Ambisonics surround sound effects Asbjoern Andersen


Ambisonics is a method of recording and reproducing audio in full 360 degree surround – and while it’s not exactly a new invention, recent developments in software encoding have made it a lot more interesting.

And with demand for surround source material skyrocketing with the advent of 3D audio for film and immersive platforms such as virtual reality, Ambisonics is an increasingly useful option.

But how does Ambisonics work in the real world, how do you get started – and how do you make the most it? Experienced Ambisonics recordist and sound designer John Leonard gives you the details in this special hands-on A Sound Effect primer:

The current state of surround sound recording

Before we dive into the world of Ambisonics, let’s look at the current state of the art in recording in surround. It’s pretty easy, but not inexpensive, to make high-quality surround recordings these days, not only with the various discrete array mounts available from a number of microphone manufacturers, but also with all-in-one 5.1 and 7.1 microphones being offered, such as the DPA5100 surround microphone, affectionately known as The Bicycle Seat, and the various offerings from Holophone Microphone Systems.

Both these systems use discrete miniature electret microphone capsules in a special enclosure, with each microphone feeding a separate channel of a multi-track recorder although the smaller Holophone systems can also generate Dolby-encoded surround from a two-channel output, making them useful for DSLR on-camera use.

Aside from its discrete arrays, Schoeps offers a different approach, with a microphone/software system that they call Double Mid/Side, (DMS) where a rear-facing cardioid is added to a standard mid-side pair and the resulting three channels are trans-coded in software to provide a 5.0 surround output. Details here.

Sennheiser has its Esfera system, which uses a two-channel microphone array and separate hardware to generate 5.1 outputs by means of some very clever processing, but at a fairly hefty price tag of around US$12,000 for the complete system. All of these have their advantages, but they all produce horizontal only recordings and, in the case of the DPA 5100 and the Holophone H2-Pro 7.1, require six and eight tracks respectively to record the microphone outputs.

Latest Ambisonic SFX libraries:

The selection of ambisonic sound effects libraries is constantly growing – here are the latest arrivals:

  • If your Soundscape needs some gentle, flowing Water, look no further.


    When my wife and I were taking a little vacation in the woods of Hardwick, Vermont, I was awestruck by just the utter absence of any anthropogenic noise around us. Whenever there was a car coming through, you’d hear it from miles away, and, with it being late November, there were no bird calls for the majority of the time.

    In a small patch of forest near Nichols Pond lies a network of creeks and water runoffs that are ideal for capturing undisturbed, serene sounds of water flowing. Stable temperatures meant that there was very consistent snow melt and the flow of the water stayed steady throughout many hours of recording.

    As a result, this single-purpose library contains long-form recordings of these creeks that will excel wherever the sounds of water flowing are desired with not even the slightest hint of looping. With the exception of two babbling brooks captured in stereo during a hike, all recordings are 10 minutes long and captured in AmbiX (Ambisonic B-Format) for the greatest possible flexibility when it comes to placing them in a virtual environment.

    These recordings are free of edits and include stereo versions for dragging and dropping without the need for Ambisonic decoding. As a special treat, three long-form recordings are also accompanied by a Geofón track that captures the vibrations caused by the water in the nearby soil.

     

    Recording Specs: 24 Bit / 96 kHz AmbiX & Stereo. 48 kHz Mono Geofón Recordings

    Channel Formats: AmbiX (Ambisonic B-Format), Stereo, Mono

    File Format: WAV

    Size: 4.6 GB Stereo & Geofón, 8.3 GB AmbiX, 12.8 GB total

    Gear used: RØDE NT-SF1 Ambisonic Mic, LOM Geofón, LOM Uši Pro, Zoom F6, Zoom F3

    Processing: Level adjustment, Fade Ins/Outs, AmbiX to Stereo Conversion (perspective-optimized)

  • Close Flyovers During Takeoff and Landing

    Take to the skies with “Planes of LAX,” a sound library that thrusts you into the thunderous symphony of jet engines soaring down into and roaring up out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Tailored for professionals in film, games, and immersive formats, this collection will take your jetliner flybys to the next level.

    Ambisonic and Decoded Surround Formats

    Immerse your audience in a three-dimensional auditory experience with Ambix Ambisonic recordings and decoded 7.1.2 Atmos Bed, 5.1, and Stereo versions.
    Decoded and referenced in Dolby Atmos at Cheviot Sound, ensuring top-quality playback.

