Is there a trick, tip, advice to place sounds higher in the mix, as in height, and vise versa? When listening with headphones, maybe there is a synth lead that would sound better up high in the mix-space. For instance, if you picture the mix inside a box, or maybe a circular shape like a fishbowl, how do you move the elements up and low in the mix. Is there perhaps a spatial plugin for this purpose? I hope the way I am trying to explain myself makes sense.
Thank you
Stereo speakers are very inaccurate for this unless you’re just talking about a “feeling” of height in which case I think of frequencies as high and low being the like actual height.
Binaural recording and headphones may give you some joy.
I’ve used the Neumann KU100 binaural head to record an entire mix run through 12 individual speakers placed in a room*.
You could also try using the Sennheiser Ambeo binaural headset to re-record an instrument above your head (This video shows re-recording with the Hooke Audio version -no longer available.**).
Wave Arts Panorama and Dear VR plugins can do quite a bit but the problem with binaural vertical localisation and to a lesser degree, horizontal is accuracy depends on being able to move your head opposed to the source. We often cock our head to one side or the other to try and locate a sound source.
Lot’s of reading material out there if you want to research binaural world.
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Q_dJmTUbg
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmoCu00hAA
Hey thank you Tchad. I appreciate your response.
Those Neumann KU100 heads are interesting.
I’ve used one a few times to track a drum kit in a studio. The tracks didn’t really make the cut, but probably because it was my first time using them and was just experimenting. Oh, now that I think of it, it wasn’t a Neumann, it was more of a knock-off I think.
Funny, just a bit ago Plugin Alliance advertised their new Spatial mixing plugin to me on facebook, gonna have to take a look at that. But yeah, I don’t mix with an atmos set up, just stereo, so I am talking more about feeling for sure.
I don’t do ATMOS either. All the things I mentioned were binaural related.
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Thanks Tchad,
When you said you ran your mix through the Neumann head, did you mean that after you mixed your song you played it through speakers and put the head in a room to re-record the mix that way?
Also,
here is the Plugin Alliance plugin I mentioned:
I am gonna try it out.
No.
I sent each track out to one or more of several speakers in a room, panning and eqing the sends like normal mixing. The binaural head was then recorded direct to the 2 track master.