We all know that the mandated audio standard for HTDV is Dolby Digital 5.1 multichannel sound. How to effectively create it—in both live and studio productions—gets a bit more challenging even for the top experts in the sound business.
This is why the Holophone H2-PRO, a hot new single-piece surround sound microphone invented by Canadian musician and sound designer Michael Godfrey, has found a home on high-profile HD productions ranging from the Super Bowl to the concert stage.
Now Godfrey’s company is creating a new mini version of the Holophone that’s portable enough to sit atop a camcorder, yet captures full HDTV-compatible 5.1 surround audio from a single device.
Looking a bit like a creature you might meet at a bar in a Star Wars film, the Holophone-MINI and Pocket PME, due later this year, both capture 5.1 channels of discrete surround sound from a single point source on top of the camera.
The PME, which can also be worn as belt pack, encodes the discrete 5.1 surround sound audio streams real-time into Circle Surround from SRS Labs and outputs a matrix-encoded, two-channel, stereo signal that can be recorded onto tape via standard, L/R stereo input jacks on all pro camcorders.
The Circle Surround 5.1 encoded signal is entirely compatible with all surround playback systems, including Circle Surround (CS and CSII), Dolby Pro-Logic and Pro-Logic II. A discrete digital version of the PME is also in the works.
Other features of the PME include an instantaneous Virtual Surround Headphone output for direct surround field monitoring with volume control and an audio “zoom” feature which increases the forward bias of the recording. A provision for an external “center channel” or dialogue microphone line-in for documentary-style applications is also included. Prices are not yet available.
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