Cuddle Magic Plays an Intimate Vermont House Show

How to make your own binaural recordings

People have been asking "What is a good setup to get started making my own binaural recordings?"

As of April 2013, for you can get quality binaural mics and a portable recorder for ~$215. 

I like these binaural microphones from Sound Professionals that you wear in your own ears:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-TFB-2
(Note: These mics require "plug-in power" which not all recorders provide.  Plug-in power is different than "phantom power".)

As far as the recorder, while I have not personally used it, this Tascam DR-07MKII looks like a really great device.  From the specs and reviews it looks really well designed for audio quality at the circuit level, it has the plug-in power required by the mics I recommended, it's small and has an optimal location for the microphone jack, and among other things is a really great deal.
http://tascam.com/product/dr-07mk2/

Good luck recording!

Aaron

Cuddle Magic @ The Lily Pad

Prepare to have your mind blown by Cuddle Magic:

"Cuddle Magic is a large ensemble from Brooklyn and Philadelphia that performs lush, whimsical songs with wide-ranging instrumentation including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and many voices. Their unique stage set-up includes some small lamps and a 3-foot plastic penguin set amidst the players and their many instruments. The ensemble, which sometimes swells to 9 or more, plays deftly crafted arrangements of their complex and varied set of original music. They are as friendly and inclusive as their name might suggest — after forming as a quintet just over 4 years ago, they have gradually come to incorporate more and more of their musical friends into the band, constructing intricate soundscapes that include elements of folk music, avant-garde classical music, world music, and urban music."

-FYO Records

They are performing live in this recording at The Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA.

Aaron

Agent Fresco (acoustic set) @ Nordic House During Iceland Airwaves 2010

Agent Fresco - BinauralAirwaves.com - Acoustic Set at Nordic House - Iceland Airwaves 2010 by BinauralAirwaves

Congratulations to Agent Fresco on their newly released CD!

Check it out at Gogoyoko.

Aaron

Rökkurró plays Ferðalangurinn: an exclusive binaural set from Iceland Airwaves 2010

Útidúr (from Iceland) plays "The Glow / Retreat" exclusively for BinauralAirwaves.com

Útidúr (from Iceland) plays "Killer on the Run" exclusively for BinauralAirwaves.com

1.5 Million Large Bat Colony Under Bridge in Austin, Texas

1.5 million large bat colony under bridge in Austin, Texas by BinauralAirwaves

The Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin Texas is home to approximately 1.5 million bats that emerge to forage for food at dusk. It is the largest urban bat colony in North America. I was in Austin in the Summer of 2009 and recorded the bat sounds underneath the bridge.

Aaron

A Far Cry - 15 Member Unconducted String Group

A Far Cry - St. Pauls Live - Dvorak Serenade for Strings by BinauralAirwaves

Preconcert Sound Check. Manikin is in middle of aisle ~3 rows back.

It is not everyday that you experience the novelty that is a 15 member unconducted string group. But this fact belongs only as a footnote in the compendium that deserves penning for the passion, precision, and soul that this group seems to effortlessly breath into their musical art. This group of professionals reenergizes classical music by transforming groups of notes into stuning statements of elegant meaning. This is the aptly named: A Far Cry.

To add to this, classical music is probably the most optimal type of music for binaural recording since it is an inherently acoustic form of music that tends to be played in prime acoustic spaces. If it's great for our ears; it's great for binaural.

And they're playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings!!!

A Far Cry
www.afarcry.org
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
2009, March 6, Friday, 20:00

Antonin Dvorak
Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op 22
(Use Headphones for All Recordings)

Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

A Far Cry will soon be releasing an album with recordings from the legendary Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, MA-world renowned for its ideal chamber music acoustics. In addition to my binaural recordings there were stereo and 5.0 recordings made by Jesse Lewis who is a really top notch audio engineer at Sound Mirror. This was tracked entirely at 2.8MHz/1bit and promises to be a very exciting release. I'll post more info as it's available.

