3D Carillon
Recording and mixing of the Aschaffenburg carillon in surround sound
A semester project by Sebastian Hage and Niklas Dietl, 2nd semester, 2022
Supervising lecturers: Prof. Felix Krückels and Prof. Moritz Bergfeld
Concept and objective
As part of the Next-Generation Audio Elective, we were tasked with producing a 3D audio project as our term project. We came up with the idea of recording the carillon – comprising 48 individual chromatic bells – at the annual Carillon Concert organised by the City of Aschaffenburg.
During a site visit, we familiarised ourselves with the acoustics at the various potential recording locations around the bell tower and subsequently obtained permission from the City of Aschaffenburg to record the carillon using a support microphone positioned directly inside the bell tower.
Our aim was to allow listeners to experience this unusual instrument to the full by recording it with multiple 3D microphones and creating a surround mix in Dolby Atmos.
Microphone placement
The one-hour concert was recorded using a total of three microphone systems, which were set up at different locations:
The ORTF-3D, serving as the main microphone, was positioned in the castle grounds – in addition to capturing the carillon’s very homogeneous sound, it also captured the enveloping atmosphere of the park.
A stereo ORTF in the bell tower, directly beneath the bells, provided the necessary precision and directness of the chime.
Finally, a mobile Ambisonics microphone was positioned at various acoustically interesting locations (the castle courtyard, the market square) to capture the carillon with additional natural reverberation.
Mixing
The Dolby Atmos mix was then carried out in the university’s own 5.1.4 studio:
The eight microphones of the main microphone array were distributed evenly across the lower and upper levels as audio objects (4.0.4); the result was a slightly distant sound of the carillon within the enveloping castle grounds. The stereo ORTF was positioned as a support microphone in the rear third of the upper speaker plane to, in combination with the ORTF-3D, create the impression of being directly beneath the bells, whilst the AMBEO Ambisonics microphone was integrated into the overall mix as a natural reverberation in the form of an Atmos bed.
Conclusion and Acknowledgements
For us, the recording and post-production of the carillon was an exciting project that allowed us to explore various 3D microphone set-ups and object-based audio.
The final mix was a lovely combination of the park’s atmosphere and the carillon, captured from the unusual perspective of being beneath the bells. In the 5.1.4 studio, it was even possible to move around the room and listen to the recording from different listening positions.
A binaural mix was produced for the university’s website, allowing listeners to experience the carillon in surround sound via headphones:
Insert audio here; unable to download the original
We would like to thank the City of Aschaffenburg and Georg Wagner for granting us entry to the carillon at Johannisburg Castle and for their support on the day of recording, Mathieu Daniël Polak for his virtuosity on the carillon, and Tobias Hage for the photographic documentation of the project.
