Hello,
In my masterings lately I have been using the "diff" option instead of stereo on my TDR Kotelnikov compressor. I have been said it makes a binaural and/or holophonic effect. Can someone who knows much about those describe it here please, the pros and the cons?
Thank you
Binaural
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- KVRAF
- 7120 posts since 22 Jan, 2005 from Sweden
Biggest difference binaural or not is that binaural focus around you head and how things are perceived over phones.
- over speakers you have have bleed from speakers left and right to a higher extent
- how you pan things are less obvious over speakers than phones
- possible disadvantage with binaural is if listening over mono devices you have to check that no sounds completely get the wrong volume and can be cancelled out, kind of
Looking into surround the technique to through processing create a surround image on normal stereo phones, and no need to use surround features in daws etc. This is really good these days.
- Microsoft Windows Sonic is built on this
- I have surround phones from Sony that use this technique as well
So see binaural as more of positioning audio that is more like surround on phones, you could say.
To experiment with this I got Wavearts Panorama plugin which is rather cool.
https://wavearts.com/products/plugins/panorama-7
What is missing so far yet is that phones create depth from your nose and upwards, more than what you might want like straight in your face in front of you, like 0.5 or 1m away.
Ears needs something more that current technique does not provide IMO.
So not focusing on this until positioning really works like you feel things are in front of you.
Speakers help you perception in this regard, they are in physically in front of you. So far I did not hear any technique that did that. This hyped Atmos and others still don't fix this.
So dropping this until I feel technique fix this too over phones.
- making things in any position like you feel musicians are in a room in front of you where you sit
- over speakers you have have bleed from speakers left and right to a higher extent
- how you pan things are less obvious over speakers than phones
- possible disadvantage with binaural is if listening over mono devices you have to check that no sounds completely get the wrong volume and can be cancelled out, kind of
Looking into surround the technique to through processing create a surround image on normal stereo phones, and no need to use surround features in daws etc. This is really good these days.
- Microsoft Windows Sonic is built on this
- I have surround phones from Sony that use this technique as well
So see binaural as more of positioning audio that is more like surround on phones, you could say.
To experiment with this I got Wavearts Panorama plugin which is rather cool.
https://wavearts.com/products/plugins/panorama-7
What is missing so far yet is that phones create depth from your nose and upwards, more than what you might want like straight in your face in front of you, like 0.5 or 1m away.
Ears needs something more that current technique does not provide IMO.
So not focusing on this until positioning really works like you feel things are in front of you.
Speakers help you perception in this regard, they are in physically in front of you. So far I did not hear any technique that did that. This hyped Atmos and others still don't fix this.
So dropping this until I feel technique fix this too over phones.
- making things in any position like you feel musicians are in a room in front of you where you sit
-
- KVRian
- 991 posts since 24 May, 2024
Strange coincidence, this topic. I just recently started doing more EQ as biphonic instead of as ganged-mono (stereo).
I get a much wider mix if I do different EQ and compression things to each channel separately as L or R.
Then I remembered that I saw my teachers and pros doing that in the studio on the old fashioned consoles. There were non stereo pair channels as much back then. Every console channel was mono except for the 2mix. It wasn't complex. And it was actually impossible to get each side of any stereo pair to be absolutely identical to the other. But that's part of what made the mixes wider and better! Stereo is the difference between channels, just like in Mid-Side. Without differences between channels, it's all just mono.
So whatever you can do to make each channel different from the others can help with separation and spaciousness.
This year I'm bogged down with too many mono instruments, so I'm always looking for new ways to get a better stereo interest, and biphonic EQ seems to be the truth the light and the way. Also, you can get a subtle width increase by putting different limiter/compression settings on the left vs right channels. As long as there's a limiter on each channel, you can rebalance with ease.
Last but not least, I had forgotten until recently that Cockos Reaper allows for any VST effect to be re-routed via the tiny I/O button on the effect "frame".
So you can replicate a stereo track, pan each one hard left or hard right, and then set up each EQ or effect to only affect that one side of the stereo (either left or right, but not both).
It can really open up options for mixing, and it might make the mixing process slightly more like the old fashioned console mixes, where every stereo pair was wiggly and had variations and imperfections.
I'm really happy about this revelation, because without it, all of my mixes sound way too mono.
I don't really understand this stuff perfectly, but it's a nice realm of it's own.
P.S.-much respect to you for using Tokyo Dawn's compressors. I love those.
I get a much wider mix if I do different EQ and compression things to each channel separately as L or R.
Then I remembered that I saw my teachers and pros doing that in the studio on the old fashioned consoles. There were non stereo pair channels as much back then. Every console channel was mono except for the 2mix. It wasn't complex. And it was actually impossible to get each side of any stereo pair to be absolutely identical to the other. But that's part of what made the mixes wider and better! Stereo is the difference between channels, just like in Mid-Side. Without differences between channels, it's all just mono.
So whatever you can do to make each channel different from the others can help with separation and spaciousness.
This year I'm bogged down with too many mono instruments, so I'm always looking for new ways to get a better stereo interest, and biphonic EQ seems to be the truth the light and the way. Also, you can get a subtle width increase by putting different limiter/compression settings on the left vs right channels. As long as there's a limiter on each channel, you can rebalance with ease.
Last but not least, I had forgotten until recently that Cockos Reaper allows for any VST effect to be re-routed via the tiny I/O button on the effect "frame".
So you can replicate a stereo track, pan each one hard left or hard right, and then set up each EQ or effect to only affect that one side of the stereo (either left or right, but not both).
It can really open up options for mixing, and it might make the mixing process slightly more like the old fashioned console mixes, where every stereo pair was wiggly and had variations and imperfections.
I'm really happy about this revelation, because without it, all of my mixes sound way too mono.
I don't really understand this stuff perfectly, but it's a nice realm of it's own.
P.S.-much respect to you for using Tokyo Dawn's compressors. I love those.
-
- KVRian
- 991 posts since 24 May, 2024
oh shucks, sorry I got biphonic and binaural mixed up with each other until I just now read the other post(s).
sorry about that. But they are actually sort of related.
> binaural
> biphonic
> stereo
> mono
sorry about that. But they are actually sort of related.
> binaural
> biphonic
> stereo
> mono