Aaron

A Far Cry - Encore

I can't help but post the vivacious encore from A Far Cry's (15 member unconducted string group) encore at St. Paul's Church.

(Use Headphones for All Recordings)
Encore:
A Far Cry - St. Pauls Live - Encore by BinauralAirwaves
Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

If you liked this: check out my other binaural recordings of them playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings here.

By the way, notice how close the violins on the left sound. Compare this to the violas on the right that are the same distance away. This difference is because the violins have a lot of lead lines and their instruments' strongest acoustical projecting side is pointed at the binaural manikin head. Instruments are directional like headlights on a car (for an exaggerated example). They're really bright when you stand in front of them but if you're in back of the car, you might only see the reflected light of the headlights illuminating objects rather than the direct light. This is analogous to the directionality of both instruments, speaker drivers, and other acoustic radiators.

For the specific case of violins (as well as the rest of the classical bowed string instruments: violas, cellos, and double bass which all have similar acoustic design) the "f-hole" (technical term, not a dirty word) on the violin is the most dominant directional source. The f-hole is similar in function to the open circular hole in an acoustic guitar and when it is pointed at a set of mics and another similar instrument is pointed away, much more of the facing instrument's sound reaches the mic and it therefore sounds more present and close, just like in this recording. To tie in my previous analogy, imagine a car headlight coming through the f-hole on the violin and the light being acoustic energy AKA sound. Now imagine how much more bright/loud/present it will be at the binaural manikin/your ears due to the violins facing you, compared to the violas facing away from you. It's pretty amazing how directional sound can be.

Aaron

Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull run off: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

The volcano in Iceland!!!:

Behold, the run off of Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall:

In light of the recent epic volcanic activity in Iceland here is my recording of one of Iceland's most scenic waterfalls that originates from the glacier the volcano is melting that, in turn, is causing flooding.  In fact, the bridge we drove on to get to the falls is in the midst of the floods.  Here is how it sounded before the most recent eruption.

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall:
(Use Headphones for All Recordings--they're "binaural recordings")

Song/Piece: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
Microphone Setup: In-Ear Microphones
Master Recording Format: 44.1kHz/24bit
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

Be aware that throughout this recording I am wearing the 2 mics in my own ears and am turning my head quite a bit to check out the place. Therefore, your perception of where the waterfall is will likely make drastic spatial shifts often.

...On Monday I went on a road trip with the Icelandic Band Rökkurró (they have an AWESOME forthcoming album as of April 2010) along Iceland's scenic south coast. There was a lot of green moss and grass, volcanic rock, and fog. Rugged yet beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon Coast sans trees.


Seljalandsfoss Waterfall in the distance as we arrive by car:

2008:

2010 with floods from the volcano melted glacier:

 

The first waterfall, Seljalandsfoss, we stopped at was unique in that you could walk in back of it making a complete 360 walk of the waterfall. This 360 encircling of course meant you got pretty soaked with icy waterfall spray but that was no big deal-rather refreshing.

About to go behind Seljalandsfoss:

In back of Seljalandsfoss:

At the end of our walk we decided to try some pure Icelandic water direct from a stream. We used our hands to ladle the water out and it tasted quite deliciously pure. This was rather Vikingtastic I guess.

A fine grained look at the ultra-green moss that gives so much to the landscape:

We then made a stop at a second and far more internationally known waterfall called Skógafoss. To me, this looks highly similar to the "waterfalls" in NYC that were installed in the Summer of 2008. This is why I say "far more internationally known": replicas of this waterfall appear all over NYC. In my mind, this looks very similar to many of Elias Eliasson's waterfalls because the water exits the stream in a wide parallel formation (even though aspect ratios vary between Eliasson's falls). I'll agree that the aspect ratio of the fall is not exact to any one of Eliasson's falls but the exiting of the stream across a seemingly sharp 90 degree linear edge seems to be highly similar to this waterfall in Iceland.