    Stereo and Mono Options

    Along with decoded stereo files, choose from separately recorded stereo and mono recordings, adding flexibility to meet the unique demands of your projects. Stereo recordings were expertly captured using a Tascam X8 in an XY configuration, while mono recordings were taken with a Rode NTG5.

    Comprehensive Aircraft List:

    Immerse yourself in the distinctive roars, whines, and rumbles of various planes, including but not limited to:

    Airbus A320, A321, A350, A380

    Boeing 737-7H4, 737-823, 737-824, 737-825, 767-332ER, 777-223, 787-9 Dreamliner

    Boeing C32A Airforce Two

    Bombardier Challenger 605

    Embraer 175LR, E175LR-04, E175LL, Phenom 300, Phenom 300-02

    Mitsubishi CRJ-701ER

    Decode to 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 7.1 and higher immersive formats, Change orientation, and Emulate microphone polar patterns using ambisonic decoder plugins:
     RODE SoundField – FREE
    Harpex B Converter – PAID

    Key Features:

      • Close Flyovers
      • Ambisonic and Decoded Surround Formats
      • Separately Recorded Stereo and Mono Options
      • Comprehensive Aircraft List
      • 157 files (3.22GB)
      • 24/48k broadcast .wav files
      • 100% Royalty-Free

    Credits:

    Recording-
    Jack Weiss

    Roy Berardo
    Editing-
    Jack Weiss
    Photos-
    Jethro Tai

  • Animal Sound Effects Ambisonic Horse Carriage Play Track 22 sounds included, 26 mins total $39

    This classic vehicle is drawn by two horses and produces mostly clank and rattle of wood and metal. You can also hear some leather creaks and the horses’ hooves and breaths. Occasionally the driver beatboxes some cues – clucking, smacking, monosyllables.

    Some of the files contain solely the rattle of the rolling carriage but no horses – these can be used for sound designing any old vehicle on a bumpy road.

    This selection of onboard sounds contains a variety of speeds, horse gaits and road surfaces. They have been recorded with the Sennheiser Ambeo VR Mic, and, simultaneously, with two stereo sets. For each recording you get 10 channels:

    – ambiX B-format (4 channels)
    – Stereo XY (Audio-Technica BP4025)
    – Wide Stereo (DPA 4060) captured at the carriage’s chassis
    – Stereo Mix of all of the above

    The ambiX B-format files are ready to be encoded into all spatial sound setups: like 5.1, 7.1, 4.0, VR 360 degree experience, and more.

    The library is UCS compliant.

  • Introducing Immersive Wallas on Set vol.2 – the ultimate resource for filmmakers and sound designers. This collection of high-quality ambisonic recordings from various film and TV shows sets is designed to immerse your audience in the heart of the action.

    At Blacktone Studio, we understand the vital role sound plays in storytelling. Wallas, the ambient background chatter found in diverse locations, provides the foundation for creating realistic atmospheres in film and television. As always, we’ve taken our commitment to authenticity a step further by recording in ambisonic format.

    Our team meticulously captured the essence of real-life film sets, from the energetic buzz of big scenes to the subtle whispers on quiet studio lots. These recordings are a testament to our industry knowledge and commitment to delivering high-quality audio content.

    Whether you’re working on a feature film, a documentary, or a video game, our Immersive Wallas on Set vol.2 provides the versatility you need to enhance your project. Easily searchable and expertly categorized, this collection ensures you find the perfect background atmosphere effortlessly.

    Immersive Wallas on Set vol.2 is the ultimate solution for elevating your audio ambience creation. It’s a valuable asset for filmmakers and sound designers, allowing you to create immersive soundscapes that transport your audience into the heart of your story. With the authenticity and flexibility of Ambisonic Atmospheres and Wallas, your creative projects will reach new heights.

    All the recordings include metadata in English and Spanish, and they are compatible with software of sound library management like Soundminnner.

    We have decoded all the First Order Ambisonic recordings with HarpeX plugin into 7.1.2 Dolby ATMOS bed configuration, using the top channel to create totally outstanding ambiences tracks ready to use!

