Recording A Synthesizer In Binaural To Create Realistic Spatial Effects
Synthesist Jonas Fasching shared this video, exploring the psychoacoustic possibilities of binaural recording of a synthesizer.
Binaural recording uses a pair of microphones, positioned similarly to human ears, to capture what a person would hear in the same position.
The video demonstrates how you can use binaural recording to capture real-world reverb and mix it with your synthesizers.
Here’s what Fasching shared about the technical details:
“In this video, I am trying to record a Synthesizer, the Novation Peak, in Binaural with the SR3D Binaural Microphones. I am recording the sounds of the synthesizer in a skatepark and i capture the sound of the room and the reverb with these binaural microphones.
While Fasching demonstrates the technique with a synthesizer, the same approach could be used with any instrument.
*Note: The term ‘binaural’ simply means ‘involving two ears’, rather than a specific technique. The term is used in several ways relating to recording and electronic music synthesis:
- Binaural recording refers to using a specialized microphone, as demonstrated in the video, to capture sound the way a person would hear it in the same position.
- Binaural mixing refers to mixing with psychoacoustic processing, in order to create an immersive spatial stereo mix.
- Binauaral beats refers to the psychoacoustic effect of hearing a ‘phantom’ tone or beat when you listen to two closely related tones in your left and right ear. For example, if you listen to a 440 Hz tone with your left ear and a 444 Hz tone with your right ear, you would hear a 4 Hz tone or beat (the difference between 440 & 444).
- Binaural synthesis is a term used to refer to two different concepts:
- Artificially creating the psychoacoustic effects of spatial audio; and
- An approach to sound synthesis that uses a separate channel to generate audio for each ear, instead of using a single synthesis channel and then using panning or effects to create a stereo effect.
What these have in common is that the effects are best heard, and in some cases only heard, when listening with headphones.
