Surround sound mix for headphones

[fretfingers]

Does anyone know how the spatial audio designer compares to binaural audio?

http://www.newaudiotechnology.com/products/

Also, does anyone know of any binaural surround plugins for pro tools? I've actually recently been asked to re-mix an album in "surround" for 2-channel headphones and I'm trying to find the best way to do it.

[conleec]

Flux Hear plugin actually does a pretty convincing aural trick to allow surround mixing and monitoring on headphones. I got it on sale a year or so ago for only $30 or so, which made it even more of a no-brainer.

http://www.fluxhome.com/products/plug_ins/ircam_hear-v3

Chris

[fretfingers]

Originally Posted by conleec

Flux Hear plugin actually does a pretty convincing aural trick to allow surround mixing and monitoring on headphones. I got it on sale a year or so ago for only $30 or so, which made it even more of a no-brainer.

http://www.fluxhome.com/products/plug_ins/ircam_hear-v3

Chris

Thanks, I'm checking it out right now!

[fretfingers]

Flux was okay... not too convincing in the rear..

I just wanna know what Hans used to make this..

(Requires headphones)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIiOqAf_L4

[JFreak]

I don't buy surround sound produced by cans.

Dolby labs have next gen surround very close to spec; it has the usual 5.1 on the "listener level", then a stereo pair a little higher, and yet higher level mono speaker for really dramatic 3D.

Sure, you only have two ears in the hugest spaces you can imagine, but the sound comes from variety of sources and distances, compared to cans which are fixed direction and fixed distance.

It's just beyond my imagination how on earth one could repro real surround with cans...

[fretfingers]

Originally Posted by JFreak

I don't buy surround sound produced by cans.

Dolby labs have next gen surround very close to spec; it has the usual 5.1 on the "listener level", then a stereo pair a little higher, and yet higher level mono speaker for really dramatic 3D.

Sure, you only have two ears in the hugest spaces you can imagine, but the sound comes from variety of sources and distances, compared to cans which are fixed direction and fixed distance.

It's just beyond my imagination how on earth one could repro real surround with cans...

Did you check out the link I shared?

(Requires headphones)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIiOqAf_L4

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by JFreak

It's just beyond my imagination how on earth one could repro real surround with cans...

I've heard it done. It was very, very convincing. A guy I worked with a bit years ago did this 3D binaural recording thing with one of those fake heads with a pair of high end Schoeps mics installed in it. He was using some software that he was trying to be super secret about and act like it was a proprietary system. But it was an older version of the software system by HEAD Acoustics.

There is some proprietary algorithms going on that simulate the way a sound wave from one direction travels across your face and allows your brain to interpret the localization.

It would be nice to have some plugin system in Protools that would do this.

[fretfingers]

That sounds great JC... That's what I'm after. Anyone else have any ideas? I'm looking for a plugin to do this. Preferably one that can just take my already 5.1 mix and process it in such a way that it translates on headphones.. but still sounds like surround. The Flux plugin was the closest, just not accurate enough.

[DetroitT]

Dolby pl2 encoding works to some extent without decoding.
With Dolby headphone decoders it can be quite good.

Your stance if I understand is to not have any decoding but hear a result, correct?

[fretfingers]

Originally Posted by DetroitT

Dolby pl2 encoding works to some extent without decoding.
With Dolby headphone decoders it can be quite good.

Your stance if I understand is to not have any decoding but hear a result, correct?

Correct!