Sketch1. Binaural Echoing Fail

This sonic sketch was created as a final work for the Sound Art Project course in the summer 2024.

I wanted to create a fictional binaural space from the binaural filed recordings, and probably play either the fictional echo in that fictional space using the tools and techniques I had, like Envelop for Live plugins and simple binaural microphones and the zoom portable recorder.

My ideas with building fictional echo didn’t work the way I wanted and I decided to accept my own fail making the ironic piece about it. While adding my voice using E4L plugins I failed in my option again, which created some meta-level of the FAIL concept.

I loved to feel failed, and I think the concept of fail this is something to explore in the future

The space is still fictional, the quality is questionable, but I loved making the recording, deep listening and creating new fictional binaural space from recordings I had.

Sketch 2, made before the first one. Real-time binaural recording and re-producing processed and a bit changed environment back to the headphones

This ASMR-like sketch I made also as a part of one course on my first master year.  I wanted to try how would it possible to record and environment in binaural space and play it back but processed somehow simultaneously back to the headphones.

The first idea go that kind of piece was tested in other course. I used The Neumann KU 100 Binaural Head Microphone System, and we had few wireless microphones. The idea worked in some way, but there were a lot of technical questions.

Another idea with this simultaneous playback was to probably create some kind of performance in which the performer wears a binaural microphones and communicate with each other, the audience is wearing the headphones and in  that way can hear what performers is hearing. The second sonic sketch which is asmr-like (I was too shy to talk anything, just counted numbers whispering) is showing the possible interaction.

Such pieces are done in different ways, and this is only a question of general concept of the piece rather about the technology itself.

General thoughts

There is also a huge problem with this types of simple technology — the binaural is pretty individual and practically it isn’t possible to re-create the same listening experience for others. Also the simultaneous processing and playback creates some delay in the signal, which destroys the illusion

At the same time I feel this technology is developing really fast and I believe some answers to this problem are already founded. I see a lot of potential of implementing this kind of experiments to the performing art fields and in collaborative works