    All our libraries are UCS compliant (universalcategorysystem.com). In this new category system all files contain extensive metadata like file description, Category & Subcategory. Metadata can be read and processed by the most common audio libraries management tools . Starting with Full support from Soundminer and more audio tools adopting this system, we are adopting metadata UCS system in our files!

→ view more

The Ambisonics difference

Without getting bogged down in too much detail, Ambisonics, developed in the early 1970s by Peter Fellget and Michael Gerzon is a way of recording and reproducing surround sound in both horizontal and vertical surround from a single point source. Yes, that’s right: eat your hearts out, DTS:X™, Dolby Atmos™ and Auro 3D™, Ambisonics has been capable of full surround including height and depth for around forty years, and it’s non-proprietary. You can find the relevant Wikipedia entry here for an explanation of the basic science behind the technique.

At its simplest, what’s known as a first-order B-Format surround signal can be generated either by software manipulation of mono sources or by a special type of microphone, using a tetrahedral array of four near-coincident capsules.

The Soundfield Microphone Tetrahedral Array

The Soundfield Microphone Tetrahedral Array

Those from TSL/Soundfield output a B-Format signal, which supplies a matrixed four-channel signal, where the four channels are designated W, X, Y and Z, where W represents on omni-directional reference, X represents front and back, Y represents left and right and Z equals up and down. (This is a gross simplification, but it’ll suffice for this article.) These microphones will have hardware control units that give the user options in terms of gain and directional orientation and filtering and are at the top-end of the market.

The Soundfield SPS200 and the Core Sound TetraMic both output simple capsule feeds and need software (SurroundZone2 for the Soundfield and VVTetraVST for the Core Sound) to correctly matrix the capsule feeds into a B-Format signal.

The resulting four-channel signal can then be trans-coded for output in many ways, from a single source in mono to multi-speaker surround arrays, with the major advantage being that once you have a the initial capture, you can use post processing to vary pan, tilt, zoom and rotate: something that’s not exactly simple to achieve with other systems.

 

Lots of opportunities with Ambisonics:

Ambisonics allows you to transcode your B-format source material into a myriad of formats, by using the free SoundField SurroundZone 2 plugin – including stereo, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0 or 7.1 surround.

The early days of Ambisonics

The development of Ambisonics was sponsored by a UK government organization called the National Research and Development Corporation, the aim of which was to exploit commercially technology created in the public sector. With Ambisonics, it failed dismally and the technique became the preserve of a few dedicated enthusiasts, but Soundfield Microphone sales continued to those who saw the various uses to which the system could be but, not the least as a pretty impressive stereo microphone for use in recording studios.

The main problem with using Ambisonics in large listening areas such as movie-theaters has always been the size of the sweet-spot, which was pretty small. The effect was still obvious and fairly impressive outside the sweet spot, but didn’t have the wow-factor of artificially pan-potted effects that became the staple of 5.1 and 7.1 movie theater systems. It did, however, give a far more realistic sense of being in the scene than its rather more sensational rival.

[tweet_box]Welcome to the wonderful world of Ambisonics – a primer by John Leonard:[/tweet_box]

Ambisonics evolved

Initially, the decoding hardware was complex and expensive and the lack of truly portable multi-track recording equipment meant that you were pretty much tied to a mains supply and a rack full of gear, but the arrival of sophisticated portable computer interfaces – in my case, the Metric Halo 2882 which could be powered via the FireWire port of a Macintosh PowerBook – meant that it’s been possible to record using Soundfield microphones free from mains power for around fifteen years. Much of the material in my effects libraries has been recorded using this system, although for more portability, I also use Sound Devices 744 and 788 recorders, which have basic B-Format monitoring built-in.

ambisonics recording

Early location surround recording set-up: Mac PowerBook, Metric Halo 2882 interface and Soundfield ST250 control unit & microphone, Rycote windshield.

Further development in software processing has also meant that expensive hardware is no longer needed for transcoding and, thanks to research carried out at various academic institutions, much of the software to accomplish this is free. The small sweet-spot problem remained, though, and much of the effects material recorded in B-Format by me and others like me, was simply decoded, initially, to stereo and lately, to 5.1 surround, with the height aspect being discarded.

It’s now entirely possible using software, to enlarge the sweet spot, decode for binaural and even to deal with irregular speaker arrays in large venues.

