Otokinoko Binaural Mic creeps us out in stereo

Look, we get what they're trying to do here. The two "ears" are meant to capture sound in stereo in the same way a human does, therefore producing a better sound picture in playback. The only problem is that your subject, be they human, inanimate or a strange hybrid, is going to be so busy being freaked out by this set of blue ears that they'll forget to make any sort of "natural sounding" noise. Oh, and there's the little problem of the price: the Binaural Recording Mic from Otokinoko retails for $3,900 -- quite a bit to spend on a blue gimmick. We want.

[nak @ Jun 15th 2008 10:17AM]

Kinda reminds me of the Grand Nagus' sceptre.

[Ignatius @ Jun 15th 2008 11:32AM]

Why the hell did I get that reference?

[happy_penguin @ Jun 15th 2008 11:36AM]

Hold it out and ask a hot chick for oomocs.

[happy_penguin @ Jun 15th 2008 11:38AM]

"Ignatius @ Jun 15th 2008 11:32AM
Why the hell did I get that reference?"

Because we're nerds.

[XenoX101 @ Jun 15th 2008 10:20AM]

I don't know what I'd think if I found one of those in the drawer.

[cheng @ Jun 15th 2008 10:21AM]

For that price i want someone to come to my house, sit down and explain to me fully where my money went.

[thoia314 @ Jun 15th 2008 10:25AM]

It went into molding those ears.

[maty @ Jun 15th 2008 10:28AM]

For that kinda money I want my own ears moulded on to it!

[computer.dude.28 @ Jun 15th 2008 12:49PM]

and I thought there was no highest ranked anymore.. Good job, maty!

[John @ Jun 15th 2008 12:58PM]

At that price, I made some "natural sounding" noises of my own.

[mojohat @ Jun 15th 2008 1:39PM]

That price seems to be right in the ball park. Before, we had to use the Neumann KU 100 Head just to get realistic representation of what the human ear picks up. Remember now, this mic is geared towards professionals not consumers.

http://www.neumann.com/?lang=en&id=current_microphones&cid=ku100_description

[gad get @ Jun 15th 2008 11:05PM]

It doesn't look like the ears are far enough apart to give an accurate representation of what a human would hear.
...Unless we're talking about something even more advanced: simulating the hearing experience of comically large-eared little monkeys.

[mac @ Jun 15th 2008 10:32AM]

"The resulting playback in omnidirectional 3D sound is more realistic than normal stereo because of the subtle shifts in feeling"

...riiight. Fantastic technical explanation of the device there, really gonna reel in the customers with that, and a $4k price tag.

I'm more convinced by the stereo sound provided by the First-person-view RC Car with video headset, and dual-mics.

[Josh @ Jun 15th 2008 2:22PM]

"Unique and compact Japanese design"

Are they trying to tell us something about the size of Japanese people's heads?

[Ratspilf @ Jun 15th 2008 10:30AM]

I'm not sure how accurately sounding this thing is, it looks like a cheap knock off from more of the high end binaural recording devices. Yes, a Neumann KU 100 is upwards of $8000, but this looks like a nerf mallet and does not have the characteristics of a human head at all. Unless they modeled it after a fetus of course..

[nicleT @ Jun 15th 2008 10:32AM]

Wooa ha ha!

Why the camera lens doesn't look as an eye?

It reminds me, I have these "Sound Professional" binaural in-ear mics for sound recording. They're cheap, say shitty but with a good portable preamp they're good enough.

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-TFB-2

[Chris Anderson @ Jun 15th 2008 1:13PM]

One of my friends who is also an audio engineer owns these mics, also. They're very good, and i can't fathom why a pre-modeled ear and mounting device could possibly cost more than $1000....what kind of mics are they using?!

[nicleT @ Jun 15th 2008 1:42PM]

You're right Chris, the Sound Professional one are fine but only if you use them with their "Mini Battery Module" to provide enough voltage.

You also touch the point here: "what kind of mics are they (Otokinoko) using?!" The circumference of the mic holder here doesn't represent the size of a "normal" human head so the audio focal is not correct with the size of those ears - IMO.

[Chucula @ Jun 15th 2008 1:43PM]

I guess we will be holding up human heads on sticks eventually.

[nicleT @ Jun 15th 2008 5:56PM]

Maybe they've already been inspired by jivaros reduced heads?

[Mister @ Jun 15th 2008 8:00PM]

They're using gold plated mics for best possible sound reception, because as you all know, gold plated mic's pick up sound so much better.

[Joseph @ Jun 15th 2008 10:40AM]

I've always wondered why no one has ever made a mic like this. It only make too much sense.

[theJoKell @ Jun 15th 2008 10:47AM]

Neumann has been making a mic like this (actually better) for many years now.

[Matt @ Jun 16th 2008 2:53AM]

And AKG (methinks, don't hold me to it). Neumann is obviously better though ;P

[Morten @ Jun 16th 2008 10:22AM]

That made my day im still laughing XD

[Tobias @ Jun 15th 2008 10:47AM]

This only really makes sense if you are only going to play back on headphones. Otherwise the stereo will be all wrong, since you are applying the "function of the ears" twice.

