3D Sound Experiment: Take 2

For take 2, I ventured out to NW 23rd and Glisan in Portland Oregon on a sunny day with the my two mics and recorder. I hoped to have numerous city sounds moving from one ear to the next at different distances and paces, all in one take. To accomplish this I would have to make a stationary setup mobile. And to do that I attached my two mics to a dual microphone mount which was screwed on to the head of a camera monopod. I was then able to support both mics with the monopod in one hand and the recorder and excess cabling in the other. As a result I was able to find a great spot to capture some interesting sounds.

Here is my second attempt at 3D sound.

Improvements

I am working on an audio project called “The Portland Media Documentary” and have been gathering 3D soundscapes for the project. During this work I have visited spaces like the Saturday Market, the Pearl District and the Waterfront in the hopes of having a diversity of soundscapes to choose from. While recording I have been using the same equipment and settings as I did for the first 3D sound experiment, but I have found a couple of improvements that can be easily made to the recording setup.

The first improvement I made is the angle/direction each mic is facing in relation to the other. I copied the placement and angle of a dog’s ears when alert (facing 90 – 120 degrees apart) so that I can record more specific movements of sound. This technique was especially effective for concentrated areas of coverage. Simply turning the mics closer together, when compared to the previous 180 degree positioning, helps to provide a directional perspective that can change the listening experience entirely.

Another improvement that I made is having an awareness of the recording environment needed to produce specific sounds and effects. The actual depth of field of the environment (outside or inside) that you are recording in affects the qualities of the sound you capture. If you want a certain sense of depth/distance from your 3D sound recordings, I recommend that you find an environment that “is” or “has” the actual space you are hoping to convey. Getting as close to the actual space that certain sounds naturally occur in could be considered “objective recording”.

Future Research

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