett, lacking major file production experiences himself, and also being most insecure about trying something unproven, immediately ended the sound recording part of the discussion.

While I’ve had several more occasions to see him before/after film release social events, we’ve never talked sound again. And as far as I know, has not used any kind of dimensional sound recording tactics while shooting his films, and has gotten out of the director/producing roles (too many film ownership/profit disappointments) to solely write film scripts, which he sells for better profit than made on most/all his directed films.

So to make a long story short, this is how DSM, and now maybe DSSM came to be named.

Later over the years I did indeed get the dimensional recording experience and develop the necessary support gear to make DSM/DSSM mics a candidate for film sound production. Obviously, the mics have found good use with sound designers for postproduction sound resources, but a few films have actually placed my HRTF LiteGUY baffle on an extended motorized boom for directly recording scenes not viable with post sound methods.

Also, HRTF impulse studies have been mentioned in this thread as a viable test of my 'DSSM method' vs. now considered standard commercially available binaural dummy head mics.

All I can tell you is a few customers in the distant past have mentioned the DSM mics were being used worn on real people extensively in university research laboratory studies striving to directly model the HRTF response for developing computer software to generate HRTF audio in some manner.

The resulting benefits or success of DSSM mics being used for modeling HRTF is unknown to me. I do consider my special pickups to be exceptionally wide <5-to-beyond- 40,000 cycle bandwidth flat uncolored response true omni pressure types, so I can think of no better mic for this research with Earthworks 30/40K omni models using the same capsules modified in different manner being a second choice I'd suggest using. So memory doesn't serve me to know who, when, and where this HRTF research was being done.

FWIW I have low opinion of computer software driven HRTF simulations for complex sounds, and considering this still a real limitation, simulation software is of no personally interest. As far as I know, real world live sound is too complex for current computers using software to work well except for the most simple of sounds, and I consider synthetic HRTF still not viable for broad music/film commercial purposes. But maybe that’s just me, and who knows what the future holds.

Recent computers/software do seem to be getting a lot better at complex dynamic fluid processing tasks and I feel will eventually have enough power to accurately process real world (musically) complex sounds replicating true HRTF with widest frequency bandwidth from multiple or every/any direction.

I just do not think we are even close to having the computer gear to do this and should still consider using head mics as most practical/reliable way for generating HRTF audio.

[Peter Allison]

I think I may owe an apology here, I have in the past, stated that the Rick wakemanrecording was, how can I put it,,,,, not to my liking.
I have just listened again to the DTS piece, through my very lowly AKG headphones, and it has really come to life. This is what I would love to achieve in my upcoming recording of the fine pipe organ in Durham cathedral in october, as well as to use I hope a pair of Rhode NT5's with omni capsules. As a side note, a friend who was in the forces, and played trumpet, has just bought 7 military trumpets/trombones, now that would sound incredible in a vast gothic cathedral
Peter

[Mark A. Jay]

Originally Posted by GuySonic

The back story on how the DSM moniker came to being actually started with film writer/producer/director Brett Leonard (Virtuosity, and produced/directed/written other great films) was just out of film school at UC Santa Cruz before doing his first major release film. Met him in 1987 ...

....Also, HRTF impulse studies have been mentioned in this thread. All I can tell you is customers have in the past reported the DSM mics worn on real people and used extensively in university laboratory studies striving to directly model the HRTF response for developing computer software. The result intended to replicate HRTF. I have no way to know who, when, and where the results of this work might be found as computer simulations I disregard. These are of no personally interest as considered being too limited to be generally viable for broad commercial purposes. But that’s just me.

Guy: That's actually a pretty cool story; I like knowing how things 'came to be' as it were, so knowing the historical context of a product's development is always nice. Thanks for sharing the lineage of the system. It's funny how things just sort of 'happen' when you are thinking about one thing and it leads to another.

In a way, what you describe reminds me of how a colleage and I (a Bio-mechanical engineer) came to develop a sort of "surrogate human being" equipped with a binaural head; it was to be used in the world of test and measurement, and was even granted a British patent (GBR 2396475). Though it solved the human interface / percpetual challenges of attempting to make the boundary conditions accurate, and thus, the accurate measurements of transmitted vibration and radiated noise in-situ, the company saw no real chance of revenue from the invention. Still, the process and genesis of being a part of something that 'wasn't' before was pretty thrilling, and must be for you as well.

As far as the last paragraph (with regard to the HRTF), I think I know what you are trying to say, but I am afraid the manner in which it is written is a bit confusing. Do you think you could re-write that paragraph, perhaps as a new post? I want to fully understand what you are saying. Thanks again for the post... Mark

[GuySonic]

Done! Revised HRTF impulse research using DSM in original post.

