After working on the recording project with Janet Cardiff back in November and hearing some startling binaural recordings in her “The House Of Books Has No Windows” exhibition, I became interested in trying out some binaural recording myself. So, after a little research, including discovery of a good post over at Leafcutter John’s web site, I bagged the OKI Soundman binaural mic’s for some recording tests.

One of my favourite places on the South Coast is Studland Bay in Dorset, so I headed down there for some fresh sea air and, hopefully, some good sounds to test out the mics with. 

The results are quite striking, the Soundman mics produced a very detailed, almost hyper-real sound, with a tremendous stereo sound field, plus the added ingredient of an almost 3 dimensional quality. The binaural effect is best experienced by listening on headphones.

Rock pools filling with the incoming tide:

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Seagulls echoing against Fort Henry Cliff:

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