In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by the creative lead at Solarflare Studio Helen Bellringer via Zoom from London, UK.
Helen is a Creative Director, specialising in the dynamic intersection where technology, humans and music meet. Having cut her teeth at MelodyVR, where she developed their original storytelling formats she now leads creative for Solarflare Studio, a pioneering creative technology agency.
In this episode, Helen talks about the importance of sonic branding, the challenges of delivering immersive music to a mass audience touching on a number of unique projects and sharing her professional career journey as she traversed creative industries.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by the lead R&D audio engineer at the BBC Chris Pike via Zoom from London, UK.
Chris leads the audio team in BBC R&D and the BBC Audio Research Partnership. He is passionate about using technology innovation to enable new creative possibilities in sound production and storytelling. Chris has led the BBC’s work on spatial audio for several years, which has led to productions on major brands such as Doctor Who, Planet Earth II and the BBC Proms. He was director of sound on the BBC’s first public VR app, The Turning Forest, and worked with Björk to create an augmented reality audio guide for her exhibition at MoMA in New York. As part of his role at the BBC, Chris is active in standardisation bodies, working to ensure open interoperable technology for spatial audio production. He’s also completed a PhD with the Audio Lab at the University of York during his work at BBC R&D, on binaural technology and its perceptual evaluation. His thesis is available online.
In this episode, Chris talks about research and development work at the BBC, touching on a number of exciting projects, a collaboration between the industry and academia and his personal journey whilst completing a PhD program.
Pike, Christopher William (2019) Evaluating the Perceived Quality of Binaural Technology. PhD thesis, University of York – http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/24022/
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by Matt Neutra from Bose via Zoom from Boston, US.
Matt Neutra creates unique prototype experiences that are used as the stepping stones for production-ready experiences for retail and beyond. Since 2005 he has been responsible for product demonstrations that make their way to retail locations around the world. Matt’s primary responsibilities include the oversight and development of the diverse tools and workflows used to create world-class sensory experiences.
Matt scours the earth for the tools that will enable the impossible. When the tools don’t exist, they have to be created. Matt often has to manage external vendors to define and create these new tools. Matt’s goal in life is to never be the smartest person in the room, question everything in the pursuit of deeper understanding and get work done with joy and enthusiasm.
In this episode, Matt talks about two decades of working at Bose Corporation, Bose AR platform, unique features of Mach1 Spatial Audio System and the current market landscape of immersive audio formats.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by Mirek Styles from Abbey Road Studios via Skype from North London, UK.
Mirek Stiles started working at Abbey Road Studios as a recording engineer in 1998, working on a diverse range of projects including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Beatles Anthology, Muse, Kanye West, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Paul McCartney. Mirek also worked as a Digital Producer in the Abbey Road Interactive department on a range of Blu-ray titles including Roxy Music, Ringo Starr and Reservoir Dogs.
Today, Mirek runs the studio’s Audio Products department leading the development of a range of software and hardware releases based on Abbey Road’s historic recording IP with partners Waves Audio and Chandler Limited. Mirek also sits on the board and acts as an advisor on the Abbey Road Red incubation programme and is currently exploring and experimenting with Spatial Audio over headphones, ambisonics, spatial microphone arrays and game engine workflow. Recent projects include collaborations with film and video game composer Stephen Barton, joint research with the University of York and the University of Huddersfield and chairing the Abbey Road Spatial Audio Forum, bringing together members from gaming, broadcast, VR, music production and film.
In this episode, Mirek talks about the evolution of technology and his personal journey at Abbey Road spanning over 2 decades, Abbey Road’s own Tech Incubation program RED, and cutting edge research in Spatial Audio conducted as part of the Spatial Audio Forum.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by the DELTA Soundworks co-founders Daniel Deboy and Ana Monte via Skype from Heidelberg, Germany.
DELTA Soundworks is a sound production agency in the Rhein-Neckar delta region of Germany. With vast experience in 3D audio techniques, they create immersive sonic environments that place the listener inside the story, adding value to all kinds of visual media productions.
Ana Monte studied “Music Industry and Technology” at the California State University in Chico and “Film sound and Sound design” at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, bringing her experience as sound designer and film industry contacts into the team. For her work as a sound designer, Ana has received diverse sound awards including “Best Sound Design in a Drama Series” at the LA Webfest and a “Best Sound” nomination from the LA Film Review.
Daniel Deboy is a sound engineer graduate of the Graz University of Technology and brings his Know-How and experience in 3D Audio and Music Production into the team. Daniel was honoured for his fundamental research in the field of 3D sound reproduction with the “Student Award” of the German Acoustical Society DEGA. For his music recordings, he received gold, silver and bronze awards by the Audio Engineering Society.
In this episode, they discuss a few of their projects such as The Stanford Virtual Heart and mysterious VR game Blautopf, their favourite audio production techniques for immersive media and dome as well as their involvement with the Audio Engineering Society.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
Summary In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by Halsey Burgund and Francesca Panetta via Skype from the studio at MIT campus, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Halsey Burgund is a musician and sound artist living outside Boston. Both his installations and musical performances make extensive use of spoken human voice recordings as musical elements, alongside traditional and electronic instruments. Francesca Panetta is Creative Director at MIT’s Center of Advanced Virtuality. Previous to this she was a Nieman fellow at Harvard, and Executive Editor at the Guardian where she worked on immersive and innovations projects for 13 years, notably running the in-house virtual reality studio. In this episode, they discuss the evolution of their multifaceted careers, mutual collaborative projects such as audioar.org and “In Event of Moon Disaster”, and the importance of synergy between academia and professional practice.
Francesca Panetta
Francesca Panetta is Creative Director at MIT’s Center of Advanced Virtuality. Previous to this she was a Nieman fellow at Harvard, and Executive Editor at the Guardian where she worked on immersive and innovations projects for 13 years, notably running the in house virtual reality studio. Francesca is an artist and journalist and specifically interested in the intersection of sound, story and technology. Nine years ago she pioneered a series of locative audio guides using the GPS on smartphones for her company Phantom Productions. She’s interested in the way sound changes your perception of the world, first the real world and now virtual worlds.
Halsey Burgund
Halsey Burgund is a musician and sound artist living outside Boston. Both his installations and musical performances make extensive use of spoken human voice recordings as musical elements, alongside traditional and electronic instruments. He collects these voices from otherwise uninvolved individuals whom he records in various locations, from museums to street corners to rock clubs, via in-person interviews, smartphone apps and the internet. In many ways, Halsey’s work is a combination of socio-anthropological ‘research’, musical documentary and contributory experience.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
Summary In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by Dan Johnston via Skype from his home in York, UK. Dan Johnston is a third-year PhD researcher in the Audio Lab at the University of York. His research is focused on using spatial audio and virtual reality to help children with autism spectrum disorder cope with common everyday sounds that can often cause them stress and anxiety. He has developed a VR application that combines computer game mechanics, exposure therapy techniques and spatial audio rendering of problematic sounds to create a fun and engaging accessible therapy environment. In this episode, they discuss Dan’s research project SoundFields covering audio, game design, and the importance of virtual reality therapy as an essential part of intervention and aid for mental disorders and learning difficulties in the clinical setting.
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Show Notes
SoundFields is an interactive immersive experience developed to address auditory hypersensitivities in autistic children. It creates realistic and dynamic representations of problematic auditory stimuli using virtual 3D audio and incorporates them into a computer game platform. Therefore, creating a fun and engaging environment for exposure therapy. By using this technology therapy could become more accessible, improving the quality of life for the child and their family.
Johnston, D., Egermann, H., & Kearney, G. (2018, October). SoundFields: A Mixed Reality Spatial Audio Game for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In Audio Engineering Society Convention 145. Audio Engineering Society.
Measuring the Behavioral Response to Spatial Audio within a Multi-Modal Virtual Reality Environment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. By Daniel Johnston 1, Hauke Egermann 2 and Gavin Kearney 1.
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Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and included music by Knobs Bergamo..
This episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast is brought to you in partnership with our friends at Sonic Presence, the New York City-based wearable microphone start-up with a mission to democratize how immersive audio is recorded on the go. Whether you’re a regular concert-goer or a Youtube content creator, it’s time to take mobile audio recording to the next level. Immersive Audio Podcast sat down with the Sonic Presence team to share the brand story and the product they created as well as hear from early adopters sharing their experience of using this technology. In this episode, we’ll explore what goes into building a 3D microphone, how to make recording immersive audio more accessible, and the future of audio content creation.
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Guest Speakers
Russ Hamm, Co-Founder & President at Sonic Presence
Russ Hamm co-founded Sonic Presence in 2015 with the vision to improve the mobile sound recording, especially when paired with 4K mobile video. Russ has more than 40 years of experience with media technology, recording top musical artists, producing sound for films and developing leading-edge technology solutions. Russ founded Qmedia, a milestone provider that leveraged broadband opportunities for media customers using the newly built national fibre infrastructure, establishing network technology that is currently used by ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN and FOX. Prior to that, he collaborated with Bell Labs on large-scale digital systems for music and film and was president of Gotham Audio Corporation and G Prime Limited, a leading distributor of professional audio products. Hamm has led media industry engineering and technical organizations and twice received the Audio Engineering Society Board of Governors award for outstanding service. He is a member of the Recording Academy, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Chris Van Deusen, Co-Founder & Creative Director at Sonic Presence
Chris Van Deusen co-founded Sonic Presence in 2015 bringing 10+ years of graphics and web design experience to the startup. As Creative Director, he manages all company branding, develops print and digital media, ad copy and marketing assets. Van Deusen also contributes to product design and business development. Before Sonic Presence, Van Deusen was the Creative Director for Rainbow Broadband, where he oversaw all of the company’s marketing, PR, social media and website development. Van Deusen holds a degree for Communication Arts & Digital Media from Marymount Manhattan College. On the weekends Van Deusen plays the guitar and performs in the NYC-based rock band Animal Reporters.
Mike Dvorscak, Principal Sound Engineer at Sonic Presence
Mike Dvorscak joined Sonic Presence in late 2018 after a chance encounter at AES NY. As Principal Sound Engineer, Dvorscak plays a critical role in product development, acoustics research and prototype assembly. He also creates and edits video and sound compositions for the company’s online presence. Dvorscak has a degree in Audio Production and Engineering from SUNY Purchase and has performed on and/or produced a number of Indie pop records. In 2019, he founded Beachball Records – an indie record label based out of Brooklyn, NY.
Alex Hernandez, Marketing Consultant at Sonic Presence
Alex is an entrepreneur and designer based in Los Angeles with a background in AR/VR. He has focused on immersive technologies since 2015 and is currently working with Sonic Presence as a consultant for all things media-related.
David Solomon, Chief at Hi-Res Music Evangelist
David Solomon has been in the high-end audio field for three decades spanning almost every aspect. He’s a part-time musician and audio engineer and understands sound on many levels. Currently, David is launching his second Hi-Res streaming service: Qobuz. In 2014, he did the same for Tidal. David’s passion for music is deep and well known throughout the audio industry. David currently holds a board position on CTA’s audio board and consults with several well known audio companies.
David Weiss, Founder & Editor at SonicScoop
David Weiss is Founder and Editor at SonicScoop, a leading online media company reporting on the music, sound and recording industry worldwide. An internationally published journalist, David Weiss has been covering audio production for Audio Media and Mix magazine since 1999. His work has appeared regularly in publications such as Drum!, Time Out New York, Remix and many more online/print outlets on music and technology. He is also co-author of the book Music Supervision: The Complete Guide to Selecting and Licensing Music & Sound Design for Media, published by Music Sales (2nd Edition, 2017). Visit the companion site at www.musicsupervision101.com. He is also the co-founder of www.thesonghunters.com, a song discovery service for music supervisors.
Jim Anderson, Recording Engineer & Producer at Anderson Audio New York
Jim Anderson is an internationally recognized recording engineer and producer of acoustic music for the recording, radio, television, and film industries. His music recordings have received eleven Grammy and Latin Grammy awards and 27 Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations; radio productions have received two George Foster Peabody Awards and television productions have received two Emmy nominations. In 2013 and 2018, Jim won the Grammy for Best Surround Album (Patricia Barber’s “Modern Cool” – 2013 – and Jane Ira Bloom’s “Early Americans” – 2018) and was nominated for Best Surround Album in 2014 with Jane Ira Bloom’s “Sixteen Sunsets.” A graduate of the Duquesne University School of Music in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jim was awarded the music school’s first Alumni Achievement Award in May 2018. He is a professor with the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and was also the President of the Audio Engineering Society (AES).
Ulrike Schwarz, Sound Engineer & Producer at Anderson Audio New York
Ulrike Schwarz is a sound engineer and producer of acoustic music in the radio, television and recording industries. Her recordings have received multiple international nominations and awards: two Echo Klassik Awards, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenindustrie, Ars Acoustica, Diapason d’Or, a Grammy Nomination and many others. In 2015, the BRKlassik production of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” featuring the choir and symphony orchestra of Bayerischer Rundfunk, conducted by Bernard Haitink, received a Grammy Nomination for “Best Choral Performance.” Ulrike’s production of Gisle Kverndokk’s “Symphonic Dances” has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Immersive Audio Album category, 2020.
Bob Ludwig, Mastering Engineer
Bob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Ocean, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen and Daft Punk resulting in over 3,000 credits. He is the recipient of numerous Grammy and TEC Awards.
We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!
Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel, Alex Bragg and Michelle Chan with the help of Emma Rees and Haley Lerner and included music by Hair Fairlight, Mikey Geiger, Isaac Joel, Yung Koolade Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined in the studio by Amelia Kallman, who is a London-based futurist, speaker and author.
As an innovation and technology communicator, Amelia regularly writes, consults, and speaks on the impact of new technologies on the future of business and our lives. She is an expert on the emerging risks of The New Realities (VR-AR-MR) having recently authored a cutting-edge report for Lloyd’s of London. Amelia also specialises in the future of retail, AI and IoT. She’s lectured at Cambridge University, written a multi-award winning book, and directed the first burlesque show in 360° film. Her writing is often featured in WIRED UK, IBC365, and The Big Reveal, her popular monthly innovation newsletter.
Today, Amelia chats with Oliver about how she got into the XR industry, the risks of virtual reality, and how she advises clients trying to navigate the world of immersive technology.
We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!
Credits
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Michelle Chan with the help of Shane O’Hare and included music by Knobs Bergamo.
In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Alex Bragg talks to a variety of guests about the world of public VR centres.
This episode features input from four leading innovators in the VR industry: Mike Bacchus, Director and Co-Founder of Limitless-VR based in Croydon, Anthony Nixon, Director and Co-Founder of Interactive Pro Gaming, a chain of in-pub VR arcades based in London, Alexander Tsyurupa, Director and Co-Founder of DNA VR, London’s first VR entertainment venue known for its multiplayer gaming experiences, Michael Festa, Director of Distribution at Survios, and Cyril Voiron, Executive Producer of Ubisoft Escape Games, the video game developing company behind the recently released virtual reality escape room, ‘Escape the Lost Pyramid.’
Today, they discuss how VR is changing the way we socialize while gaming, reinventing the escape room experience, and being implemented in sectors far beyond gaming, in health, art, and education.
Survey We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: https://surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!
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Guest Speakers
Alex Bragg, Immersive Audio Podcast Guest Presenter Alex Bragg is a multimedia producer and journalist based in London, and a graduate of City, University of London. As well as producing podcasts, he has also produced video news content for London Live. When not writing, editing and presenting content for 1.618 Digital, he also makes his own news and politics podcast – the IntrePod.
Limitless-VR – Mike Bacchus, Director and Co-Founder
Established in 2017. The Limitless-VR entertainment centre is only one of a few in London and the South East of England. Our venue hosts 6 HTC Vive stations, driving simulator, retro consoles, table-footie and is available for private hire. Our hidden ‘V’ basement bar and events space (open Thurs-Sat) also has sofa areas each with a PS3/4 console which is free to use. We are quickly becoming known for our eclectic events, visual projections, theme parties and a host of DJ talent!
Interactive Pro Gaming – Anthony Nixon, Director and Co-Founder
IPG® are the global specialists in PubVR entertainment services, events and consulting. Launching in 2016, IPG® run the first and only independent Virtual Reality Arcade chain operating permanently in bars and pubs across the UK. Having served over 50,000 customers IPG® currently make up almost half of all VR arcades operating inside London and operate as one of the largest independent VR chains in the UK. IPG® has multiple locations from Central London to Brighton with plans to open additional locations across the UK by the end of 2019.
DNA VR – Alexander Tsyurupa, Director and Co-Founder
DNA VR is London’s First Virtual Reality Centre. The 3 co-founders started with their own funds as an experiment in a basement in North London, however, it rapidly grew into a mainstream attraction for both families and corporate clients. DNA VR is going to open at least one other venue in London in 2019. It began with an idea of bringing a more immersive Escape Room to the London scene, however, they later pivoted into a pure VR centre with VR Escape Rooms as one of the elements. At DNA VR visitors are completely immersed into another world where only their own imagination is the limit.
Survios – Michael Festa, Director of Distribution
Founded in 2013, Survios is an industry-leading virtual reality (VR) studio dedicated to premium software development, game publishing, and location-based entertainment (LBE) initiatives. At Survios, we build connected, immersive VR experiences with emergent interactivity and visceral play designed to expand the human experience and unlock our creative potential. Survios reaches a global audience through its critically-acclaimed games, the world’s largest VR arcade partner network, its flagship Survios Virtual Reality Arcade, and full-stack VR attractions and amusements.
Ubisoft Blue Byte GmbH – Cyril Voiron, Executive Producer Ubisoft Escape Games
Ubisoft Düsseldorf is home to diverse teams dedicated to delivering AAA excellence and innovation across a wide portfolio of games and technologies. The studio is the leading developer behind beloved games like The Settlers and the innovative VR escape room experience Beyond Medusa’s Gate. As renowned co-developers within the Ubisoft group, Ubisoft Düsseldorf contributes to high-profile projects such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Uplay.
This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel, Alex Bragg, Felix Thompson and Michelle Chan with the help of Abbigayle Bircham and Shane O’Hare and included music by Hair Fairlight, Mikey Geiger, Yung Koolade and Knobs Bergamo.
