The MSO's Binaural Recording Project

The Neumann KU 100 Binaural Microphone (click to enlarge)

Tracy Johnson, former PR Manager of the MSO, and Robert Levine, Principal Violist, explain how the MSO is using a binaural microphone to revolutionize their recording. You can download a binaural recording of Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3, The Organ Symphony, from their online store.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra audience members may have noticed a new addition in Uihlein Hall during concerts this season, namely a large black object suspended above the orchestra. The object is actually a Neumann KU 100 binaural microphone, the MSO’s new state-of-the-art recording system.

The KU 100 is actually a detailed facsimile of a human head with an omni-directional microphone placed in each ear canal. The microphones capture the audio frequency adjustments and phase shifts that happen naturally as sound wraps around the human head and is “shaped” by the form of the outer and inner ear. When sounds recorded by the binaural microphone are played back over headphones, the listener experiences the exact sounds that they would have heard had they been where the binaural microphone was located. By recording in this way, listeners are able to experience the full effect of the live concert experience. This technology, called binaural recording, is newly relevant for consumers who download music and tend to listen to recordings on headphones.

Given that the binaural technology records with two microphones inside a dummy head, and headphones are ‘speakers’ meant for a human head, the full effect would not be realized on stereo speakers. However, stereo speakers are able to play back binaural recordings.

While this sounds like new-age technology, the binaural is actually much older than conventional stereo recording. Originally used in the transmission of opera from the stage of the Paris Opera House in 1881, orchestras today are returning to this technique to obtain the highest and purest quality of sound. Some critics argue that binaural recordings are even better than the best audiophile stereo recordings. Binaural recording provides a subjective three-dimensional soundscape and sense of “being there” that cannot yet be equaled with conventional speaker playback.

MSO fans will be able to purchase the binaural recordings on the brand-new MSO Download Store at www.download.mso.org. Although the orchestra was the first American orchestra to provide digital recordings on the iTunes Music Store and other online download stores, and will continue to do so, the new store will be your direct source for all things digital and downloadable from the MSO.

The download store will feature the entire MSO album catalogue for purchase and download in high-quality MP3 format. The store will also feature exclusive recordings including live, rare, unreleased and B-sides that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Prices for full albums, in most cases, will be less expensive than on iTunes— anywhere from $1.49 to $4.99.

The introduction of the binaural to Uihlein Hall and the new download store are just a few examples of why the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is a leader among American orchestras.