[Mark A. Jay]

OK, so some time ago I posted excerpts and at one point, a link to the Cowboy Junkies show that I recorded in binaural format (just the signals from my KU-100 mannequin head). Well, I decided to go back, re-EQ things a bit, and mix in some quasi-ORTF stereo that I acquired at roughly the same spot as the mannequin head; the pair used for the quasi-ORTF were AT37's.

Again, I can't call this updated version 'truly' binaural because it is a hybrid mix of that and the conventional stereo, but I like the aesthetics of this mix. Thus, I deemed this version to be "Engineered For Headphone Use" because it is mostly binaural, so headphones are the sort of 'go to' transducer for this.

You can find it here in FLAC as well as MP3 VBR and ogg (you can stream it or download it in your format of choice, though I would suggest FLAC if you can):

Cowboy Junkies Live at The Ark on 2009-10-05 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Hope you all like it...

[Mark A. Jay]

OK, So I decided to post this here (not sure what other forum would have been more logical) in the hope that maybe those interested will check it out and (hopefully) enjoy it.

As far as recording goes, this was done with 1 Neumann type KU-100 mannequin microphone (only), placed on-stage, about 2m in front of the performers (who were in a row about 15 feet or so in length. There are things I like, and things I don't like about this, but this was a non-revenue gig that I did to help showcase the venue (which is a non-profit).

Performers include: Annie and Rod Capps, Kitty Donohoe, Mark Iannace, Jill Jack, and Jan Krist. The first set is originals while the second is all Joni Mitchell covers.

One 'bonus' in this recording is that on the evening that I recorded this show, some powerful storms moved through, and on various tracks you can hear the rain hitting the roof in sheets - so don't think it's a sudden burst of random noise...

Second bonus... I posted the show in FLAC format, and then the site derived the lossy formats (vrb mp3 and ogg vorbis), but if you want the real deal, you can download the FLAC and aholly reconstruct to .wav, or you can use the FLAC files to go to other formats; FLAC is 100% lossless and also supports metadata (tags).

Anyway...here is the link to the show: Capps, Donohoe, Iannace, Jack, and Krist: Live at the Trinity House Theater, 2010-06-04 : Annie and Rod Capps, Kitty Donohoe, Mark Iannace, Jill Jack, Jan Krist : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Mark

[dallas simpson]

Hi Mark and list members,
Mark thanks for the contact.

Just 'touching base' briefly, been busy in the studio with mastering and other personal affairs.

RE binaural broadcasts on UK National Radio - I'm currently working with a production company in Manchester and am making some binaural programme idea submissions in the latest round of the BBC Radio 3 programme commissioning. Things move painfully slowly, but I'll let you all know how things go.

Now back to the mastering!

dallas.

[Mark A. Jay]

Originally Posted by dallas simpson

Hi Mark and list members,
Mark thanks for the contact.

Just 'touching base' briefly, been busy in the studio with mastering and other personal affairs.

RE binaural broadcasts on UK National Radio - I'm currently working with a production company in Manchester and am making some binaural programme idea submissions in the latest round of the BBC Radio 3 programme commissioning. Things move painfully slowly, but I'll let you all know how things go.

Now back to the mastering!

dallas.

Dallas:

I'm working a few angles with some radio stations as well. Definitely a tough sell, but I think my chances for landing content will be with those stations that have HD Radio broadcasts / streams; some of them seem to be looking for content exclusive to their HD Radio feeds, and it seems like a natural home for binaural / spatial audio as the stream is a 1411 kbps (CD quality) and thus preserves the fidelity.

Thanks for taking me up on my offer to 'connect' here on GS. Incidentally, I also created two groups here - one is the Detroit GS group and the other is Binaural Audio.

Mark

[Mark A. Jay]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Mark, do you have any lossless files for the CJ concert, or was that a commercial thing??

I mean.. is it available anywhere in lossless?

Teddy - I was perusing this thread and came across your question. Although I had responded previously and offered them in 320 kbps from my FTP site, the files have now been posted to the internet archive.

One thing to note - when I first offered examples of the CJ track / made them available, that was a different version than what has since been posted to the internet archive. The main differences between the early version and the archive-posted version is that I altered the EQ a bit, and, I mixed in a very small amount of quasi-ORTF stereo with the binaural signal. Mind you, the conventional stereo portion is down considerably with respect to the binaural portion, but it makes for a very slight difference that I find appealing.

Anyway, you can get to that version at the following link (where it can be streamed or downloaded in FLAC as well as vbr mp3 and ogg vorbis (but since you mentioned lossless in your request, I'm assuming you'd want the FLAC version)): Cowboy Junkies Live at The Ark on 2009-10-05 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

I don't feel comfortable referring to the mix as binaural (on the archive site there's a section explaining that - see the "notes" section) due to the presence of non-HRTF signals, but let's just say it approximates a true HRTF-based recording.

Let me know what you think.