3D Audio Machu Picchu Hike (Wear Headphones) - Smarter Every Day 68A

Hey, it's me Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. This is Gordon. He's been doing the sound for Smarter Every Day for years. This is the first time we've met, but it's in Peru. Pretty crazy—it's awesome. He's from Canada.

So what are we doing here? "We're fitting you up with binaural microphones." So I want you to put that in your ear. I'm gonna get you some windscreens, which make you look extra good. "What are binaural microphones?"

"Binaural microphones are stereo microphones that take into account the fact that you have a head, which most stereo microphones do not. So your head is a big frequency filter, and if a sound goes in this ear, not all the same frequencies are going to reach this ear."

"In the same way, or at the same... "That's because of the fatness of my head, right?" "You're very fat." [laughs] "Umm, they're not gonna... There'll be a time delay and there will be a frequency change."

"That's awesome. So I did a back of the envelope calculation. If I have a sound coming in from the left it's a 500 microsecond delay before it gets to my other ear. And they should be able to hear that?"

"They should be able to hear that as if it's surround sound. If you put your headphones on."

"Oh ok. So go throw your headphones on and we're gonna walk around Machu Picchu. The reason we're gonna do this is because Jeff's up here taking the highest resolution photo of Machu Picchu that's ever taken in a panoramic form and I'm trying to be productive with the time, so go put headphones on, right?"

"Right."

"Alright. Here we go. Let's go check it out." (Voiceover) "Wait a second, this is Gord. We have to make sure that your headphones are on correctly, or it will ruin EVERYTHING. So let's test your left ear, right ear, left ear, right ear, left ear, perfect. Go."

(Girl in Peruvian Spanish) "Thanks."

(Destin) "You want a photo?"

"Perfect."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

(Male in Spanish) "Let's sit."

(Man walking by) "From here go to... Australia..."

(Woman walking by) "From here go to Australia and then go to Asia?"

(Destin in Spanish) "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

(Destin) "Is good? You want another one?"

"No. Is perfect."

"Perfect? Thank you very much. Have a good one."

(Man in Spanish) "Hello."

(Destin in Spanish) "Hello."

(Guy in Argentine Spanish) "We have to check the trains schedule, right?"

(Woman in Argentine Spanish) "Yes, it's ready."

"Ok, so the trains schedule, and then we go catch the bus and we're good."

"Yes, cause it doesn't matter which one we take, right?"

(Destin in Spanish) "Excuse me."

(Man in Spanish) "The Word of God is like the rain. It bears fruit. Calm."

(Woman in Spanish) "Stay close to the rock, stay close to the rock."

(Man in Spanish, pointing upwards) "We're going up there, right?"

(Man in Spanish) "Hey, hey, hey. It's not permitted."

(Destin) "So it's against the rules?"

(Destin) "So apparently I was in somewhere I wasn't supposed to be."

(Man in Japanese) "But there's nothing inside here. That's due to the type of people that worked on this area. The people working here were important. Well, they weren't 'important'... They worked for the princesses of the sun. And you'll see that there are more steps here in more of a trapezoidal shape. This means that they're attached to a more narrow area..."

(Destin) "What's up man?"

(Destin in Spanish) "Crazy?"

(Destin) "Hello, how are you?"

"Fine, how are you?"

"I'm well. How are you?"

"Have a nice trip."

"Thank you, and you."

(Man) "Wow nice." [laugh]

(Destin, voice echoing in cave) "Well, it doesn't go anywhere. It closes off; I don't know if the camera can see that. Doesn't look like this was on purpose, though. That's a good cornerstone went there, once upon a time."

"If my wife was here, I would kiss her right there. This is pretty cool. They terrace it off like this so that they can farm. If the grade's super steep—like that over there—you can't farm, but if you terrace it off you can. It's pretty awesome. They said they had enough farming space to feed more than four times the capacity, people-wise, of Machu Picchu."

"What? Seriously?"

"Wow. If you're hearing me breathing hard it's because I am. Heh, a broom. Check out the stones above the windows. It's pretty heavy."

"So what do you think this was for? Keeping a vase or something here?"

(Destin in Spanish) "Goodbye."

(Woman in Spanish) "How do you fire the flash?"

"What? Flash? Sorry, my Spanish is very bad."

"How do you do it?"

"I don't have a flash."

"... Picture?"

"Yes. Is it good?"

"It's good."

"Oh wow."

(Tour guide in Spanish) "A few minutes of explanation, then some pictures, ok? Hi walking camera."

