:00:32. > :00:38.If you saw our 360 shows lately, you may have noticed that while you can
:00:39. > :00:44.look in any direction, the audio was just mono. My voice did come from
:00:45. > :00:46.the correct direction in space and that is because it's incredibly hard
:00:47. > :01:10.to make 360 audio sound realistic. I certainly can hear something
:01:11. > :01:12.going on over there. And that is what the BBC R
:01:13. > :01:15.departments have cracked. You can hear the ripples
:01:16. > :01:17.of the water over there. They are still there
:01:18. > :01:23.when I turn around. The next few minutes are best
:01:24. > :01:37.listened to through headphones. There is sound coming
:01:38. > :01:40.from over there that makes me want Which raises one of
:01:41. > :01:44.the questions about virtual reality - how do you get them to look in the
:01:45. > :01:48.right direction at the right time? This was sound first,
:01:49. > :01:52.graphics afterwards? It was created to demonstrate
:01:53. > :01:54.the sound first. Its aim was to show how
:01:55. > :02:01.far 3-D sound can go. We wanted to explore what you can do
:02:02. > :02:04.with natural recording, so we tweaked the microphone techniques to
:02:05. > :02:07.try to get a compelling sense After making
:02:08. > :02:09.the multidirectional recording of a real forest, the team began to add
:02:10. > :02:19.moving 3-D elements over the top. So every sound on the left-hand side
:02:20. > :02:22.has its own symbol, which is We are watching where the sounds are
:02:23. > :02:27.coming from in 3-D space right now. The Turning Forest was originally
:02:28. > :02:31.made for a static listener. Making sounds come from different
:02:32. > :02:36.directions is nothing new. But for VR,
:02:37. > :02:38.the soundstage came from just two The sounds need to stay fixed
:02:39. > :02:47.in space as you turn your head. In order to check everything is in
:02:48. > :02:56.the right place, the sound mixer has That is
:02:57. > :03:11.actually really disorientating. When you have your eyes closed
:03:12. > :03:13.as well... That could make one
:03:14. > :03:20.feel quite queasy. You would be thrown all over
:03:21. > :03:26.the place! But that is not the end
:03:27. > :03:30.of the story. Just because the producer knows
:03:31. > :03:33.the direction the sound needs to come from does not mean they can
:03:34. > :03:37.make it sound like it is there. For that, the R team needed to
:03:38. > :03:41.adapt a technique that has been It is called binaural sound,
:03:42. > :03:48.and it is brilliant, trust me. If you have not put your headphones
:03:49. > :03:53.on yet, now is the time. OK,
:03:54. > :03:54.now you are listening in binaural sound, which is all about making you
:03:55. > :03:59.feel like you are really there. It is so much more than just putting
:04:00. > :04:03.certain sounds in one ear Right now it should really feel that
:04:04. > :04:08.I'm walking closer to you It gets better
:04:09. > :04:14.because I can walk behind you and it BAG
:04:15. > :04:42.CRINKLES LOUDLY Are you weirded out
:04:43. > :04:46.yet? Now you
:04:47. > :05:06.may be wondering how you The secret is
:05:07. > :05:16.in the sound recordist himself, Ed. He has two microphones hidden
:05:17. > :05:19.in his human-looking ears on That means he captures sound
:05:20. > :05:29.in exactly the same way that If something happens to one side,
:05:30. > :05:34.the sound will be quieter in the opposite side, and it will
:05:35. > :05:39.get there slightly later. It will also have been blocked
:05:40. > :05:42.by your skull, bounced around the room, and ricocheted
:05:43. > :05:45.around the cartilage on the way in. Because he looks like a head,
:05:46. > :05:51.he hears like a head. But so far, binaural sound has only
:05:52. > :05:59.really worked if your head stayed In VR, however, you get to turn
:06:00. > :06:08.your head in all directions. And that is what Chris
:06:09. > :06:10.and the team have sussed. They slowly rotated Ed while playing
:06:11. > :06:13.sounds coming from different directions, and then researched how
:06:14. > :06:22.the sound changed in his ears. Now they can combine that intimate
:06:23. > :06:25.experience of binaural sound with the free head movement
:06:26. > :06:27.of VR to create something Chris One of the team's main missions is
:06:28. > :06:38.to devise a standard way of storing all of the audio information
