And in the same way that close mics are added to the broadcast stereo mixes I used a lot of the other Radio 3 mics to augment the sound of the 3D array. I set about optimising the “sound” of the 3D mic array which is the main element of all the Proms binaural mixes. Radio 3 has a large complement of microphones already rigged at the Royal Albert Hall so with valuable help from their operations team we rigged our additional 3D mic array in a suitable position (just behind and above their main pair of spaced mics) and set about capturing multi-track recordings of the first few Proms.Īfter the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s poignant rendition of the Marseillaise, the season began with Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture ‘Romeo and Juliet’ which provided a perfect orchestral texture to start mixing in binaural. This is similar to recordings made with a dummy head microphone but, crucially, our object-based technique allows us to render these audio mixes for different playback formats, not just binaural. These characteristics work, together with some clever binaural processing, to produce a 2-channel “mix” (or “render") that provides the headphone listener with a surprisingly realistic reproduction of the 3D soundscape around the mic array. The array uses the directional characteristics of the mics to increase the sound separation between each channel and uses the spacing between the mics to introduce time differences between the sounds that each mic picks up. The microphone array is the Schoeps ORTF-3D and uses its eight hypercardioid microphones to pick-up sound from all directions - in front and behind, above and below. So we jumped at the chance to rig a 3D microphone array at the Royal Albert Hall to capture spatial sound from 2016’s Proms Season.īBC Taster - Try, rate and share the Binaural Proms 2017 We are keen to explore how binaural sound could benefit other broadcast genres, including classical music, and I was keen to apply some new technology to an area of broadcasting that I know well. The audio research team is now working to optimise The Turning Forest for different platforms while continuing to support broadcast productions, including helping to produce several radio dramas in binaural. The complex re-mixing process helped us to develop a workflow for creating professional object-based audio for game engines and highlighted some challenges that need overcoming to improve future VR productions. My task was to revise the soundtrack so it would work as a full VR experience, viewed using a head-mounted display, with headphones providing dynamic binaural sound - in other words, headphone sound that gives a 3D spatial impression and updates according to the viewer’s orientation. The piece began life as an audio-only drama, designed to show-off the potential of 3D sound over loudspeakers, and it exploited the huge body of spatial audio research undertaken in recent years by the BBC and its partners. I’ve been on attachment from BBC Radio as R&D's Research Studio Manager since February 2016, when I was tasked with adapting the sound for the CGI-created VR fairytale The Turning Forest.
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