Abstract
Multichannel audio offers significant advantages for
music reproduction, including the ability to provide better
localization and envelopment, as well as reduced imaging
distortion. On the other hand, multichannel audio is a demanding
media type in terms of transmission requirements. Often,
bandwidth limitations prohibit transmission of multiple audio
channels. In such cases, an alternative is to transmit only one
or two reference channels and recreate the rest of the channels
at the receiving end. Here, we propose a system capable of
synthesizing the required signals from a smaller set of signals
recorded in a particular venue. These synthesized “virtual”
microphone signals can be used to produce multichannel recordings
that accurately capture the acoustics of that venue. Applications
of the proposed system include transmission of multichannel audio
over the current Internet infrastructure and, as an extension of
the methods proposed here, remastering existing monophonic and
stereophonic recordings for multichannel rendering.