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Sound content from Live Design: Sound designer/composer Anthony Mattana has discovered a way to capture 3D sound with Hooke. Live Design chats with him about his invention
I think that Hooke is a really cool idea. Everyone is always focused on improving cameras and technology that we can see. Sound kind of gets passed by when improvements are being made or it is just made clearer. It is very interesting that Anthony Mattana took his knowledge from doing sound in theatre to creating a 3D sound experience. When you are in a live theater you hear everything around you, but if you are watching a movie or a video of something you only hear what the microphones pick up. Microphones usually can only pick up sound from a certain direction, which is not usually close to 360 degree. With Hooke technology you can hear everything around the microphone.
I think technology like this could really prove to be an asset for the sound industry as a whole. The three-dimensionality that Hooke strives for is a markedly different concept than, for example, surround sound. Instead of creating an 3D environment by surrounding ourselves with 2D sounds, Hooke strives to place the listener in a particular location within the created soundscape. This difference in how we perceive sound will, I believe, make a vast difference in the reality of what we are viewing.
In addition, I think it's fantastic that the mic placement is in the earbuds. This way, what the listener hears is true to life. Location specificity is often overlooked; as long as the listener is within a "field" or general area, what they hear is deemed "quality". But in life, the height of a sound in relation to our ears has a great deal of impact on how we perceive that sound.
I am extremely intrigued about this idea of 3D sound that Hooke has. In theatre the mics can usually only pick up certain amounts of sound from certain angles. With this new invention you can hear the sound all around you at 360 degrees and it makes it seem as if you are actually there. This is going to make a huge positive impact for the sound industry and for sound engineers in theatre and in everyday life. I believe this will change a listeners experience as they visualize an area and transform it into a different environment. I would love to see where this goes for Hooke and I would love to be able to experience this 3D sound.
The idea of Hooke is quite genius but I am curious how it manifests for the consumers of the recording. Does playing back a 3D recording through normal headphones the correct way to do it or do you need a special device? Is it possible to play this 3D recording over speakers and get the same effect? I remember Sarah saying last year that the biaural mics we have are inside of a gelatin-like head because this mimics the reverberations of the human skull. I wonder if this same effect is achieved with the headphones on the outside of our skull with the Hooke.
It's true, what Anthony Mattana says in the article's interview, that the public doesn't care very much about the sound quality of their videos because they've never had a choice to improve it. Everyone is so focused on the high definition of their camera phones and other photo/video devices that it's refreshing to see someone coming in with a new technological speciality. I would really like to see Hooke come into partnership with some very good cameras. In the video, the sound quality seemed awesome but I felt like the camera was lacking. I'm excited to see what happens next with Hooke -- maybe in the future we'll have software like that imbedded into our Galaxy/iPhone/Android headphones, to increase the recording and listening experience.
Anthony Mattana here, founder of Hooke. Thanks so much for the helpful feedback. We have been revising and clarifying our mission over the past few months and you'll be happy to know that many of the concerns you raised here were ones we too raised during development. We launch the Kickstarter on September 30th. If you're interested in pre ordering Hooke, you should join our mailing list at hookeaudio.com
6 comments:
I think that Hooke is a really cool idea. Everyone is always focused on improving cameras and technology that we can see. Sound kind of gets passed by when improvements are being made or it is just made clearer. It is very interesting that Anthony Mattana took his knowledge from doing sound in theatre to creating a 3D sound experience. When you are in a live theater you hear everything around you, but if you are watching a movie or a video of something you only hear what the microphones pick up. Microphones usually can only pick up sound from a certain direction, which is not usually close to 360 degree. With Hooke technology you can hear everything around the microphone.
I think technology like this could really prove to be an asset for the sound industry as a whole. The three-dimensionality that Hooke strives for is a markedly different concept than, for example, surround sound. Instead of creating an 3D environment by surrounding ourselves with 2D sounds, Hooke strives to place the listener in a particular location within the created soundscape. This difference in how we perceive sound will, I believe, make a vast difference in the reality of what we are viewing.
In addition, I think it's fantastic that the mic placement is in the earbuds. This way, what the listener hears is true to life. Location specificity is often overlooked; as long as the listener is within a "field" or general area, what they hear is deemed "quality". But in life, the height of a sound in relation to our ears has a great deal of impact on how we perceive that sound.
I am extremely intrigued about this idea of 3D sound that Hooke has. In theatre the mics can usually only pick up certain amounts of sound from certain angles. With this new invention you can hear the sound all around you at 360 degrees and it makes it seem as if you are actually there. This is going to make a huge positive impact for the sound industry and for sound engineers in theatre and in everyday life. I believe this will change a listeners experience as they visualize an area and transform it into a different environment. I would love to see where this goes for Hooke and I would love to be able to experience this 3D sound.
The idea of Hooke is quite genius but I am curious how it manifests for the consumers of the recording. Does playing back a 3D recording through normal headphones the correct way to do it or do you need a special device? Is it possible to play this 3D recording over speakers and get the same effect? I remember Sarah saying last year that the biaural mics we have are inside of a gelatin-like head because this mimics the reverberations of the human skull. I wonder if this same effect is achieved with the headphones on the outside of our skull with the Hooke.
It's true, what Anthony Mattana says in the article's interview, that the public doesn't care very much about the sound quality of their videos because they've never had a choice to improve it. Everyone is so focused on the high definition of their camera phones and other photo/video devices that it's refreshing to see someone coming in with a new technological speciality. I would really like to see Hooke come into partnership with some very good cameras. In the video, the sound quality seemed awesome but I felt like the camera was lacking. I'm excited to see what happens next with Hooke -- maybe in the future we'll have software like that imbedded into our Galaxy/iPhone/Android headphones, to increase the recording and listening experience.
Hey Guys,
Anthony Mattana here, founder of Hooke. Thanks so much for the helpful feedback. We have been revising and clarifying our mission over the past few months and you'll be happy to know that many of the concerns you raised here were ones we too raised during development.
We launch the Kickstarter on September 30th. If you're interested in pre ordering Hooke, you should join our mailing list at hookeaudio.com
Thanks!!
Anthony
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