:06:39. > :06:40.so it can sound best on whatever So it can adapt to the system
:06:41. > :06:48.the person is listening on. So if they are listening on
:06:49. > :06:52.headphones with a VR system, you can If they have a 3-D system and a home
:06:53. > :06:57.theatre, you can give them surround sound with a high-tech experience,
:06:58. > :07:00.but we also need to be able to This includes allowing for dynamic
:07:01. > :07:14.binaural sound in web browsers. We can now stream it to
:07:15. > :07:17.our phones and computers. YouTube launched support
:07:18. > :07:19.for live streaming VR and support There came a time a few years ago
:07:20. > :07:39.when it seems that every action sports enthusiasts under
:07:40. > :07:42.the sun felt the need to strap on a Go-Pro camera and film themselves
:07:43. > :07:44.as they hurtled downhill. The problem is that
:07:45. > :07:47.since the company went public nearly two years ago, all of Go-Pro seems
:07:48. > :07:51.to be headed in that direction. After all, how many action sports
:07:52. > :07:57.enthusiasts are there in the world? Richard Taylor has been to Go-Pro
:07:58. > :08:00.in San Francisco to find out how the company is planning to arrest
:08:01. > :08:07.its decline. Over the past year or so Go-Pro
:08:08. > :08:10.has been on a more turbulent ride It's garishly clad founder,
:08:11. > :08:15.Nick Woodman, has had to deal with plummeting share prices,
:08:16. > :08:17.fleeing executives and failing to hit home with new products
:08:18. > :08:20.which have given even ardent Go-Pro Critics say it is losing its edge
:08:21. > :08:29.in delivering eye-catching innovation, while rivals are fast
:08:30. > :08:31.making up ground with Another challenge it has faced
:08:32. > :08:44.is competition from these things. Smartphone cameras are arguably
:08:45. > :08:46.better, more versatile and appealing to a mainstream
:08:47. > :08:49.audience than a standalone Go-Pro. That is something the action-cam
:08:50. > :08:51.pioneer is keen to address. So, Go-Pro in hand,
:08:52. > :08:56.I can survey a new landscape with Accessories-wise
:08:57. > :09:08.tie-ups with the big boys and Witness this integrated
:09:09. > :09:11.playpen housing to capture Other hardware allows creative
:09:12. > :09:14.remote control and access It is essentially a remote control
:09:15. > :09:26.in the palm of your hands. It will sync directly to your Go-Pro
:09:27. > :09:29.products and by doing that, you can use gestures to control
:09:30. > :09:31.functionality on your Go-Pro camera. I will tap my thumb to my finger
:09:32. > :09:35.and it will start by recording. Different touch points
:09:36. > :09:38.do different things. I will switch camera modes
:09:39. > :09:41.by touching this. Really, what we're trying to do is
:09:42. > :09:43.solve one of the biggest problems that you often
:09:44. > :09:47.hear when you are out on the side In terms of its development objects,
:09:48. > :09:53.automated editing of multiple cameras through to overlaying info
:09:54. > :09:56.on top of your Go-Pro's intro are They're also pushing
:09:57. > :10:08.into new territory, this weekend they launched
:10:09. > :10:10.a virtual reality production platform with cameras, rig
:10:11. > :10:14.and software costing a cool $5,000. VR production is still niche,
:10:15. > :10:16.begging the question of whether Go-Pro can find other
:10:17. > :10:23.products to entice more audiences. The last product launch didn't
:10:24. > :10:26.really hit home with consumers. What can you say to us in terms of
:10:27. > :10:30.innovation for the Hero Five or the I can't talk you much specifically
:10:31. > :10:36.about those products, but I can't say we learned a lot
:10:37. > :10:39.from the last product release. Perhaps the pricing was
:10:40. > :10:42.the thing that caught us a little off guard and we didn't
:10:43. > :10:44.double down with advertising. We know now we need more developers
:10:45. > :10:47.to help our ecosystem and we're very focused on that
:10:48. > :10:49.but most importantly, we just need to make it that much
:10:50. > :10:57.easier to reach a broader audience. Go-Pro does sport a very large
:10:58. > :11:00.fan base, but it has become clear Maintaining that elevated
:11:01. > :11:20.status is quite another. That was Richard in San Francisco
:11:21. > :11:34.and that is it for the short version of Click this week. You can watch
:11:35. > :11:39.the full-length version on iPlayer. See you next week.