Capturing the true essence of 5.1 surround sound is getting easier and less complex with each passing day. The demand for such recordings, to accompany HD music videos, is increasing as well, as virtually every home-theater receiver now enables viewers to hear the multichannel audio.

That was the thinking of Richard Burns, a co-founder of CultureCatch-a growing website (http://www.culturecatch.com) based in New York City that features numerous celebrity interviews and interactive features-who had the novel idea in April (while attending the NAB convention in Las Vegas) to capture popular musicians in surround and distribute them as podcasts as a way to attract online listeners. Heretofore, many considered surround sound too complex for online streaming. He recently contracted with the folks at Holophone, the Toronto, Canada-based makers of surround-sound microphones, to produce what they’re calling the first-ever 5.1 surround HD video podcast, entitled “CC Monthly Music Salon Series with Ms. Vanessa Carlton.”

Burns and his team recently recorded an intimate 7.1 session with the Grammy-nominated singer using three Panasonic HVX-200 camcorders. Holophone’s H4 SuperMINI mics were mounted on the cameras in a circular configuration surrounding two musicians, with an H2-PRO mic placed in the center of the room and a few direct condenser mics to amplify the instruments. Adding to the “Salon” atmosphere, the performance was recorded in a New York City living room owned by Ed Bennett, a former VH1 executive. Because the Holophone mics incorporate patented technology that captures multiple channels of audio in a single unit, fast setup and minimal mic placement enabled the session to retain an intimate feel without the need for a lot of mics and cables laying around. Carlton herself said she really appreciated that.

The company’s H2-Pro and H3-D mics are completely analog, with one discrete XLR output for each channel. Holophone’s H4 SuperMINI and its PortaMIC 5.1 mics include built-in Dolby Pro Logic II technology to encode the mic’s six channels of audio to a Dolby ProLogic II stereo pair. This enables the audio to be recorded directly to any HD camera, separate stereo recording device, or broadcast directly over the Internet in stereo. Audio files captured are compatible with approximately 80 million Dolby Pro Logic II consumer decoders already in the market.

This will allow the Vanessa Carlton recordings to be broadcast in stereo and decoded to surround in viewers’ living rooms on their home theater receiver, Apple TV box, computer workstations or virtually any device with an optical audio-cable connection. For CultureCatch’s Burns, that’s a huge potential market. On site, the event was recorded in the AIFF format to a MacBook Pro workstation (which also served as a program monitor) equipped with Apple’s Logic software and a rack of I/O devices. Ryan Fitzgibbon, a technical and creative coordinator at Holophone, was charged with combining the final 5.1 recordings. Recording supervisor was Danny Garcia of TC/US, who monitored all mics being recorded. Fitzgibbon connected the Holophone mics to his ATI microphone preamps and Garcia recorded to both an Alesis HD24 hard disk recorder and to his MacBook Pro. The multiple channels were sent to Logic via a TC Electronic Konnekt 24 D interface.

Fitzgibbon and Michael Godfrey will assemble the final mix in Toronto at Holophone’s main studio. They’ll combine the recorded elements from the instruments themselves into a cohesive whole. Fitzgibbon will also use audio elements recorded to the cameras’ P2 cards. Apple’s Final Cut Pro software immediately recognizes the files and can be edited as needed. He’ll then encode the entire surround mix as an AC3 Dolby Digital Professional file for the HD podcast and Dolby Pro Logic II, which will be sent out for both the HD and the standard-definition podcast.

Fitzgibbon said the resulting surround files feature more depth than a traditional stereo file, due to the number of mics and their placement in the room. They can be downloaded in roughly the same amount of time as a stereo file.
Jonathan Godfrey, CEO of Holophone, said that the main stumbling block with surround over the Internet has always been that there are very few computer users with surround sound setups, most have stereo at best. With the increased popularity of products like Apple TV, and podcasts quickly becoming a prime source of information and entertainment, more internet broadcast outlets are looking for means to bring HD and 5.1 surround sound content to their productions. CultureCatch agrees. They’re planning to continue distributing surround sound for all of their podcasts going forward. Those without the capability to decode the full surround will hear an enhanced (binaural) stereo mix.

“I might be crazy,” said Burns, “or I might just be on to something.”