Sonosphere captures immersive nature sounds with the quietest rig on Earth posted: 01/08/2020
Everyone knows that having any type of excessive noise can be troublesome when doing field recording. This especially applies to nature recording when one wants to encounter and capture as much natural soundscape as possible. Henrik Oppermann, Creative Director at immersive content specialist Sonosphere, has been building up the company's already extensive immersive sound library by collecting everyday nature sounds in Hessen in his native Germany, using his new 3-D microphone rig.
Being in lockdown in the countryside offered me a great opportunity to start capturing natural sounds and extremely fragile soundscapes, he says. The rig I'm using is very low noise, which works perfectly for capturing detailed ambiences; something like a forest in the early morning or at night oozes with a multitude of sounds.
Oppermann's rig consists of four Sennheiser MKH 800 TWIN studio condenser microphones, which feature a very low inherent noise that prevents the masking of filigree sound structures. This, in turn, ensures the depth of the acoustic can be heard more clearly. The microphones are connected to a Sound Devices 888 portable mixer-recorder, which is the company's newest recorder with the lowest noise pre-amps to date. Windshields, another important element of the rig, are Baby Ball Gag Windshield by Rycote.
This type of set up works incredibly well for recording delicate ambiences without introducing any additional noise disruptions, Oppermann explains. I call it the quietest rig on Earth.
The microphone arrangement is loosely based on the ESMA (Equal Segment Microphone Array) technique developed by Hyunkook Lee. This multichannel microphone technique attempts to capture a sound field in a 360-degree sphere without any overlap between the stereophonic recording angle of each pair of adjacent microphones. This, together with the Sennheiser's AMBEO cube, a larger set-up consisting of nine MKH 800 microphones, were the inspiration behind Oppermann's rig.
Recording anything from black swift birds to bats and infrequent passing cars has been a new experience with this set up, continues Oppermann. In the current situation, as many of us are going at a much more decelerated pace, many finally have time to appreciate nature with a calm mind, which you have to have to notice all the miniscule sounds that a forest buzzes with.
This unusual microphone set up is perhaps not familiar to most field recordists. It comes with a higher price tag than a standard set up, but the quality of recordings speaks for itself.
They sound absolutely phenomenal, exclaims Oppermann. The externalisation effect and depth when you render to binaural or multi-channel speaker systems is just beautiful and has a particularly wide soundstage. The detail you can capture is stunning and that's what is so special about this rig - the purity of the sound is unprecedented.
Another advantage is the ability to break the microphone arrangement down to any format, from an A-B Stereo or QUAD recording, to using the microphones in omni, cardioid, or any other kind of polar pattern.
It took me a while to realize what you can do with it and how to post-produce immersive recordings, Oppermann says. You need quite a bit of knowledge about 3-D sound in general and how it functions. But once you have done your post work, what comes out the other end is awe inspiring.
Interestingly, the post-production process absolutely dictates the workflow on set. In order to know what Im capturing out there, I need to know how I will be treating it in post. You need to make yourself very familiar with all the tools that are available. Based on that, you can go outside and create 3-D recordings, says Oppermann.
Oppermann's technology of choice is Ambisonics, a full-sphere surround sound and channel-independent format. Using this format, it is possible for the sound sphere to decode the recording into stereo, 5.1, 9.1 or even 22.2 arrangements.
Like in any recording, being true to the sound source when capturing sounds in nature is the key. Setting up microphones carefully is vital, as everything needs to be precise.
One must always do research beforehand to see which particular recording technique will work for the specific situation, notes Oppermann. It's useful to ask yourself questions like What technique will deliver the most accurate sound?', What delivers the most cinematic audio experience?' and What is the middle ground of all these techniques?'.
Oppermann reveals that recording nature is a recent passion.
I've always been interested in field recording, he says. However, capturing nature sounds for the International Dawn Chorus Day earlier this year really made me feel like going back to the roots of recording. That experience also taught me to be silent. When you make a lot of noise in a forest, the wildlife is disturbed. If you stay completely still, within half an hour it will build up to nearly its full soundscape. That's magical.
Speaking of magic, Oppermann offers a final word of advice on how to capture nature's wondrous sounds and translate them into real-life immersive listening experiences.
Do as much research as possible and try to get your hands on an ambisonic microphone, or any kind of microphone rig that you can build yourself, he concludes. It's always a good idea to experiment as much as possible with different recording techniques so you are fully immersed in this world and are familiar with spatial sound. The rest will follow.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
Sonosphere captures immersive nature sounds with the quietest rig on Earth posted: 01/08/2020 