(Destin in Spanish) "Hi."

(Destin) "Hey, is the red light still blinking up here?"

"Yep."

"Great."

(Destin) "How's it going? Oh, man, they even had running water!" [laugh]

(Destin) "How's it going?"

(Woman) "Hey! Good, good."

(Destin) "Is that a Red Sox fan?"

"No..."

"Nope?" [laugh]

"I'm in some jungle now."

(Destin in Spanish) "Good afternoon."

(Woman in Spanish) "Good afternoon."

(Destin in Spanish) "Funny?" [laugh]

(Destin) "Hello."

(Women) "Hello."

(Destin) "Oh, llamas."

(Man in Brazilian Portuguese) "Over there people are climbing down."

(Destin) "Excuse me."

(Man in Spanish) "Hey look. Look at the mister with the camera, look at his camera."

(Destin in Spanish) "Hi."

(Kid in Spanish) "Why is he carrying a camera?"

"Llamas are bigger than I thought. Here, you want some grass?" [laugh]

(Man in Spanish) "Greetings."

"So apparently I wasn't supposed to walk across that field like I did earlier."

(Woman) "Hi. Um... That is not the way. Hello? Hello? It's not the way."

(Destin) "It's the wrong way. Yes. Thank you."

"Go ahead. You first."

(Man in broken English) "Mister please, it's down, it's going down."

(Destin in Spanish) "That way?"

(Destin) "I'm in trouble again."

(Destin in Spanish) "Which direction, Sir?"

(Destin) "Yeah I'm in trouble again."

(Destin in Spanish) "Which direction, Sir?"

"Yes. There? How many years have you worked here?"

(Man in Spanish) "8 months, nothing more."

"8 months? Only 8 months!? Nine?"

"Is it fun?"

"Yes, yes."

"Which part is your favourite?"

"All of it!"

"Everything? The people?"

"Good, thank you."

(Destin in Spanish) "Hello."

(Man in Spanish) "Hello."

(Man in German) "There he is again!"

(Man in Spanish) "Speak English?"

"Sorry?"

(Destin in Spanish) "Yes."

(In English) "Do you just push a button for that?"

"Yeah. I'm getting audio. Just like I hear it. And this is a camera."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's awesome."

"It's pretty cool."

"A lot better than this."

"No, no, no! It'll be on YouTube, Smarter Every Day."

"Smarter Every Day."

"Yeah, check it out."

"Okay I'll do that."

"Where you from?"

"Kansas City, Missouri."

"Cool, I'm from Alabama."

"Alabama?"

"Yeah, with a banjo on my knee."

"Alrighty!"

"Take it easy!"

"Smarter Every Day?"

"Yep!"

"Okay, I'll do that."

[Women cat calling]

"Getting cat calls."

(Man in Spanish) "Camera? That's a camera?"

(Destin in Spanish) "On my head, yes."

(Man in English) "Haha, it's very curious, I never saw one like this."

(Destin) "Yes."

"Where are you from?"

"Alabama, America, Estados Unidos."

"Wow. Wonder place."

(Destin in Spanish) "Yes."

"Oh, this is bigger. Wow. I'd sleep in there. It's like a fort."

"The Incas were very advanced in their ladder technology."

"So I have to get up there. Where the cameras are. I see the Gigapan sweeping... So... Wrong way."

"You can see without mortar, just the stone on the stone, the high quality of the construction. The Inca used..."

"That's a big rock."

"Well, this concludes your Machu Picchu experience. We saw llamas, we got whistled at by girls, which never happens. That actually happened."

"You got whistled at?"

"Yeah, that never happens."

"You should wear that everywhere."

"I told them. I was like, look, I'm married. None of that. Cut it out. But it was awesome, so I hope you enjoyed it. Get smarter every day; please subscribe. Have a good one."

"Check out the thing on my head!" [laughs]

"Whoo! That was harder to do... Hey, I walked across the... I actually walked across the green plaza. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to."

"Right in the middle of it?"

"Yeah, I walked across the plaza, I just jumped straight down. They weren't happy about that. I got screamed at."

"Really? That green plaza? You can't go across?"

"Apparently not, but the entire internet gets to experience it now." [laughs]

"Hey, it's a Smarter Every Day Exclusive."

"Yeah. You get to walk across the green plaza at Machu Picchu yourself."

[Music]

[Captions by Andrew Jackson] captionsbyandrew.wordpress.com

With a lot of assistance and translation from Destin's viewers.