Recently, however, there have been major developments in the use of Ambisonics, particularly with the arrival of immersive virtual reality systems such as the Oculus Rift and it’s now entirely possible using software, to enlarge the sweet spot, decode for binaural and even to deal with irregular speaker arrays in large venues.

One of the developers in the forefront of this technology is a company called Blue Ripple Sound and the good news is that the core software to experiment with this is free, with the caveat that it only works with certain DAWs at the moment, although one of these is the ridiculously cheap, but amazingly versatile Reaper.
 

Introducing a brand-new Ambisonics SFX category:

 
A whole new sound effects category is opening up here on A Sound Effect, dedicated to Ambisonics SFX libraries – and a bunch of libraries have just been added. Check out a small selection below:
 

  • This production music library offers an irresistible fusion of Jamaican-Caribbean vibes and modern reggae, accentuated by sultry Latin undertones.

    Afro-Caribbean - Groovy Dub and Latin - Sample Demo
  • “PWL08: Ambisonic Overview : USA – WEST COAST AIRPORT & FLIGHT” is a collection of sounds recorded between 2 airports of the west coast of the USA: Los Angeles, and Oakland. As a bonus, we put in the library sounds recorded at the Paris Airport (France).
    The library includes also sounds recorded during the flights between these 3 airports in four different planes: one Boing 787, one Boing 789 Dreamliner, one Airbus A319, and one Airbus A320.

    We were recording in many places inside the airports: Ticket place, gate place, security check, waiting room, near a restaurant, bar, dutyfree shop, etc…
    And also inside the planes: before take-off, security announcement, take-off, landing, room tone, ambiance during the flight, passenger walla, Captain and crew PA System

    – The soundbank contains 64 sound takes recorded in 24 Bit / 96 kHz for a total duration of 388 minutes of original sound, decline in 192 files

  • For this sound effects library, we traveled across Alaska, from the extreme north to the south coast to capture the spirit of these nordic and wild landscapes: Boreal forests, arctic and alpin tundras, glaciers, rivers, and lakes.

    Here the soundscapes reflect the extreme weather conditions: Silent ambiances punctuated by the elements: Wind, snow, rain, serving the erosion.

    In this wilderness, animals remain discreet. We had the chance to capture many birds with our microphones: Owls, ducks, seagulls, trumpeter swans, bald eagles, common ravens, migratory birds, and many other species – and a few other animals: Hoary marmots, arctic marmots, squirrels and moose.

    -The sound bank contains 66 sound takes recorded in ambisonic at 24/96khZ (a total of 330 files).

    here is an exemple of an ambisonic recording embeded in a 360° movie (go on youtube to listen the 360° sound) :

    Phonography 360 : Ice Cavern - Byron Glacier - Alaska (60.760826, -148.847201) - Ambisonic 360 Sound

     

  • Ambisonic Sound Effects Ambisonic – Beach in Summer Play Track 26+ sounds included, 125 mins total $13

    Beach Ambiences and Textures recorded in Summer.

    Sound of the sea, people, children, boats etc. Crowds, people on the beach enjoying Summer.

    Many sound perspectives. On the beach (middle of the beach), beach in distance (ambient sounds like crickets, cicadas, included) , people close, distant, all around, footsteps close, distant, swimming, jumping into water, sea surface close and other.

    European languages (but mostly in background-indistinguishable), recorded in Mediterranean, Adriatic sea.

    Recorded  with Sennheiser Ambeo VR mic. and Sound Devices recorder. Audio files included: B-format, Ambix and Binaural. Preview is in Binaural (stereo).

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  • City Life Sound Effects Ambisonic – City Life Play Track 24 sounds included, 67 mins total From: $24 From: $15

    Ambisonic City Life is a small collection of ambisonic recordings performed at various locations of different cities. The recordings took place at both internal and external locations.

    This collection is great for post production, VR/AR experiences, game developers and any real-time 3D audio engine.
    All files are tagged and categorized for your convenience – supporting tag filtering browsing applications.

    To create this product a Sennheizer Ambeo microphone paired with Zoom H8 was used.

    This package includes 24 Samples – Total 67 minutes of content.
    Supported formats: First Order AmbiX B-Format and Stereo (Total of 48 files).

    Download a B-Format Ambix demo here: Demo

    The library is also available in a stereo only version.

