This leads to flexibility: Using an Ambisonic decoder, basically all possible microphone characteristics can be calculated – at least mono, or coincident stereo and surround setups. The third might be the channel count: Even with only four channels it is theoretically possible to create surround images for setups with a much higher speaker count. The other one is that it is a relatively small setup, with the possibility to mount easily to cameras, even with a windshield. One is, it is a relatively cost-effective (not to say cheap) solution to record surround sound compared to a bunch of other possible setups. What is actually the big deal about all these Ambisonic microphones? There are several benefits. Not at all! The big remaining question then is: Do you really choose any Ambisonic microphone because of how it sounds, because it does sound better than other surround recording techniques? The Rise of Ambisonic microphones That means there is no need to have native Ambisonic recordings to deliver audio in Ambisonic format for VR or 360° videos to create a 3D environment.

Today it is mostly a delivery format to be able to decode a specific location of a sound into a wide range of speaker setups, one being binaural for headphones. Ambisonic is a system developed in the 60s / 70s. Pretty much the same misunderstanding is widespread when it comes to Ambisonic. In short, as most have come to realize: No, binaural recordings are not the best recording format for VR, 360° videos or any other interactive 3D media. It is the result that gets calculated from one or several audio sources to create a believable and engaging acoustical 3D environment on only two channels, the headphone’s left and right speakers. Binaural for VR is only the delivery format. When binaural recordings are rotated afterwards, the whole idea of binaural recordings and the resulting image gets destroyed. They provide an excellent virtual surround picture when listened to through headphones, but only from one perspective / direction. Binauralīinaural recordings are great for several reasons, but using them for VR applications in which a user can turn their head and still needs to be able to locate sounds, even (or especially) without seeing it, a binaural recording is not the best solution. Let’s start with a few basic things which still are misunderstood way too often. Mono sources are a very important but different topic for VR. So, after a lot of experimenting and a lot of gear shootouts, here they are, my two cents and solution on surround / ambient recordings for VR and why Ambisonic microphones and other coincident surround setups aren’t one of them. I think there are a bunch of misunderstandings and additionally the possibility to record a rather flexible format for a relatively low price is surely tempting. There is an unbroken hype about Ambisonic microphones ever since VR became mainstream.

Binaural recording techniques