this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
2 points (75.0% liked)

BudgetAudiophile

1010 readers
2 users here now

A place for AUDIO enthusiast to share, discuss and listen to others people setups

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
KintsugiUwU
2
DIY binaural recording head (feddit.de)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/budgetaudiophile
1 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Since I discovered binaural audio... I dont want to listen to anything else.

I got really nice headphones, maybe the best "budget" ones for spacial hearing, and I want to record my own stuff.

Idea

  • Silocone ears from Ebay (Acupuncture, Acoustics, Jewelry) left+right!
  • a head that is heavy, hair simulated with carpet, hollow inside for cables and all, mount at the bottom
  • lavalier mics, Røde or something good but cheap? (high dynamic range, omnidirectional, low inherent noise, neutral sound capturing)
  • some recording solution

Now there are many questions:

  • what lavalier mics are best but dont cost a ton?
  • what material to use for the head, how to do the cast/crafting?
  • what recording device?

Microphones

(Placeholder once I decided)

Material of head

Version 1

Baloon, paper mâché, smaller baloon, concrete

Somehow keep the vertical cylinder for the ears and cables

Pro

  • natural head dampening
  • keeps tech secure

Con

  • heavy
  • kinda hard to do
  • needs soft outer shell

Version 2

Light, styrofoam with some harder shell

Pro

  • light
  • easy to do
  • easy to cut holes and all

Con

  • doesnt dampen sound as much
  • may get damaged

Version 3

Wood, carved from 2 pieces

Pro

  • looks nice
  • I like woodwork
  • dampens okay
  • good intermediate weight

Con

  • hard to do
  • needs soft outer shell

Recording

I dont really want to use an expensive recording device and use it with external mics only. It should do:

  • stereo mic input, best analog
  • lossless codec
  • high samplerate and bitrate, customizable
  • maybe some light adaption like volume regulation
  • no distortion
  • under 50€?

Idea 1: Phone

Using this Audio recorder from F-Droid sounds good.

Problem: no stereo audio input as far as I know. Two phones are kind of annoying, even though totally possible.

I would either need some intense modding to:

  • turn around the AUX port and have stereo input (likely impossible)
  • hack the phone to have two seperate inputs, dongle and AUX input
  • make the recording app work with that

When using a dongle, what AUX-USBC dongle supports stereo input?? And unsure if that works with my Pixel 4a.

To be continued...

Meanwhile, here is a nice collection of binaural / surround / hifi music.

top 1 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You can have your binaural field recording system Good, Cheap, and Easy--but you only get two of those options.

  1. Used gear and free stuff. More patient shopping is the cost.

  2. Start with a head. Cheapest is cut the head off a free broken manikin, or a hat or toupee holder from a thrift shop. Yes use a toque or wig if you think you will hear the dampening but bald is beautiful too.

  3. Now get a good recorder used, like an inexpensive Zoom recorder. XLR plus 3.5mm inputs and decent DAC. Record to cards for easy transfer to computer. Card readers are cheap new, and almost free at thrift stores.

  4. The microphones depend on your head material. You may want to use a costume ear for the pinna shape with modelling clay or just keep it simple. Normally you are right about the small better-quality lavalier mics as they will go inside a pinna. You just carve or drill a pocket and channel into each ear area to keep the mic and cable in place. Hollow manikin heads might offer a chance to use larger more detailed microphones. You generally want a condenser mic.

Since I maintain you want to buy used to get worthwhile recordings at your budget, there are too many mic options to suggest. An older set of prosumer Sennheisers might be a good buy, or yeah Rodes, or newer lesser known brands with good cabling and decent specs.

If you insist on using a phone as a recorder, OK I guess? Good luck. Try an Apple USB-C to 3.5mm DAC, and a 3.5mm splitter, and some videography lav mics with 3.5mm plugs. Cheap.