HOLOPHONE H2-PRO, User Manual

Page 1: ...HolophoneTM H2 PRO Surround Sound Microphone User Guide Copyright 2001 2004 Rising Sun Productions Ltd ...

Page 2: ...imited 258 Adelaide Street East Suite 200 Toronto Ontario Canada M5A 1N1 Telephone 416 362 7790 Fax 416 362 7780 Website http www holophone com Email info holophone com Warranty contact 416 362 7790 info holophone com NOTE The term Holophone as used in this manual is a registered trade mark of Rising Sun Productions Limited ...

Page 3: ...djustments is the exclusive remedy under this written warranty or any implied warranty 5 In the event that your jurisdiction provides rights to you through legislation or law which are inconsistent with the rights set out in this warranty this warranty does not exclude or limit those rights but shall run concurrently with any applicable legislation law 6 Rising Sun shall in no event be liable for ...

Page 4: ...d be visible in its entirety on the outside of the gasket up to the line where the screen and the capsule body meet There is a small lip built into the underside of the holes on the perimeter of the gasket which holds the capsules in place When positioned correctly this internal lip holds the microphone capsules in the correct location on the Holophone In the event that the capsules become pressed...

Page 5: ...at is the Holophone 3 A Brief Overview of Surround Sound 5 The Holophone H2 PRO 8 Using the Holophone H2 PRO 11 Cabling Scenarios 13 Direct to console 13 Direct to recording device supplying microphone with phantom power 14 Using a preamplifier 14 Optional Equipment 15 Appendix A Directivity measurements 16 Directivity measurement of the ellipsoid mounted microphones 16 ...

Page 6: ...livers those signals in an intuitive way Its flexibility ease of use and performance make the H2 PRO ideal for recording live events and in studio use It is well suited for television broadcasters standard TV DTV and HDTV radio broadcasters music producers and engineers film location recording crews for independent project studios and for permanent installations in concert halls entertainment venu...

Page 7: ...H2 PRO takes the guesswork out of recording surround sound Lightweight and inexpensive solution to instantly capture live surround sound for professional recording or broadcast Direct and discrete signal path from the mic to the monitor with no mixing signal manipulation or processing required Easy set up point and shoot operation with plug and play capability Compatible with all eight channel mic...

Page 8: ...lar space would hear The mixing approach is costly and time consuming and the results are inconsistent The Holophone solution is to place multiple discrete microphones on the surface of a specially designed head Multiple microphones capture the sounds that come from multiple directions An internal microphone captures low frequency sounds The Holophone s head is actually an ellipsoid It looks more ...

Page 9: ...f the Holophone itself can be used directly and in most situations this will produce the best results The initial design was completed and a patent application filed for the new system in 1994 When it became apparent in late1996 that the patent would issue the first prototype was built The Canadian government s National Research Council became interested in the technology and joined in a collabora...

Page 10: ... the seventies there were a number of experiments with quadraphonic sound for the home market Quad sound failed to catch on for a variety of reasons lack of material high cost of systems and lack of consumer demand In 1970 George Lucas s Star Wars introduced Dolby Stereo to movie theaters and within a few years it became the most common audio format Contrary to its name Dolby Stereo can actually d...

Page 11: ...rround II CS II all add a center rear channel Sony has introduced a standard SDDS Sony Dynamic Digital Sound which has a 7 1 configuration It adds a left center and a right center speaker but omits the top speaker The Holophone does not support this standard directly However the two additional sound sources can be generated in the studio using the center channel in combination with the left and ri...

Page 12: ...channels Left surround and right surround are combined into one mono output Mix the top incrementally with the four backbone channels Stereo Mix down to stereo Note Dolby Dolby Stereo Dolby Surround Dolby ProLogic Dolby Digital IMAX DTS Digital Theater Systems Circle Surround AAC WMA SDDS Sony Dynamic Digital Sound are trade marked terms ...

Page 13: ...lophone H2 PRO Surround Sound Microphone The Holophone Microphone System consists of ellipsoidal Holophone head housing eight condenser microphone elements yoke with 180 rotation 5 m cable terminating in 8 XLR cable ends Head Cable Yoke Microphone element Adjustment knob Perimeter gasket Front of Head ...

Page 14: ...r loosen the adjustment knob and turn the yoke upside down to hang the Holophone H2 PRO The Holophone must remain in the normal orientation with the top microphone element at the top Inside the Holophone there are eight microphone capsules The microphone elements installed in the H2 PRO are DPA 4060 134db omni directional condenser microphones Note Microphone elements with higher or lower SPL soun...

Page 15: ...Channel Microphone 1 left 2 right 3 center 4 low frequency effects LFE 5 left surround 6 right surround 7 top 8 center rear It is necessary to keep the channel assignments discrete through the recording and mixing process For example Channel 1 left to channel 1 of a mixer to channel 1 of a tape deck to channel 1 of the final deliverable media to left speaker in a surround sound playback system 5 1...

Page 16: ...he Holophone will provide a sonically complete Surround Sound picture to begin with The usual approach is to place the Holophone along the center line of the event to get a sonic capture with proper left right balance Aim the pointed front of the Holophone towards the front and the round back towards the rear of the venue Additional spot microphones can be used to feature specific areas or instrum...

Page 17: ...me or facing center ice in an ice hockey arena Always keep in mind the perspective of the television viewer Mounting the Holophone on a side of a field or rink opposite to the main camera angle would seem backwards and unnatural 6 In situations involving multiple and simultaneous use of two or more Holophone systems combining the signals together may alter the localization characteristics of the m...

Page 18: ... range try placing the Holophone near or above the instrument that is being recorded For vocal or choirs position the singers around the Holophone and monitor in Surround to hear the results The possibilities are limitless Please e mail us and let us know if you find something cool For current tips and tricks in using the Holophone visit our website http www holophone com inaction html Cabling Sce...

Page 19: ...ts of a recording device such as a portable audio recorder or audio console with gain control and phantom power available Using a multichannel microphone preamplifier Plug the XLR mic level outputs of the Holophone into the inputs of a preamp Connect the outputs of the preamp to the inputs of the console or recording device Turn phantom power on and set gain the same for all channels relative to e...

Page 20: ...H2 PRO eliminates the need for a cumbersome stand in the field Hand Grip The custom designed travel case protects the H2 PRO from shock and water Custom Watertight Travel Case A windscreen that encapsulates the H2 PRO head is available for outdoor use It significantly reduces wind noise while also slightly increasing directivity IMAGE NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ...

Page 21: ...d at 10 degrees intervals with the zero degree position indicating the Front microphone facing the loudspeaker The outputs from the prototype Holophone PCM 7 preamplifier control module of the non wireless Global Sound Microphone System were recorded by an eight channel recorder TASCAM DA 38 The pure tone oscillator Kroh hite model 4180 provided the signal to drive the loudspeaker via a power ampl...

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