***Disclaimer: I have not investigated much of Eliasson's theory other than seeing his exhibits first hand in NYC. Though, perhaps my innate visual perception of the falls is far more primary than a relation to an abstract theory convoluted by an artist for one's exhibit: a general conclusion, not a railing on Elias Eliasson.


A picture is worth 1000 words... Skógafoss Waterfall:

Along the ride we saw many interesting and beautiful sights.

...

Man, Icelandic Horses are sickeningly cute.

If they mated: Viking horses + '80s hairband =

(pssssst, where are their crazy guitars? and spandex? and pyrotechnics?)

We finally made it to the very coast where, in a quaint small town, there was amazing food.

Tumultuous Icelandic Coast in Stokkseyri (there is a rock wave break kind of far out):

The really great meal we had was at the restaurant where Dave Grohl ate when he came to Iceland. Amazing lobster. The really funny story about Dave Grohl eating here is that he heard some local teenage band practicing nearby and invited them to play a song to open for the Foo Fighters. Nilfisk is the band's name. It means "No Fish" (This is a fishing town). They'd been playing together for, effectively, just days. Pretty awesome story. You can see video coverage in the film "Screaming Masterpiece".

Aaron

Podcast Host Changing

Do not be alarmed if you are experiencing weirdness (missing files/broken links) with the podcast. I am in the process of changing my audio host to the future: www.soundcloud.com When this move is complete, I will provide info on how to subscribe to the new and improved podcast.

Aaron

Megapolis - Audio Art and Documentary Festival

The Megapolis Festival promises to be a unique and fascinating event for anyone who loves sound. Here is a more comprehensive description from their website: www.megapolisfestival.org

The Megapolis Festival is a weekend-long celebration of the craft of DIY audio creation. Artists, documentarians, musicians, and fans come together to share secrets on producing and presenting challenging audio works online, on-air, and on the stage.

A few of the happenings for our inaugural festival include: a featured presentation by audio legend Gregory Whitehead, a circuit-bending workshop for building your own weird instruments, an audio-based slumber party that may or may not include “Seven Minutes in Heaven with a Microphone,” a bicycle-powered 8-track player, a performance by a typewriter orchestra, a Max Neuhaus-inspired radio station created by you, and lots more. Read the schedule for the most up-to-date listing of events.

When: Apr 24-26, 2009
Where: Cambridge, Somerville & Boston, MA, USA
How much: $45 (regular), $30 (students)

I'll see you there.

Aaron

Audio and Video Description of 3 Binaural Techniques

This is a really great side by side comparison of 3 variations of binaural recording techniques. The first method with the manikin is similar to my ultra hi-fi setup while the other 2 mimic the biology of humans less and less. Listening to the short video allows you to quickly understand what binaural is by hearing the moving ringing phone sound source while seeing its location in reference to the microphones. Great thanks for this video go to Bird vs. Alligator and Rafael Sentoma. I put it permanently in my "What is Binaural?" section. Check it out:

Binaural Technique Demo - Rafael Sentoma from Bird vs. Alligator on Vimeo.

Aaron

Rökkurró @ Iðnó, Saturday 8pm (On-Venue)

Rökkurró @ Iðnó - Iceland Airwaves 2008 by BinauralAirwaves

Over my time in Reykjavik the frostline on the Reykjanes Mountains had dropped day after day and Saturday was the coldest day. It was crisp and clear as the temperature ducked below freezing and puddles became solid. Inside the airy and reverberant acoustics of the venue Iðnó, Rökkurró took the stage. 
Iðnó during sound check:

Rökkurró is currently headed on tour across Europe and will be featuring a choice selection of my ultra hi-fi binaural recordings of their Iceland Airwaves 2008 performances on a limited release special edition EP that will also include brand new songs. Check their site for info www.myspace.com/rokkurro. If you have a chance to see them: do not miss it!

Aaron

Israel: Sea of Galilee

Israel - Sea of Galilee by BinauralAirwaves
Sea of Galilee:

I'm standing where the waterline has historically been. You can see that it is now hundreds of meters out due to 7 years of drought.