[Dave @ Jun 15th 2008 11:26AM]

Exactly. Without headphones, this won't be very good sounding stereo.

[Brian! @ Jun 16th 2008 1:08PM]

I think this is for more scientific applications. As a professional in film/video production, we work our asses off to isolate sounds as to record only what we want.

I don't see anywhere in the specs that this mic comes with a predictive computer that can filter out unwanted sounds, adjust the ear angles automatically and ever-so-subtly for optimal listening, and the amazing ability to fill-in missed sounds through adaptive guesswork and imagination. (aka, the human brain).

This seems to have limited uses for sure.

[Mindfield @ Jun 15th 2008 10:51AM]

In order to fully realize the true quality of this mic though, you'll need to play back the resulting recording over a set of Wisdom Audio speakers connected by a set of Pear cables, otherwise you're a philistine in no position to judge.

[Dave @ Jun 15th 2008 11:31AM]

I see what you're trying to do there, but Binaural recordings are actually widely available online and the quality with any pair of headphones is pretty unreal.

To actually make your comment work, try this:

In order to fully realize the true quality of this mike though, you'll need to play back the resulting recording over a set of Sony R10 headphones connected by a set of Pear Cables to a Melos Amplifier, otherwise you're a philistine and in no position to judge.

[gad get @ Jun 15th 2008 11:14PM]

Sony R10, eh? That's pretty extravagant. What kind of bionic super hearing would you need to have in order to truly appreciate those headphones?

[Snowdog @ Jun 15th 2008 12:23PM]

Flawed as it has the wrong head size. Binaural audio is also based an transit time around your head for sound reaching the opposite ear. So you really need to go all the way and model a more realistic sized head as well.

[virain @ Jun 15th 2008 11:25AM]

Ptsss... Blue brother listening!

[cshorn @ Jun 15th 2008 11:30AM]

Is it just me or does it seem kinda stupid that the gap between the ears is highly inaccurate in order to capture a sound that recreates how a human hears.

I've done Binaural recordings before and the closest way I studied in college is in order to have the gap in the middle as close to that of a humans head.

[Nipponese @ Jun 15th 2008 11:39AM]

I don't think the distance truly matters to replicate the HRTF (Head related transfer functions) as long as the proportion is correct.

BTW Otokinoko means sound mushroom in Japanese.

[Rob @ Jun 15th 2008 11:41AM]

Just shape it like Stewie Griffin's head and place it on top of the camera. Problem solved.

[Alex @ Jun 15th 2008 11:46AM]

I'm surprised by the camera they chose to attach it to in the press shots. It's an ancient Sony VX3, 15 years old at this point. It even shoots Hi8, tape!

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Jun 15th 2008 12:17PM]

Shows backwards compatability.

[Aaron Wanker @ Jun 15th 2008 2:22PM]

If you were joking about the compatability, ignore me. But if not, I don't think that anybody doing Binaural recording, would lack the money to buy a decent/new-er camera.

[Stan Winsome @ Jun 15th 2008 12:11PM]

That's silly. Who has a 4 inch diameter head? Send your $3,800 to me instead. I'll buy you a great set of Neumann mics and tape them to your head.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Jun 15th 2008 12:14PM]

Just think. If wwwwwwdc2008 had been this weekend we would have never have heard about this. I agree with the first comment.

[w00t @ Jun 15th 2008 1:25PM]

I'd be here, you'd just be too busy complaining about all the WWDC08 posts to notice :)

[drew @ Jun 15th 2008 12:24PM]

OMG! IT'S SPOCK'S EARS!

[Faldwin @ Jun 15th 2008 12:31PM]

"The only problem is that your subject, be they human, inanimate or a strange hybrid, is going to be so busy being freaked out by this set of blue ears that they'll forget to make any sort of "natural sounding" noise."

I think you are underestimating people. When movies first had sound, actors were nervous that they would make a noise that wasn't meant to be on the track, and the acting suffered. But people got over it. If this catches on, people will figure it out.

[RikF @ Jun 15th 2008 2:45PM]

I think you're taking the post a little too seriously...

[TareX @ Jun 15th 2008 12:54PM]

What's up with the low flow of news on all tech/mobile websites? Is everyone busy playing MSG4?

[TareX @ Jun 15th 2008 12:54PM]

*mgs4

[KilgoreTrout @ Jun 15th 2008 1:43PM]

@Nak
Not Nagus but NEGUS, "Negus Negesti" actually.
Your blasphemy just offended a few millions godfearing rastafarians.

[Jesse Felt @ Jun 15th 2008 8:22PM]

You obviously missed the joke...

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Grand_Nagus

[Chris Macdonald @ Jun 15th 2008 2:00PM]

At that price it better have genuine human ears from dead people hooked up to it...