     

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  • Crickets, insects, soundscapes recorded in Ambisonic. Recorded in spring and summer. Daytime and nocturnal recordings, with wind in background or without. With birds and without birds in background. In nature environment or in rural area. Check the sound list for additional info.

    tech note:

    Ambisonic recording (3D audio, VR360 audio) – Immersive Audio, Spatial audio;

    Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR microphone (tripod, Rycote blimp/windjammer included) and Sound Devices recorder. All channels matched with pink noise generator.

    Stereo files rendered via Reaper/Ambeo (Sennheiser), A to B format converter (Ambix) and they are ready to use.

    RAW files are 4 Ch. original Sound Devices files (A format). You can import them to Reaper and with Sennheiser Ambeo plugin

    here is free download link:

    https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-abconverter

    you can then manipulate in 360º audio image to get sound image/source to your taste/need/application.

  • Fireworks FX library recorded in Ambisonic. New Year Eve. Many different sound perspectives and variety of  explosions, whistles and other sounds.

    Metadata tagged with equipment list and info.

    4 ch (RAW) recordings and stereo rendered recordings without any dynamic manipulation (compressors/limiters), eq.; max. peak level: -5dBFS.

    tech note:

    Ambisonic recording (3D audio, VR360 audio) – Immersive Audio, Spatial audio;

    Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR microphone (tripod, Rycote blimp/windjammer included) and Sound Devices recorder. All channels matched with pink noise generator.

    Stereo files rendered via Reaper/Ambeo (Sennheiser), A to B format converter (Ambix) and they are ready to use.

    RAW files are 4 Ch. original Sound Devices files (A format). You can import them to Reaper and with Sennheiser Ambeo plugin

    here is free download link:

    https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ambeo-abconverter

    you can then manipulate in 360º audio image to get sound image/source to your taste/need/application. Mic position: upright.

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  • Ambisonic Sound Effects Ambisonic – Pickup Truck Interior Play Track 18 sounds included, 93 mins total From: $36 From: $25

    Ambisonic – PickUp Truck interior is a small package of interior recordings performed in a Mitsubishi L200, under multiple use-cases.

    The captured vehicle model is a Mitsubishi Hunter L200 2012, with a 2500cc Diesel engine.

    It includes driving on asphalt and gravel at various speeds, while the windows are open or closed for each scenario. Rooftop rain was also recorded and added to this package.

    The Ambisonic version can be great for creating different listening angles of an interior car scene that uses several video angles, using it as an ambient layer for interactive experiences or simply implementing it into a real-time gaming audio engine.

     

    To create this product a Sennheiser Ambeo microphone paired with Zoom H8n was used.

    Please note that the Ambisonic version also includes a stereophonic rendering of the files.

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View all Ambisonics libraries here

Getting started with Ambisonics

If you do want to test the waters and you have Reaper, ProTools, Cubase, Nuendo or Logic, there are a couple of ways you can achieve this at no cost, other than some time to read and understand how to set your system up. There are a number of software plug-ins that will decode audio material recorded as B-Format surround, but probably the first stop should be the plug-in specifically designed to deal with the output of Soundfield Microphones: the company is now part of TSL Products and their SurroundZone2 plug-in is available for VST, AU and AAX systems, with VST & AAX available for both MacOS and Windows computers. You can download it for free here.

If you want a more advanced version, the truly excellent Harpex-B plug-in is available here. It isn’t free, in fact it’s quite expensive, but there’s a thirty day free trial available, which is worth experimenting with.

Harpex-B Ambisonic Decoding

Two instances of Harpex-B Ambisonic Decoding software in use in a complex surround mix, along with two mid/side decoders.

If you’re a Windows user and prepared to dig a little deeper into the system set-up, then you can try Dave McGriffy’s VVMicVST plug-in, which as the name suggests is a VST-only plug-in, although Dave has recently expanded his suite of tools and these can be found on his VVAudio site.


Popular on A Sound Effect right now - article continues below:


Trending right now:

  • Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Abandoned Oil Tank Play Track 327 sounds included $40

    On a recording trip to the smaller Danish port town Struer, I came across an abandoned empty oil tank. Inside I found two giant wires attached to the floor and the ceiling of the tank, almost like a huge 2 stringed double bass. I’m telling you the reverb in there was longer than the Eiffel Tower on a cloudless day !

