Soundscapes and Effects in 360 film
A Filming Guide for VR and 360-Degree Films — Part 5
What soundscape and sound effects would cause the audience to become more involved?
Part 5 of 5
In every waking hour of our lives, we are inundated with sounds. Our brain has, in due time, trained itself to hear everything subconsciously, and simultaneously block out from its consciousness whatever is deemed unnecessary or ‘noise’. In 360 filming it is imperative to guide your audience, in a very similar way to what happens in theater. In theater language, the entrance of an actor is usually accompanied by a sound, be it the voice of the actor himself/herself, or a sound effect, which serves to herald the entrance of the actor and turn the eyes and heads of the audience in that direction. 360 video, has been compared to theater for several valid reasons, and the use of sound is one of these reasons.
The theater stage is simply a space, which can be filled with props, or actors. But, in itself, it is simply a space. The theater-goers have the liberty to direct their gaze towards any point of that stage, irrelative of where the action is occurring. They are free to feast their gaze anywhere and happily ignore the action. Hence the prolific, yet intelligent use of three primary factors which will increase the possibility that the viewer will look in the direction desired by the director, is suggested strongly. These are —
- Movement
- Light
- Sound
Theatre, has, through the passage of time adapted itself to the demands of society and the technological changes which have challenged theatre to ‘keep up’ or die a natural death. Theatre has kept up and retained a strong place amongst patrons of different age-groups. The diverse methods used by various theatre companies have ascertained, not only the survival of theatre, but the adaptation of particular techniques used in nouveau and immersive theatre to other entertainment media, like VR and 360 film.
From the aforementioned list of factors which are intended to capture the gaze of the audience, be it a group of people or an individual experience, sound is one of the primary, if not THE main method of attracting the visual gaze of the viewer in a 360 film. There are multiple means to acquire such directional sound in a 360 ambience.
At the initial stages of serious sound recording in 360 filming, around a decade ago, the usual method was the use of a combination of a lavalier microphone on the talent and 1 or 2 stereo microphones near the camera rig for realistic, natural sound. This would produce an ambience sound plus pinpointed sound sources which would later be inserted in the 360 ambience through computer applications like Unity.
Nowadays the methods available are much more complex, and hence much more realistic and immersive. The following is a list of hardware that I have discovered in the time I have dabbled in 360 sound recording and some techniques which I have found to produce very interesting and immersive results.
The Zoom H6 recording device, is a very recent innovation which has improved on previous Zoom devices. It takes recording malleability and prowess a couple of notches higher, literally. The Zoom H6, as opposed to the previous H4, records up to 6 channels, simultaneously, either in single channels or combined for stereo ability.
The various versions of binaural microphones depicted above, mainly the B1-E® Dummy Head, the SR3D® Binaural microphone and the 3Dio® Free Space Binaural Microphone are a good example of the more affordable binaural recording devices available out there. The B1-E® Dummy Head, and the SR3D® are both microphones built by sound enthusiasts of varying professional levels. Both are impeccable in their immersive sound capture. One may notice differences depending on what they are being employed for.
I have discovered, through trail and error, obviously, that the combination of both these methods of recording; the H6 and the binaural mics, multiplies the sound quality, and the positioning ability, hence increasing the control that the director of the 360-film has in ‘guiding’ the audience around the 360 film ‘space’.
Binaural microphones are intended to capture a spatial element of sound. If positioned correctly, such a microphone will capture surrounding sounds and pinpoint sounds emanating from various sources around the device. Hence, these microphones work very much in a ‘dolby surround way’. That is when the sounds captured are played back, the position of the original sound captured is retained, whilst being heard through ear-phones, specifically, not headphones. If the headphones used do not have a feature which allows sound to be directed inside the ear, then the binaural effect is mostly lost.
The apposite gadgets used to capture sound in such a particular method, varies in price from a few hundred euros (especially when crafted by enthusiasts), to a few thousand euros in the case of more professional designs, such as the Neumann KU100® Binaural Dummy Head. The quality of sound capture is something I yet need to test fully. I have tested quite a few binaurals, but never had the opportunity to test the Neumann. I have seen many reviews attest its brilliance and some contest it, but I am convinced of the quality, albeit the daunting price tag!
One recurring problematic factor in spatial sound, that I found to be of an irritating nature when creating 360 sound for 360 video, usually occurs when once individual sounds are combined with the video using a program like Unity, the direction/position of the source would be lost, the moment the experience is live and the head-turning will start.
