Binaural Sound in Interactive Media (TRAILER)
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This is the trailer to the full video essay, which you can find on my Steemit blog
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WATCH TRAILER BY DOWNLOADING IT FROM DROPBOX THROUGH THE LINK BELOW:
Binaural audio is only experienced when played back on headphones, so PLEASE WEAR HEADPHONES!
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The aim of this trailer was to introduce audiences to a field that I intend on researching for a video essay.My approach is to incite intrigue into the minds of the audience. Acoustic levitation is a very real phenomenon. This science, in fact, is responsible for many technological advancements in speaker array systems and three dimensional audio. I trace the discovery of standing pressure waves caused by audio signals back to a German physicist named Ernst Chladni. It is these scientific realisations that help us grasp the complex nature of the “sound field” that exists in the atmosphere around us.
As my research unfolded, I stumbled upon many outstanding works of three dimensional audio design in the form of games, CGI, animation, theatre, film and music. WALL-E and Transformers were wonderful examples of films that had complex foley, incorporating it into the 3D sound field. Battlefied 4, Land’s End and Grand Theft Auto proved to have used the latest technology in Binaural audio to enhance their respective interactive sound worlds, giving their audiences incredibly immersive experiences, even with the use of regular headphones. Never before have environmental sounds been as immersive as it can be in today’s world. This is purely because of the rise of spatialisation technologies like Ambisonics. Three dimensional acoustic signatures have almost magical properties that can transport you into another space - complete with reverberation created by virtual walls.
I have referenced 3D sound works created by sound designers who shared their work on YouTube. I have preserved the binaural nature of these sound files, demonstrating the functionality of spatialisation, right within the trailer itself (Headphones are essential to grasp the full effect).
Many organisations and groups of designers and audio enthusiasts are coming together around the world to improve the tools available to sound designers, directors and visual artists. These tools will aid them in refining their creative expression while also expanding their reach. It is becoming easier by the day to manipulate sounds in extremely complex ways because of the powerful intellectual army across the world that is tackling this industry’s growth. By analysing a few case studies and looking for more example works, I will learn techniques that have worked for designers in the past, and others that don’t work so well. This will be an exploration of different ways in which spatialisation can be used to enhance an observers experience of a story.
