SOUND ON SOUND

[MOF]

In the same way that some poeple don't see 3D, I don't hear front/back. I can hear the L/R movement, but beyond that I would need a visual cue.

I listened to some binaural material recently with a view to buying an ambisonic microphone and couldn’t get any sense of sound image in front of me. Left, right, behind me, no problem.

[ConcertinaChap]

The reason I bought an ambisonic mic (and more recently the H3-VR) had little to do with surround sound in any format. Instead it was about the way you can create virtual mics in the ambient space for use in normal stereo recordings. I have to say I'm well pleased with how this worked out, but the whole binaural thing came along later and turns out to be a rather "nice to have" additional feature.

CC

[Stratman57]

OK, you guys have got me really intrigued by this. I've gone back and searched Ambisonics on the SOS site and read up on the subject, especially the Zoom device.

Now I'm thinking of a specific application, and that is, I did a preproduction theatre piece set in the Lake District Fells, and I had sound effects that I could play in in stereo, but I'm wondering if I recorded some ambient sounds in the field, would I be able to realistically reproduce it with 4 separate feeds to powered speakers. I have a Behringer XR18, and 2 X Maui G11 MK2 and 2 X Studiospares 15A active cabs.

Regards, Simon.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'm wondering if I recorded some ambient sounds in the field, would I be able to realistically reproduce it with 4 separate feeds to powered speakers.

Yes. Ambisonic recordings can be decoded to any desired number of outputs, depending on the capabilities of the decoding software. Four cardinal outputs shouldn't be a problem.

H

[blinddrew]

Four cardinal outputs shouldn't be a problem.

There's some kind of Richelieu / rich lows joke here but I've not had enough coffee yet.

[Wonks]

"Nobody expects the ambisonics inquisition!"............"Nobody expects the ambisonics inquisition!"












"Nobody expects the ambisonics inquisition!"............"Nobody expects the ambisonics inquisition!"

[Hugh Robjohns]

:clap: :lol:

[Dan LB]

:lol:

[ConcertinaChap]

Well, that was certainly unexpected.

CC

[MOF]

Yes. Ambisonic recordings can be decoded to any desired number of outputs, depending on the capabilities of the decoding software. Four cardinal outputs shouldn't be a problem.

I went to an ambisonic demonstration many years ago and I seem to remember that the placement of speakers was proscribed. The two front speakers were at (L-R) 315º and 45º and the rear speakers were at 135º and 225º they were all above your head pointing down at you, I seem to remember. I can't find anything on the web to confirm this.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I went to an ambisonic demonstration many years ago and I seem to remember that the placement of speakers was proscribed. The two front speakers were at (L-R) 315º and 45º and the rear speakers were at 135º and 225º they were all above your head pointing down at you, I seem to remember. I can't find anything on the web to confirm this.

The speaker feeds are decoded from the B-format (or higher order) ambisonic format specifically for any given number and location of speakers. Its just a load of matrix calculations and some filtering -- very easy in the digital domain.

The arrangement of speakers is normally expected to be symmetrical left/right and front/back, but the four channel decoders I've used have had facilities to cope with square or rectangular arrays, and the latter with the long axis fore-aft or left-right. The Meridian B-format/UHJ decoder I use now can decode to 4, 5, 6, or 7 speaker layouts, with a lot of flexibility in actual speaker positions. I have it set up to decode to a fairly conventional ITU 5 channel layout.

Four speakers is the minimum for horizontal soundfield's, but can suffer from unstable imaging at positions between the speakers, especially atbthe sides. The more speakers available to the decoder, the more accurate and stable the spatial imagining will be... and there are decoders that can derive height channels as well, of course...

[MOF]

and there are decoders that can derive height channels as well, of course...

Thanks Hugh, I can't remember if there were any additional speakers to create height information, in my mind that is why the speakers were above us pointing down, but as I say this was some time between 1984 & 1991.

[cyrano.mac]

Cheapest place to get one from I found in the UK was Amazon at £291.

It's 271£ at Thomann's.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/zoom_h3_vr.htm

[Neper]

I've recently noticed that during playback in 5.1 with the Zoom Ambisonics Player the two rear channels (Ls and Rs) are dead. A file exported in 5.1 has signal in all six channels.

Can anyone confirm this bug?

[ConcertinaChap]

Both Amazon and Thomann price has dropped more. Thomann still has the edge.

Can't help with the 5.1 bug since I don't have that speaker setup, sorry.

CC

[The Elf]

The price continues to drop to 'might as well give it a go' territory. Tempting...

[ConcertinaChap]

It's not a bad bit of kit. Decent value at the price I paid for it and getting better all the time, it seems.

CC

[Neper]

Got one of the first to be sold here in Germany, fixed the loose microphone unit with a drop of superglue and haven't looked back since. Wouldn't want to be without it again.

Just wish there was some better software for post-processing.