Several months ago, I had the chance to record a band (Sumkali) at The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI. As luck would have it, a film crew was there that night to commit the performance to HD video - we got to talking after the show and agreed that it would be great to mate my recording to their video.

A couple of things make the video excerpt unique. Firstly, the music - the band is an Indian-funk-fusion band - difficult to describe the genre of music that they play...but very musical stuff nevertheless.

Secondly, the fact that it's in HD makes it look that much nicer.

Lastly, the audio is binaural (recorded using a neumann type KU 100 mannequin head). Thus, the audio is very enveloping.

There is one caveat though...and that is, when the video post production crew mated the binaural audio to the video, they accidentally swapped the channels. Mind you, if you are only listening (and not watching the video), this doesn't really matter. However, if you want the auditory cues to match the visual ones, you have to swap the channels on your headphones (i.e. put the left channel on your right ear and vice versa).

Since the audio is binaural, you pretty much have to use headphones in order for it to sound correct. If you watch while seated at a computer, and you are VERY close to the speakers (on either side of the monitor), you will get most of the binaural effect; the further you get from the speakers the less convincing and natural it will sound, which is why headphones are suggested.

So, if you are interested, grab your headphones (and remember to flip them) and have a look / listen to this excerpt. Eventually, the whole show is to be released (with the channel swap error fixed). That should be really cool, because there are tracks where there is audience participation, and you feel like you are sitting among the crowd. You get a little of this in the excerpt (as there is appause at the start and the end of the excerpt).

Anyway, to quote Marti DiBergi ... "Enough of my yappin'...let's boogie". Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sklAvVm6lHE

Hope you like it...please let me know what you think of this. Many Thanks...

Puff puff....pass.

It sounds very similar to the lead track from Dead Can Dance's Into the Labyrinth. Nice stuff!

Best,

Here are a few more. Now...these are A-OK in terms of channel assignment. That is, and unlike the first link that I posted, the left channel of the audio really IS the left channel. So...no need to flip the headphones like you had to do for the original post.

This first one is an original ("Kahana Ke Sangeet") by Sumkali that morphes (i.e. bridges) into an Indian-style-infused version of a Sonny Rollins tune ("St. Thomas"). This one gets really interesting, both sonically as well as musically, starting around the 5:30 or 6:00 mark in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EZ0VitlJXA

...and this one is a traditional (Indian) tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIVR78kqD80

Again, these are binaural, so they just won't sound right over speakers (unless you sit insanely close to your speakers - sort of like a giant headphone)...so be sure to use headphones when you chek them out.

Again...Happy Listening.

So, the folks at Michigan Music Monthly posted the last two excerpts from the Binaural-audio-equipped Sumkali show. As with the other links that I posted in this thread, this is really engineered to sound best (and by far, most realistic) when you listen with headphones (because it's binaural).

So, here we go...

This first one, called "Akhian Udeekdian" - a VERY upbeat number - features some "audience participation", which starts right around the two-minute mark. I think the performance itself does a great job of bringing on the 'you are there' feel, however, when you hear the hand claps and such from the audience, it will seem that much more realistic.

Check it out ("Akhian Udeekdian"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_oumi50dy0

..and now this one, "Maulkans", features some great percussive work as well as some call-and-answer between the vocalist (Parag Ray) and the harmonium (played by Vishrut Srivastava).

"Maulkans" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZIXE6YO-vA

I have no idea when the entire show will post, but if you dig this, just keep an eye on YouTube for the whole-show post.

Enjoy