The impact of 360 Audio on story-telling: the new opportunities for the art of Location Sound Recording practices within the Observational Documentary genre.

A second journal paper will consider the future of the Observational Documentary genre’s place in UK TV. It will focus on examining and defining a new working methodology and aesthetic for the craft and art of location Sound Recording techniques, predicated on an anticipated resurgence of the genre centred around the emerging technologies of immersive surround sound: Ambisonic microphone arrays being a vital part of that development.

Ambisonics is a method for representing a full three-dimensional sound field, and its genre-bridging adaptability means it can be converted to a dynamically steerable binaural format for VR uses. Opportunities afforded by an Ambisonics-centred location Sound Recording methodology will have profound consequences for Observational Documentary users and makers, as well as tomorrow’s audiences.