Lucie Hardoin

I discovered this binaural technology with my teacher Pascal Rueff during my studies in image and sound in Brest, France. After listening to some soundtracks recorded with Neumann KU100 dummy head microphone, I was simply amazed and transported by it. This feeling of immersion in different sound environments attracted me and even seduced me. Therefore, I wanted to continue the experiment with KU100 later and tried to integrated this technique in my productions as much as I can. Before I equipped myself with two microphones which should be put directly in ears. I usually take it with me wherever I travel to capture sound. I also recorded some multichannel performances or live music in binaural to transcribe them in 2 channels to share them and so that people could listen to and appreciate them. I have built a dummy head by myself that I use for my recording. I used binaural synthesis plugins to make a 3D environment from any sound recording, but I really prefer native. I am now equipped with a world-renowned Neumann KU100 dummy head.

First, I discovered some soundscape and four documentaries using this technology for the soundtrack, e.g. a 360 sound immersion in the new scene jazz in New York City! Inspired by them, then I offered my knowledge in recording sound field, binaural mixing, no matter for theater, musical performances, documentaries or fictions through workshops. I lead the participants to explore and discover new binaural technologies. I introduced the technology with KU100 and gave advice to professionals and the wide public. I consider binaural listening as a sound portal allowing me to travel via a 360 immersion. Thanks to diffusion with the KU100 headphone, it is possible to capture an "auditory territory faithfully", an essential notion in the idea of preserving and archiving our sound heritage.

KU100 is so easy to set up. You basically just need to plug it and record with a good recorder of course. The challenge is to place it at the right position and write a good script which suits for binaural creation. I've tried different binaural systems, and for my ears, KU100 is the most natural one. Timber and acoustic are respected. Immersion is more sensational than other systems. With all our experiments and experience, we will be more than happy to share our stories with you in order to make good creation composed for binaural 3D sound, especially with a Neumann KU100, a piece of art for binaural recording.