I stayed on the Sea of Galilee which is really more of a lake. It is a primary source of water for Israel. Though Israel is in the midst of a 7 year drought so the shores are vastly receded. Boats in Tiberias' harbor, which sits on the Sea of Galilee, sat on rock because the water level was so low.

However, this general area is in the more green part of the country compared to large desert expanses in the south. This means that there is abundant wildlife and plant life. Staying here for a few days I was able to take in the sounds at a few different times of day. It is amazing how different a place sounds throughout the course of the day.

Standing on shore, looking away from Sea of Galilee toward the sunset:

Sunrise, looking through tree grove toward nearby Sea of Galilee:

Aaron

Israel: The Holy City of Tsfat

Israel - Tsfat by BinauralAirwaves

View from Tsfat:

My first full day in Israel was spent touring the northern region between the Sea of Galilee and the Lebanese border. One of the first stops was in Tsfat (spelling is open for interpretation). Tsfat, which translates to "lookout", is a prominent place for Kabballah study. "Kabballah" literally means "receiving" in Hebrew and it represents the school of thought that deals with the mystical aspects of Judaism. This is the thing that Madonna is fascinated with. Rumor has it that Madonna wanted to buy a place in Tsfat, so as to get her Kabballah study on, but was denied due to fear of excessive commotion due to her prescience there.

The Old City of Tsfat, Israel:

View Larger Map

At anyrate, Tsfat is a pretty small town (~32,000 people) built on steep terrain and inhabited by many religious people.

Track 1:
Walking up stairs past school yard
I made the first recording while walking up very steep stairs and through a largish landing that doubles as a school yard and there were many little kids out running around on recess.

From whence the Hoopdie cometh Na Na Na:

Track 2:
Hoopdie blasting Akon's "Right Now (Na Na Na)"

At the top of the stairs there is a narrow road and a beautiful view down over the town and across the valley. Of course, this picturesque moment was quickly shattered as Akon's "Right Now (Na Na Na)" enters the picture bumping from some dude's hoopdie. I guess it's impossible to escape Top 40 hit's...

Track 3:
Chatter around tourist stalls + Hava Nagila in background

From the top of the city we walked down through the narrow and windy streets of the old city until we were squarely caught in the maw of a tourist trap. Though, it was actually a pretty cool little tourist stop--not too garish or over the top. You can hear the din of Hava Nagila in the background and so on.

One of the many narrow alleys of the Old City:

Track 4:
The sound of fresh orange juice

Then the answer to the parched tourist appeared: free squeezed orange juice. You can hear the oranges being squeezed in a hand press.

Track 5:
Street musician playing the Panton (steel-drum-like instrument)

The musical highlight of Tsfat was this street musician playing this cool circular metallic instrument that is very similar to a steel drum in many ways except played with the bare hands instead of mallets and convex instead of concave on top. If anyone has pictures of this or a reference to the type of instrument online, I'd be most appreciative if you would send it. The guy said it is called the "Panton" or "Pantong" or something like that. Wish I could have stuck around a bit longer...

Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: In-Ear Microphones
Master Recording Format: 44.1kHz/24bit

There are tons more recordings coming from my time in Israel. Stay tuned...

Aaron

Israel Recordings Coming Soon!

I just returned from 10 days in Israel where I made ~14 hours of binaural audio recordings. My recordings span the gamut of everything from morning birds, religious towns, street musicians, bus rides, camels, sandstorms, flash floods in the Negev Desert, the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, open air markets, and many more. I'm currently going through this huge amount of audio and pulling out the most interesting sounds and will be posting these in chunks in the coming days.

Aaron

Klive @ Hressó (On-Venue)

Klive's Hressó performance was really great. The guy behind Klive is the same guy who did the Lighthouse Sound Installation that I posted previously. His style as Klive is this nice mixture of electronic sorcery melded with soothing acoustic samples which works particularly well with Klive at the helm. Playing live, Klive had a stellar female vocalist and 4 fantastic brass players who had previously played with Björk.

