Immersive sound is reproduced in many ways, ranging from personal headphones to multi-channel systems in cinemas or other big venues. Immersive audio can be described as a group of recording- and reproduction formats that involve more than a basic two-channel stereo. Immersive audio encompasses all surround formats.
There are many ways to record immersive audio and most set ups use a standard microphone array. A microphone array is just a physical arrangement of microphones. The array may consist of individual microphones mounted on one single microphone stand or perhaps on several stands or holders. In some cases, the microphones are built into one single unit.
Setups developed for traditional surround recordings (like 5.1) have proven to work very well. However, adding height to these recordings is interesting as it may also add new dimensions to the perceived experience. In the video below Director of Applied Psychoacoustics Lab at the University of Huddersfield, Dr Hyunkook Lee, is comparing seven different main microphone arrays. The main purpose is to find out what type of perceptual differences there are between the different arrays.
Lavalier
Headset & Earset
Handheld
Instrument
Pencil
Shotgun
Gooseneck
Immersive
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