    On the outside this was just an empty abandoned building, but it turned out it was not empty at all because it was full of sound and a few dead birds. I’m glad I was curious enough to go inside for a closer investigation and not just pass by.

    After several hours of concentrated recording, it was nice to get my ears back out in dry air. I’m happy there are no open sends to Valhalla in real life but experiencing the eternal resonance on the low frequencies from the wires was absolutely amazing.

    Abandoned Oil Tank was recorded with a LOM basic Ucho stereo pair, a Zoom H6 and the LOM Geofon. All files are in 96 kHz/24 bit and contain the original recordings.

    The result is a unique sound effect library including balloon pop impulse responses from a truly unique location that very recently became even more unique since word says that the oil tank is no more and has abandoned this world.

    327 individual sounds – all tagged with Universal Category System (UCS) metadata.

    www.katrineamsler.com

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  • Electricity Sound Effects Polarity Play Track 975 sounds included $72

    Polarity delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs. About 50% of the library is all about electricity, with various types of Jacob’s Ladders, Tesla Coils, Ruhmkorff lamp and all sorts of impactful bursts of energy.

    Then we go through welders, plasma spheres, 3D printers, starting to cover a more broad technology theme – like old phones, telegraphs, dynamo wheels, rotary dials, whirling watchers, alarm, lab centrifuges, something scientists call a roller and a rocker, servo sounds, neon lights, a wimshurst machine and sparklers.

    Many sounds in this section were captured from vintage equipment, from a 1928’s tram to old telephone switchboards, high voltage levers and control surfaces.

    All content was recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K, a couple of Sennheiser 8040 and a Neumann 81i, translating into final assets that have plenty of ultrasonic content, ready for the most extreme manipulation.

    Bonus: Two extra libraries included for free:
    This library also includes two additional releases from Mattia Cellotto - for free: Crunch Mode delivers 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust and a selection of frozen goods. The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy and gooey sounds.
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  • Door Sound Effects Noisy Doors Play Track 44 sounds included $10

    This library contains recordings of eleven different types of doors specifically chosen for their interesting sound. I performed all actions with a lot of detail covering “open/close”, “knocks”, “bangs and thuds”, “handle grab and rattle” and when possible also “crackles and squeaks” (all recorded at various intensities)

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  • Metal Sound Effects MetalMotion Play Track 2000+ sounds included, 239 mins total $110

    MetalMotion is a sound design construction kit that contains four hours of moving metal mayhem: clicks and clanks, rolls and drags, wronks and squeals, scrapes and rattles, ranging from from tiny to monstrous. Nathan Moody’s unique performances with unusual combinations of props produce everything from Foley-like movements to intense groans and howls.

    Whether you’re covering a robot’s movements, sweetening weapon Foley, making crafting or pick-up sounds in a game, placing unusual layers beneath a kaiju’s roar, or crushing a submarine with undersea pressure, this collection covers the full range of subtle to raucous. Each file has many performance variations for creative choice and game audio asset creation.

    While there are some tasty impacts within, this library’s true focus is on characterful movements: handling, rummaging, opens, closes, ratchets, swirls, rolls, drags, drops, spins, rubs, zuzzes, and bows. Metal containers, filing cabinets, modern appliances, vintage (and very rusty) tools, cymbals, bells, grills, plates, bars, rods, and tubes, and many other props lent their voices to this collection.

    This UCS-compliant library was recorded with a combination of standard, contact, and ultrasonic-capable microphones through Millennia preamps. Sample rates vary based on the amount of ultrasonic content in each file. The audio files are mastered for realism, ready for extreme processing and pitch shifting of your own, but still useful in more grounded contexts.


Latest releases:

  • Trench Rammers is a one-of-a-kind sound library, created by sound designer Barney Oram. It features recordings of two 20th century Trench Rammers, some of the last operating machines of their kind in the world. The library features 48 files in total, capturing the Trench Rammers using a variety of microphones and perspectives, supplied in 192kHz 24bit WAV file format.

    This library contains multiple recordings of two antique Trench Rammers, the Pegson ER5 and the Warsop Benjo, and also features additional recordings of four antique stationary engines, the Amanco Hired Man (1920s), the JAP 1947, the Lister D (1940s) and the Norman T3000.