Klive
On-venue: Hressó
Reykjavik, Iceland
2008, October 15, Wednesday, 20:00

Hressó with stage against the far back wall and the bar directly to the left (out of view):

The Scene:
Hressó has a small concert area which you can't even really see in the above picture but it's basically against the farthest wall which you can see. This is connected to the larger dining area, in the opposite direction of the photo, by a narrow barway (kind of like a hall but with a bar in it-Ok, I just made that up). I was near the end of the barway relatively far back from the stage. So, you'll likely hear people walking around, making weird comments about the binaural manikin, and eating/drinking in close proximity. Take a gander.

(Use Headphones for All Recordings) 
***There is a slight cut out near the beginning of the 1st song-it's not loud and going to make you go deaf, it simply cuts out and then back in. I think I was readjusting a cable after moving the setup.
Klive @ Hressó - Iceland Airwaves 2008 by BinauralAirwaves
Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital

If you're a fan of this, you should check out Klive's CD here.

Aaron

Rökkurró @ Mál og Menning (Off-Venue)

Rökkurró @ Mál og Menning (Off-Venue) - Iceland Airwaves 2008 by BinauralAirwaves

The manikin taking in the scene from across the bookstore before the performance started:

Rökkurró
Off-venue: Mál og Menning (Language and Culture) Bookstore
Reykjavik, Iceland
2008, October 15, 17:00

Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital

This was Rökkurró's first performance of Airwaves and the first official show I heard of the Iceland Airwaves festival. It was an "off-venue" show that was free to anyone, as opposed to the "on-venue" shows which required the Iceland Airwaves Pass.

Off-Venue Shows=Short and Sweet:
The off-venue shows were all around Reykjavik in nice little spaces like record shops, cafes, and bookstores. There were so many concerts happening at the same time in different places that there was naturally a ton of running around to catch all the shows that you wanted to hear. It was impossible to not miss good music since there was so much. It kind of felt like a real world incarnation of hitting "Scan" on your radio and getting all of these little glimpses of different bands in a short amount of time.

I'm used to 1 hour sets minimum in the US with a pretty big chunk of setup time in between bands. However, the off-venue shows were typically only about 25-30 minutes which is really short in my mind. It worked amazingly well though. Many bands had an at least one off-venue show and then an on-venue show. So, sometimes you might have only been able to catch an act off-venue because their on-venue performance overlapped with another group you wanted to see only but had that one on-venue performance. It seemed a daunting task at first but it worked out quite well.

A close up of the band obscured by a cool looking light fixture and tons of other stuff:

The Scene:
Rökkurró had a great turn out and played quite well. This concert was in Mál og Menning, a bookstore who's name translates to "Language and Culture". It's located on the main drag of Reykjavik: Laugervegur. It should be interesting to compare the acoustics/ambiance of this performance to Rökkurró's 12 Tónar off-venue performance (and soon to their Iðno on-venue performance after I post it).

As you can see from the photos, I'm way across the room at the top of the stairs. I wanted to capture the acoustics of the large room by being away from the group and give the sensation of standing in the crowd, like you would have been doing if you had been there.

Some things to listen for:

• The women speaking in Icelandic directly to the left (literally right next to the manikin)
  
• Espresso machine ~8m to the left.
  
• People chating and drinking coffee in the cafe seating area in back and to the left.
• Something I thought was kind of funny happened near the end of Ferðalangurinn where this older woman walked up the stairs and we had this exchange:

She seemed to ask this same question in Icelandic to me and I gave a confused look back and she switched to English...
Woman: How long is this going, do you know that? How long is this going, do you know that?
Aaron: I think about another 20 minutes.
Woman: Ok [snicker], then I'm leaving.

What a hater haha. Though, I guess if you're into browsing books you wouldn't be so keen on tons of people blocking all of the books while they check out a cool concert.

Anyhow, it was indeed a great concert.

Aaron