AES New York 2015
Workshop W28
Sunday, November 1, 2:30 pm — 4:00 pm (Room 1A13)
W28 - Creating Spatial Audio Content for Headphone Listening
Presenters:Tom Ammermann, New Audio Technology GmbH - Hamburg, Germany
Bob Schulein, RBS Consultants - Schaumburg, IL, USA
Abstract:
A large amount of music program material is being produced with two-channel loudspeaker listening in mind, which by its nature does not create the same tonal balance and spatial perspective as headphone listening. Conversely program material produced for headphone listening does not produce the same tonal and spatial perspective as for loudspeaker listening. Dealing with this conflict of purpose represents a production challenge for those who appreciate spatial audio fidelity. Sounds reproduced by means of headphones have the unique capability of replicating the wide variability of sounds heard by humans in real-word situations. This fact allows the possibility of creating the auditory portion of any immersive experience with just two audio channels. This is not the case for sound fields created by traditional loudspeakers where left ear/right ear cross talk inhibits independent control of the sound field for each ear. In addition experience has shown that sound fields with too many competing spatial elements can reduce the spatial impact of a production. This is due to the fact that humans have difficulty separating the positions of simultaneous sounds coming from different locations. This has motivated production techniques that separate differing spatial sound elements in time, so as to increases the richness of the experience. This workshop will focus on creating spatial audio musical experiences by both acoustic capture and synthesis techniques for headphone listening. A group wireless headphone system will be used for a variety of demonstrations supporting the workshop.