    Recorded in Leeds, UK, this library features multi-mic coverage and a range of distance positions captured on all included source content. Microphones used include; Sanken, Sennheiser, Neumann and DPA, captured with Sound Devices and Tascam recorders.

    This library includes detailed SoundMiner metadata and utilizes the UCS system for ease of integration into your library.

    Behind the Scenes Video:


    Trench Rammer


  • The cozy natural rhythms of hums, scrapes, splashes and thuds soundtrack the pottery workshop where the earth meets art. Find the true sound of it with Vadi Sound Library.

     

    About Pottery Workshop

     

    84 sounds that are clean, subtle and capture pretty much every object and action of the magic of fire and earth.

    From the rhythmic hum of the spinning potter’s wheel, to the splash of water, the scrape of clay with the tools shaping and smoothing surfaces, listen up for the symphony of creation.

    You will hear the tapping and thud of ceramic pottery, wooden ribs, wire cutters, loop tools, and sponges, all kinds of rummage, and mud actions on the potter’s wheel. The clicking and whirring of mechanisms during firing cycles add a mechanical counterpoint to the workshop’s natural rhythms.

    You will get variations of sounds in different proximity, size, and style of action. This collection is handy due to the clarity and diversity of the raw sounds. They have both Foley and practical usability and room for further sound design.

    You will get intuitive, detailed naming, UCS compatibility and the usual Vadi Sound craft and attention to detail in 84 pristine sounds. Recorded in 24bit-96kHz.WAV format on our favorite Sennheiser MKH 8040 stereo pair and Zoom F6.

     

    Keywords

    Pottery, workshop, electric potter’s wheel, wheel, oven, heat gun, mud, clay, ceramic, glass, wooden, metal, cup, handle, push, pull, move, remove, shape, tap, shake, clank, level, lid, tool, organizer, toolbox, rummage, fiberboard, button, bucket, sponge, plate, Dremel.

     

    What else you may need

    You may also want to check out Drag & Slide for 477 sound files of dragging, sliding, scraping and friction sounds of different objects made of wood, plastic, metal on various surfaces. Our bestseller Crafting & Survival is another good choice to get access to 1000+ survival, gathering, movement and crafting sounds.

  • All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with Shure KSM 137, Line Audio Omni1, FEL Clippy XLR EM272, Sonorous Objects SO.3 and JrF C-Series Pro+ microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.

  • Introducing Devils Bane Trailer, a chilling symphony of horror encapsulated in 533 meticulously crafted sound files, ready to unleash terror upon your audience. Dive into a nightmare realm where every creak, whisper, and shriek is meticulously designed to send shivers down your spine.

    • 533 files
    • 3.5 GB of game audio assets
    • All in 96k 24bit .wav
    • Dark Horror Movie Trailer Sound Effects Library
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  • Birdsong from the countryside of the Swedish rural region of Värmland.

Need specific sound effects? Try a search below:


Want to dig deeper still? Daniel Courville has a whole suite of software, including a Double M/S version and one for making your Zoom H2 surround recordings sound pretty good.

How to record surround in B-Format

Want to buy a mic of your own? Aside from the Soundfield and TetraMic products mentioned earlier, a new, Kickstarter-funded company in India produces the Brahma microphones, which are also causing interest, especially as they’ve managed to build one into a Zoom H2N body, making it the smallest complete surround recording package available anywhere. Check it out here and read about one user’s experiences here

In closing, let’s sum up the key takeways from this primer:

• Ambisonics is a method of recording and reproducing audio in full 360 degree surround.

• Post-processing can transcode the recordings into various conventional surround formats.

• Specialist hardware and software is required for recording and processing the audio.

• Much of the processing software is free and works with many DAWs.

• Microphone prices start at under $1,000.00

 

A big thanks to John Leonard for this overview of what Ambisonic recording is all about! Check out his sound effect libraries here, and explore the new Ambisonics SFX category here.

 
 

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About John Leonard:

John Leonard is an experienced sound designer and recordist from the UK, where he’s done pioneering work in theatre sound since the 1970s. His work includes exhibition projects in the UK, North America and China, and shows in London’s West-End, The National Theatre Of Great Britain, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Court, The Almeida, The Lincoln Center Festival and more. He’s also the creator of the popular Immersive FX sound effect series. Learn more about his work here.



