How to make a perfect 360 movie with a 3D sound?

By Łukasz Januszkiewicz

Some time ago we had a chance to record a big performance at Great Theatre in Poznan (Choir and chamber orchestra of the Grand Theatre, conductor Mariusz Otto, program: Christmas carols). It was a Christmas Concert. We decided to make a 360 movie with 3D sound recorded with ZYLIA. With 360 movies there is always a problem with a sound scene following your eyes. We took the challenge to solve this problem.

Step One - Preparations

We used:

• Two Kodak PIXPRO SP360, 4K
• ZYLIA Portable Recording System. We used one ZYLIA ZM-1 placed in the middle of orchestra and three additional ZYLIA ZM-1 mics as the backup.
• Stands for camera and ZYLIA ZM-1 mics
  
• USB cables for ZM-1
• Macbook to record sound from ZYLIA ZM-1
• Laptop chargers

Step two - On The Stage

• Camera placement. 

Both camera and main ZM-1 were located in the middle of the orchestra, in the line with string instruments.

• Microphone placement. ​​

​​Because of the size of a music scene, there were four mics used on the stage.
​The main ZM-1 microphone was positioned approximately 20 cm below the camera.
Backup ZM-1’s were positioned on the right and on the left side of the main ZM-1 (distance of 4-5 meters). There was also one mic just right in front of the choir. 
​ 

• The final setup 

Recordings made with 6DOF Development Kit by Zylia
​Read more ...

Step Three – Recording our perfect 360 movie

​… and hiding behind the curtain :-)

Step Four - Video And Audio Post-processing

​Captured video was stitched and processed with Kodak PIXPRO SP360 software. The recorded audio was manually synchronized with the processed video. Then we used our software to convert ZM-1 recorded tracks into 1st, 2nd and even 3rd order HOA (Higher Order Ambisonics) signals. Finally, we merged the video and the 1st order Ambisonics audio track into one MP4 file and uploaded it to YouTube 360 service*.
 
*At this moment YouTube 360 supports only 1st order Ambisonics audio.

360 movie with 3D sound - The final effect

We have recorded a great performance of orchestra and choir with a newest microphone array technology. Final effect is astonishing! Our 360 movie gives you a chance to participate in this beautiful event, and actually be in the middle of the stage.

​Video will be available soon.

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