Audio Engineering Society Convention Paper Presented at the 144 th Convention 2018 May 23–26, Milan, Italy This paper was peer-reviewed as a complete manuscript for presentation at this Convention. This paper is available in the AES E-Library, http://www.aes.org/e-lib. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this paper, or any portion thereof, is not permitted without direct permission from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Musicians’ binaural headphone monitoring for studio recording Valentin Bauer 1 , Hervé Déjardin 2 , and Amandine Pras 1,3 1 Advanced music production program (FSMS), Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), France 2 Quality and innovation department, Radio France, France 3 Department of music, University of Lethbridge, Canada Correspondence should be addressed to Valentin Bauer (vbauer@cnsmdp.fr) ABSTRACT This study uses binaural technology for headphone monitoring in world music, jazz and free improvisation recording sessions. We first conducted an online survey with twelve musicians to identify the challenges they face when performing in studio with wearable monitoring devices. Then, to investigate musicians’ perceived differences between binaural and stereo monitoring, we carried out three comparative tests followed by semi- directed focus groups. The survey analysis highlighted the main challenges of coping with an unusual performance situation and a lack of realism and sound quality of the auditory scene. Tests showed that binaural monitoring improved the perceived sound quality and realism, musicians’ comfort and pleasure, and encouraged better musical performances and more creativity in the studio. 1 Introduction 1.1 Studio recording with headphones Performing in a recording studio differs from performing in concert in many ways. There is no audience other than recording producers and engineers who listen to the music from the control room as intermediaries between the artists and their future audience [1][2]. Depending on the needs of the recording sessions and studio layout, musicians often play while separated acoustically from each other to avoid the leakage of sound from other instruments in their microphones. While acoustic separation frees them from adapting their level and sound texture to others’, it forces them to rely on monitoring systems to perform together. Recording studios commonly offer a choice of closed or open headphones, or in-ear monitors, with or without individualized mixes. Despite this diversity of available technology, musicians often report negative experiences with monitoring systems, e.g. [3], including feeling discomfort, poor sound quality or a lack of connection among ensemble members that is particularly precarious in musical genres with mainly acoustic instruments, and/or non-stable rhythmic arrangements. We thus propose a solution using binaural technology to solve musicians’ monitoring challenges while performing in studio in the contexts of world music, jazz and free improvisation. 1.2 Binaural monitoring in the control room Previous studies highlighted the benefits of binaural monitoring. Glasgal [4] advocated for musicians’ binaural monitoring in the control room during the recording and the mixing process, as a binaural auditory scene can overcome the limits of stereo and 5.1 systems with regards to the realism of the experience and the precision of audio cues. Pellegrini et al. [5] demonstrated the relevance of