Setup for choir recordings in virtual churches

Immersive and 3D Audio: from Architecture to Automotive (I3DA)

Abstract

Singing is an important part of most religious rites. In the research project "Sacred Sound - Sacred Space" the influence of the room acoustics on the performance and the perception of singing is investigated. In this project, ensemble singers are performing in virtual recreations of historic spaces. So far, recordings in two spaces were completed: The still existing Cistercian church of Maulbronn monastery and the Maior Ecclesia in Cluny, of which only remnants exist. The current setup allows for a static scenario with pre-simulated, binaural room impulse responses corresponding to a real singing situation in a room. For the recordings, the singers were situated in an hemi anechoic chamber and recorded using a headset microphone, while perceiving the reflections of the virtual churches via open headphones. In this talk, the technical setup of the recordings, the applied room acoustic simulations and the limitations of this approach will be presented, complemented with a discussion regarding potential improvements of the setup and the first steps towards an analysis of the recordings.

Authors 4

1. Pascal Palenda Aachen Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics,Aachen,Germany

   Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Lukas Aspöck Aachen Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics,Aachen,Germany

   Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

3. Stefan Morent

   University of Tübingen

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Tübingen,Department of Musicology,Tübingen,Germany

4. Michael Vorländer Aachen Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics,Aachen,Germany

   Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany