Category: Virtual-reality tour

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Google Arts And Culture 

Blog Post

Virtual Tour – 10 Downing Street

My Comments

One of the most important halls of power in the world has been 10 Downing Street, where the British Prime Minister lives and the most important rooms of this place have been taken further with Google’s virtual-reality tour.

Here, Google had made this place, normally off-limits to the public, available in a manner that you can browse around the public rooms associated with Britain’s political life, especially where they were underscored by two key Prime Ministers – Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher.

It works just as well with your regular computer or a mobile device and you can enjoy this with the Google Cardboard virtual-reality viewer. If you use a regular computer that doesn’t implement a touch screen, you can get a similar benefit using a scrollwheel-enabled mouse or a multitouch-capable trackpad. Here you can zoom in on some of the pictures in the rooms or the Grand Staircase using that zoom gesture for the touchscreen or multitouch-capable trackpad or operate the scrollwheel on your mouse.

Anyone who is studying British history or the politics associated with countries that follow the Westminster system should have a look at this virtual-reality tour that underscores where one of the most important politicians has always lived.

Article

Opening The Doors To The World-Famous Abbey Road Studios | Google Blog

Google invites the web into Abbey Road | GadgetGuy

Interactive Video

My Comments

Google has made available a virtual reality tour of the well-known Abbey Road Studios in London.

But what are these studios all about? Most likely, if you have a significant pop or rock recorded-music collection, you may have a significant number of albums or songs that were recorded or mixed at these studios. Some of your movies or games may have had their music scores done here as well.

These studios have been where a lot of popular albums have been recorded or mixed and where a lot of Britain’s well-known rock artists like the Beatles have recorded their iconic recordings. Examples of these include “Revolver” and “Abbey Road” by the Beatles, “Dark Side Of The Moon” and “Wish You Were There” by Pink Floyd, “I Robot” and “Eye In The Sky” by Alan Parsons Project.

There was even that famous album cover on the “Abbey Road” album with the members of The Beatles crossing that zebra crossing on Abbey Road that is outside the studio, with it becoming a tourist attraction especially for Beatles fans.

Even some of the recording techniques used to provide a “full” sound out of fewer instruments like chorusing, flanging or phasing have been improved upon here courtesy of this studio trying out and implementing automatic double-tracking as part of session recording.

But Google has not just put together a virtual-reality tour or interactive video of these famous recording studios. Here, they have provided the ability for you to try out mixing music on a virtual mixer as well as watching videos and browsing photos regarding the studio, the artists who have recorded here and the recordings laid down here. This also shows you how they get your music right so you can appreciate it better.

I would suggest that you don’t use your laptop’s speakers for this experience but use a good set of headphones or speakers to enjoy this experience. As well, make full use of the sound-tuning options that your laptop or tablet have been equipped with to treat your ears.