 
 
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  • Trench Rammers is a one-of-a-kind sound library, created by sound designer Barney Oram. It features recordings of two 20th century Trench Rammers, some of the last operating machines of their kind in the world. The library features 48 files in total, capturing the Trench Rammers using a variety of microphones and perspectives, supplied in 192kHz 24bit WAV file format.

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7 thoughts on “Welcome to the wonderful world of Ambisonics – a primer by John Leonard

  1. Great article, but I don’t quite understand this ‘getting started’ paragraph:

    ‘If you do want to test the waters…there are a couple of ways you can achieve this at no cost, …software plug-ins that will decode audio material recorded as B-Format…probably the first stop should be the plug-in specifically designed to deal with the output of Soundfield Microphones.’

    If you need to buy a Soundfield microphone, how is this at ‘no cost’. If you can use your own microphones, how do we ENCODE our recorded sound into B-Format?

    • Hi Christopher, thanks for the comment! Now, I’m not John :) – but I think what he means by that paragraph is in terms of working with existing B-format recordings, ie working with B-format content in your DAW.

  2. Hi,

    Thanks for this great article. I’m just starting to learn the process of capturing and mixing 360 sound. I’m confused though, is the “only” benefit of buying an ambisonic mic just have to do with the ease of workflow? Sort of how it’s best to use a matched stereo pair for stereo recordings if you want the best result with the least hassle? Or is it literally impossible to set up regular mics in a tetrahedron array and eventually get an ambisonic file from that capture, even if it happens in post through a plugin like ambipan or something similar? That seems like it would make sense intuitively since you should be able to use prerecorded mono SFX samples and create an ambisonic environment using a plugin like that…right? Sorry for the novice question. Hope it made sense.

  3. Hello Christopher & Jared,

    Christopher, I did indeed mean that you can experiment with existing B-Format material: there’s plenty of free stuff around – try http://www.ambisonia.com for non-commercial material that you can play around with. Then buy libraries from Asbjoern and keep us poor recordists from starving!

    Jared, Soundfield-type microphones that use a tetrahedral array are designed to keep the capsules as close together as possible, effectively to create a point-source, which will give the best results. My ST450 and my TetraMic are both compact, portable set-ups that can be fitted into shockmounts and windshields and used in the same way as a conventional microphone for effects gathering. It’s possible and quite easy to build an array from conventional microphones for horizontal surround only, and there are various illustrations of rigs that achieve this, using an omni and two figure-of-eight microphones. Do a search for ‘Native B-Format Array’ or go straight here – http://www.radio.uqam.ca/ambisonic/native_b.html for a pretty comprehensive example. You’ll notice that it’s not exactly a compact set-up, though.

    Please feel free to ask anything else and I’ll see if I can help.

  4. Hi,

    I’m doing an audio project for work (completely new to ambisonics/encoding/speaker systems in general, though do have some basic understanding).

    Just to check i’ve got this right, in extreme laymans terms, would I be able to record a piece of ambisonics audio (using for example, a Sennheiser Ambeo 3D VR mic), mix the B format using various different software available, then somehow output it to either a channel based or object based speaker system? (For example, Dolby Atmos or Auro-3D).

    I can’t seem to figure out if Dolby Atmos or Auro-3D are compatible with ambisonics recordings.

    Sorry if these are really basic questions, I’m completely new to file formats and encoding!

    Thanks,
    Lewis

  5. Lewis,

    I’m not sure what you mean by “mix the B-Format” The B-Format signal is what you’ll get after doing the processing from the A-Format (basically capsule outputs) from the Ambeo, the TetraMic or the Soundfield SPS-200. All these microphones have their own processing software to let you achieve this, with varying degrees of precision, and once done, you’ll need further processing to do anything useful with the B-Format. Probably the best bet for transcoding at the moment is Svein Berge’s Harpex-X, which will let you output a multi-channel file that will work with Dolby Atmos or Auro-3D, although it’s not a low-cost option, or a simple one, as you’ll need to use two instances of the plug-in to get the requisite number of output channels.

    There are other options available, but I don’t have time at the moment to go into them at the moment, due to work/life complications. I’ll do my best to expand on them a little later.

    You’re not entering a simple world here, and it’s not a cheap one, either: be prepared to spend lots of time and money. You can download the Harpex manual here: https://harpex.net/manual.pdf

    All the best,

    John

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