聞く
A Curious Endeavor
into the heart of listening
through the art of binaural recording.
THE FIRST TIME I heard the word 聞くI was in a coffee shop in Osaka, Japan.
I was being taught a new AeroPress brewing technique by a local barista I’d recently befriended who explained 聞く(or “Kiku”) in Japanese means to “Listen” or “Hear.”
As international travel became a regular part of my life, I began to wish there was a way I could record some of these moments and environments so I could revisit them in the future. Enter: “Binaural Recording”.
Binaural is a recording method that allows the listener, when wearing quality headphones, to feel like they’re standing where the audio was recorded.
If you’re curious about the full story of what compelled me to begin making these recordings, and a nerdy deep-dive into the technical side of binaural recording (including more info on the microphones I have to stick INTO my ears that were custom-made for me by a sound engineer in Germany) you can read about it here:
聞く — A Journey Into The Heart Of Listening and Binaural Recording
Otherwise, you can simply enjoy the growing collection of them below. I hope you enjoy.
-rob
P.S. 聞く is best listened to with the highest quality headphones you can get your hands on. But AirPods with noise cancelation on will work too.
P.P.S. For the curious, While traveling, I often like to throw on headphones and listen to ambient audio of rain & thunder – whether trying to fall asleep on a plane/noisy hotel or even just to center myself for a few minutes before a big show. Because of that, I’ve been creating two-hour-long audio clips for a few I feel are applicable. You’ll find a link below those that have them to download it directly from my personal Dropbox. If you’d like to request one to be made that isn’t, you can reach out to me HERE.