Hey audio fans!
For those of you who are waiting for the 2013 binaural recording. I an sorry to say that it has been delayed. I destroyed my headphones in the sheer excitement of mixing it and now I have to wait for my friend to fix them. I was pretty much finished with the mix too, all I need to do is master it. Shouldn’t be too much longer now and I am sorry for making you wait longer. It will be worth it!
Currently mixing our 2013 binaural recording of Ara. There’s a little surprise for you guys in the mix, something new I am trying with the binaural head but you’ll have to wait until it’s released to find out what it is so watch this space.
My band’s new single Second Hand bones is available for free download here! Hope you enjoy it đ
I had a lot of fun mixing this one and my good friend Oscar Gaona mastered it for us. And of course we recorded it at my work, The Sonic Factory. There’s a single launch happening at the Oxford Art Factory on the 15th of November in the Gallery Bar. The night is free so if you’re in Sydney come and check it out. Details are here.
We have another EP in the works which we recorded live which was rather interesting. Needless to say it’s gonna sound pretty raw and quite different from anything you’ve heard from us before so stay tuned! It’s going to be called Angry Music so you’ve been warned.
On a side note i’m starting to delve into the world of 3D modelling and animation. It’s totally different from what I do but i’m enjoying learning a new field. I may add some of what I’ve been working on to this site, we’ll see. I’ll still be an audio geek and i’m hoping to make another binaural recording when I can get a hold of Fritz! I’m even thinking of using binaural in a gaming context. It’s been done before but maybe I can put an interesting spin on it you’ll just have to wait and see…
Until then!
NOTE: I think youtube is being weird and making this video a playlist so if you don’t see a video called Storey Street Sessions: Polar Knights – “Crumpets” Â just hit the playlist button on the lower left of this video and find the Storey Street Sessions video. I apologise for this and I am trying to find a solution for it as you read!
Check out this video! I learned a lot from this recording as it’s the first live recording I’ve done on my own. I love the energy that comes from a band playing together rather than overdubs in a studio.
I plan to do more recording like this so be on the look out!
Let me know what you think of this one đ
Alex Kall, a binaural recording whizz  from Ontario, Canada asked me some questions about creating Polar Knights’ binaural recording of ‘burst at the seams’. Here’s the resulting interview about the processes and where I think binaural audio is headed. Hope you like it!
For the past few months i’ve been working on my band’s debut EP ‘Overtime’ with our Producer Nelson Muhire and Mastering Enigneer, Andrew Edgson. It was hard work recording and mixing the EP but now at the end of it all with the EP launch in sight, I can safely say that it is greatly satisfying to follow a project from its humble beginnings of songwriting right through to the mastering and CD production.
The EP launch will be on the 17th of November at FBi Social at the Kings Cross Hotel. Hope to see you there!
UPDATE (24/11/11): The EP has been released and is now available for download here!
Polar Knights is the name of my band, we’re a folkternative melodramitic pop group. Other people just say we’re experimental.
The recording below for the song Burst at the Seams is pretty experimental so i guess that title is well earned. For almost three years now I’ve been interested in binaural audio even going so far as to build my own binaural dummy head. I’ve named her Angelina (I think she resembles Angelina Jolie). However the recording below was not made using Angelina, rather a Neumann KU100 borrowed from the University of Sydney’s Acoustics department.
A quick lesson for those who are not familiar with binaural audioâŚÂ Virtual Haircut is an amazing example of binaural audio and racial stereotypes.
Binaural audio captures a sound the way we hear it within a space. This is done by using a microphone that simulates the human hearing system. In other words, a microphone that looks and works like a human. There are actually two microphones inside the ears of this rather expensive Neumann KU100. In fact this dummy head has ear canals with two small omni-directional microphones in the place of each ear drum. The dummy head captures the localisation (the position) of the sound source within a space and when you play back that binaural recording on headphones you will experience a three-dimensional recording with accurate localisation cues. Have a listen to the track below and you’ll hear what I mean.
Don’t forget to put your headphones on!
Angelina $150 VS the Neumann KU100 $10,398Â (At least Angelina has hair)
The aim of the session was to create a multitrack binaural recording. All instruments were placed around the KU100 in the position they would be in within the mix. Guitars to the left and right, bass from below/front of the head and drums at the front/centre of the head and a floor tom was also played directly behind the head. Vocals were recorded from many positions within the recording space but main vocals were recorded from pretty much the same position that Angelina is in the picture above. An intense experience for the vocalist and an amusing experience for myself and the rest of the band. All tracks were recorded as separate overdubs, allowing for more control in the mixdown stage.
In the mixdown stage things were pretty simple. The advantage of binaural recording is that the placement of instruments around the head in the recording stage helps everything have its own place in the mix. I have a few versions of the mix. The one you are probably listening to now is the commercial release with EQ, compression and time based effects. Research from the AES (Audio Engineering Society) suggests that this kind of signal processing on binaural recordings will warp the localisation of instruments so i also made a raw unprocessed version of the mix. However this is just an issue for those binaural audio obsessed people out there such as myself. For those who aren’t so concerned, I believe that the localisation cues are still adequate in the commercial mix. In fact they’re pretty darn good!
Alex Kall, a binaural recording whizz  from Ontario, Canada asked me some questions about creating Polar Knightsâ binaural recording of âburst at the seamsâ. Hereâs the resulting interview about the processes and where I think binaural audio is headed. Hope you like it!
Jess Cooper 