Saturday, November 22, 2014
Sound in 3-D
CMU: Anthony Mattana (A'11) had a problem. When the Carnegie Mellon University alumnus was trying to capture the sound designs he'd created for live theater events to use for his portfolio, they always came out sounding flat. The recording equipment he'd need to capture the immersive experience of hearing a live event, called binaural audio, would cost thousands of dollars.
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8 comments:
I have occasionally seen the sound department with that Styrofoam head with the mics implanted in each ear during tech recording a performance. Its kind of creepy actually, there being a fake head that is actually listening to you. Binaural audio recordings are weird to listen to, especially if they have a lot of movement or dynamic sounds in them. your reflexes tell you that you sound jump out of the way when someone shouts next to you. Hooke sounds cool in that it could do the same for everyday recording and playback.
It is very cool to see an alumni from this program making such innovations in how we record and hear things. Despite the fact that this design is awesome I think that the cooler part of this project is how much collaboration between CMU current students and alumni went into the production of this product. Though the article does not tell exactly what the majors of those involved other than Mr. Mattana. Often I feel like the interdepartmental collaboration gets lost in the stresses of college exams and production assignments, however this project seems to be bringing together many different disciplines to create something really cool. I can see this as being something that I really would like to explore in the future. After a few years of working in the business maybe I'll find something that I could improve and work with some other alumni to get it done.
I'm both amused and a little bit confused. What makes this headset really different than the modern binaural recording devices common used? For example, the 3dio '
Free Space Pro? Obviously mobile cabilities were important, so I can understand that, but it seems like these two devices would come out to be around the same price after all the production costs and such. I'm going to have to look a little bit more into his personal design, because i'm really curious to know more. Not to mention the fact that the project drew in 160k on Kickstarter, so there must be some hidden appeal that I have yet to discover.
This seems like a really cool project, and it's cool that an alum from the school of drama is doing this. As the article says, he's doing something really interesting by stepping out of the world of theatrical sound design and into the world of startup technology to create this binaural sound capturing device. It's also a great example of someone finding a need and creating a project to satisfy it. I wish that the article went a bit more in depth on the design of the device and focused less on all of the alumnus involved in the process, but it's to be expected seeing as it's an article from the university. It's so great that one of our graduates is expanding and using what he learned at school to do something that he never though he would be doing. It seems so risky and exciting, and it's totally the kind of new thing that I think the School of Drama encourages its students to try. It definitely seems like it's a step up from our foam head with to lavs and an altoids container (which is highly effective, although it may not have a super high quality of finish to it.)
I think this product is great, not necessarily as a professional tool but as something to get people interested in sound design a more affordable opportunity to record binaurally. I've always wondered how tricky it would be to make a portfolio of sounds, as one needs to do in order to showcase their talents as a sound designer. Whatever that process may be, I'm sure that a product like this on the market wouldn't do any harm to anybody in the industry, and in fact would prove to be a useful tool to those who are particularly budget conscious.
I like this idea. At the north Texas drama auditions I saw a friend of mine who was a sound designer try to hand out recording on CDs and cheap flash drives. There is really no easy way to show your work like in set or costumes. Portfolios are very visual things that require little to know help from audio other than an artist talking about their work. This idea of 3D sound could not only be used by professionals in entertainment but also students trying to get into their desired careers.
This project illustrates something that has stumped many amateur movie makers, documentary makes, audio recorders, whatever, for years and years. The big problem is always money, and Hook seems to be something that will be cost efficient and effective to use. Recording sound that sounds like something from a live event is difficult to do because it is hard to emulate the sound as heard in the human ear due to the make up of the human ear and the way that sound enters it. I would love to see thing project evolve and perhaps someday include a way for us to see things like we do with our human eyes, because while cameras and such are close and accurate, nothing is quite the same.
CMU has been cranking out quite a few ideas as of late especially in the progression of technology. Then again mostly everything that’s made is some sort of new technology. Now we’ve got a new type of audio device that excels in speaker quality. Me I just want a pair of decent headphones that work. I’m not too picky, but I’m sure when you’re trying to design something new, it’s a scary process to have to get the backing for the project and go about developing what type of style or new innovation that the product is going to have for consumers. Being at a school such as CMU with the alumni base it has, it’s nice, I’m sure, to be able to rely on those who have gone through the school, and are just as willing to help you out, as you yourself might possibly might later on down the road.
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