Spatial audio designer Henrik Oppermann explores the boundaries of 3D sound through innovative soundscapes created for film, TV and music, as well as holding positions with the likes of Sennheiser and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. His latest undertaking is a compact mobile studio for field and on-site recording.

Using solar powered batteries and audio technology from Merging, Neumann and Sennheiser, Oppermann’s RV conversion allows recording almost anywhere off-grid. It is equipped with 3D 4.0 monitoring using four Neumann KH80 loudspeakers and a Merging Anubis controller. The system is managed via Neumann’s MA1 loudspeaker correction software to offer a critical listening environment, and can be extended with a centre speaker and two additional height speakers – bringing recording to 5.0.2 Dolby Atmos.

‘I was working in new spaces and kept thinking about how great it would be to have a recording facility on-site,’ he begins. ‘This is where the idea for the mobile studio came to life. In the past you would have needed a huge production truck to achieve what we have with the mobile studio, but with the development of Merging Technologies’ networked audio, we have kitted out the small van with some ground-breaking equipment.’

‘We can create recordings with up to 120 high-quality audio channels anywhere, whether it’s outside or inside. This means that any kind of field recording can be captured in all spatial audio formats. Additionally, orchestras can break out to all sorts of interesting natural or artificial acoustic spaces. Recording musical pieces that have a connection to nature can now be captured in a forest at dawn chorus, for example.’

For recording in spatial audio, Oppermann uses Sennheiser’s Ambeo Cube with eight Sennheiser MKH 800 twin microphones mounted on a Grace Design Immersive Microphone Array. The microphones feed a Merging Hapi interface, which connects via a network cable to the a Merging Anubis in the van. With the network cable, the studio can cover distances of up to 100m distant from the vehicle.

‘It’s a dream of mine to create something like this,’ he says. ‘A lot of the time you’re completely limited to recording studios and concert halls, but I think there is so much more to recording music. I don’t think this only applies to orchestras either, if you look at electronic music you have a lot of compositions that use field recordings and I think the studio is going to offer an interesting way of contextualising music and taking it out into a different environment.

‘All of this would be impossible without technology from Merging. I can integrate it seamlessly into the van because it’s so compact,’ he continues. ‘If I was recording 120 channels without networked audio I would need a lot of cables, but with Merging I only need one. Using the family of brands together made a lot of sense when I was approaching this project. The audio quality is incredible, the system is reliable, versatile and easy-to-use, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve once we start working on more field-specific projects.’