Topic: NPR: A guide to recording spatial audio for 360-degree video

[Ronmac]

I thought this may be interesting for those hopping into the Ambeo world.

https://training.npr.org/audio/360-audio/

As immersive video formats grow in popularity, NPR audio engineers have been experimenting with techniques for how to record high-quality spatial audio — an audio format that allows a listener to experience sound in all directions.

NPR’s initial foray into 360-degree video began as part of the Journalism 360 Challenge (J360), which focused on exploring some of the simplest ways to work in an immersive medium with a compact and portable equipment setup.

During a recent trip to Puerto Rico, I helped engineer a rich, immersive audio-video project on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Our audio engineering team also explored new territory — combining sound-rich and immersive audio with in-depth reporting and narrative.

As an audio engineer, I was asked to join the project to focus explicitly on high-end immersive spatial audio. This meant two things: First, capturing audio from the camera position with a higher-quality microphone and recorder setup. And second, using more advanced techniques and tools in post-production to enhance the final product, including adding additional audio recorded separately from the main spatial rig.

In this post, we provide a detailed look at recording spatial audio from an engineer’s perspective. It will be most useful for those with a basic understanding of audio engineering fundamentals. We’ll use our recent trip to Puerto Rico to demonstrate one example of an immersive spatial audio workflow.

[illconditioned]

LOL @ gear list
The primary equipment we used in this project:
 

• Sennheiser Ambeo ambisonic microphone
• Sennheiser MKH418 mid-side shotgun microphone
• DPA 4060 omnidirectional lavalier microphones (several on Zaxcom RF beltpacks, plus a stereo pair)
• Sound Devices MixPre-6 multichannel recorder
• Sound Devices 788T multichannel recorder
• Roland R-05 stereo recorder (for 4060 stereo pair)
• Zoom H2n 2/4 channel recorder
• Zaxcom TRXLA3 wireless beltpack/recorder

[Twenty8]

Wonder how hard they lurked this board.
Minus the Zaxs, they are ready for the Phish's OTS with a OMT setup.