Audio Postproduction

19 Jan 2024

Episode 94 John Johnson (HHB – Multi Channel Sound Systems)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the Chief Technology Officer at HHB Communications – John Johnson from London, UK.

JJ has nearly two decades of experience supplying and supporting audio-visual equipment for post-production facilities, broadcasters, and music studios, worldwide. Managing the Pre-Sales, Training & Technical Support teams at HHB Communications, his focus on technology includes assisting the widespread adoption of Immersive Audio such as Dolby Atmos and Apple Spatial Audio, and various implementations of Audio Visual over IP solutions – predominantly based on the Audinate Dante platform.

JJ covers in-depth the entire process of what it takes to install a multi-channel sound system, from small boutique production spaces to large-scale broadcasters and post facilities, covering the speaker set-ups, consultations, assisted installation and calibration along with associated challenges and opportunities.

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Show Notes

JJ Linkedin – www.linkedin.com/in/jajola

HHB Website – www.hhb.co.uk

Visit London’s premiere pro audio demonstration facility. Visitors have the opportunity to audition for an array of studio solutions including Dolby Atmos. The HHB team of audio experts will be available to help customers navigate all the options available today. Book an appointment – www.hhb.co.uk/demo-request

The Home Entertainment Dolby Atmos Room Design Tool (DART) – https://professionalsupport.dolby.com/s/article/The-Home-Entertainment-Dolby-Atmos-Room-Design-Tool-v6-0-0-is-Now-Available?language=en_US

Our Sponsors

Innovate Audio offers a range of software-based spatial audio processing tools. Their latest product, panLab Console, is a macOS application that adds 3D spatial audio rendering capabilities to live audio mixing consoles, including popular models from Yamaha, Midas and Behringer. This means you can achieve an object-based audio workflow, utilising the hardware you already own. Immersive Audio Podcast listeners can get an exclusive 20% discount on all panLab licences, use code Immersive20 at checkout. Find out more at innovateaudio.co.uk *Offer available until June 2024.*

HOLOPLOT is a Berlin-based pro-audio company, which features the multi-award-winning X1 Matrix Array. X1 is software-driven, combining 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis to achieve authentic sound localisation and complete control over sound in both the vertical and horizontal axes. HOLOPLOT is pivoting the revolution in sound control, enabling the positioning of virtual loudspeakers within a space, allowing for a completely new way of designing and experiencing immersive audio on a large scale. To find more, visit holoplot.com.

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: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

28 Nov 2023

Episode 91 SXSW 2024 Panel Acceptance Announcement

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

We have a big announcement to make – Immersive Audio Podcast are going to SXSW 2024!

We are hosting the panel “State of Play of Immersive Audio: Past, Present & Future”.

It’s been almost six years since we started the Immersive Audio Podcast and as we are coming up to our 100th release anniversary we wanted to mark this milestone with a special edition at SXSW 2024. With the hindsight of releasing almost 100 episodes, we’ve met a lot of companies and experts covering a broad spectrum of topics fundamental to our industry. This panel will highlight the key indicative developments that have defined the immersive audio industry for the past decade, reflect on the current trends and look forward to the future.

Our expert guests will feature Audioscenic Limited covering binaural audio over speakers on consumer devices and HOLOPLOT discussing spatial audio for large-scale immersive events. We’ll moderate the panel as well as discuss our own work in the space of interactive live performance in immersive spaces and spatial and interactive sound design in immersive media production.

Audioscenic – https://www.audioscenic.com/

HOLOPLOT – https://holoplot.com/

If you’d like to learn more about our panelists go to your favorite podcast app or our website and check out Episodes 75/76 featuring Audioscenic (Binaural Audio Over Speakers) and Episodes 77/85 HOLOPLOT (3D Audio – Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis).

Our audience will receive a comprehensive overview of what defines immersive audio as a whole in the modern multifaceted world of digital media. We’ll provide an overview of core technologies, formats and distribution platforms along with associated challenges and opportunities. Attentive audience members will get a range of unique perspectives from panel experts that can be helpful for education and business development.

This panel is aimed at Sound Engineers, Sound Designers, Musicians, Mixers, Gamers, Writers, Audio Tech Consumers, Academics, Immersive Content Makers and general Tech Enthusiasts…

If you’re planning to attend and would like to arrange to meet us, please get in touch via [email protected]

The panel will be recorded and released on our podcast channel as Episode 100th.

We’d like to thank all our listeners who voted for us and your continued support!

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Show Notes

Panel Details, State of Play of Immersive Audio: Past, Present & Future – https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/PP132288

Episode 75 Audioscenic Binaural Audio Over Speakers (Part 1) – https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/episode-75-audioscenic-binaural-audio-over-speakers-part-1/

Episode 76 Audioscenic Binaural Audio Over Speakers (Part 2) – https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/episode-76-audioscenic-binaural-audio-over-speakers-part-2/

Episode 77 HOLOPLOT (3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis) – https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/episode-77-holoplot-3d-audio-beamforming-and-wave-field-synthesis/

Episode 85 Roman Sick (HOLOPLOT) – https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/episode-85-roman-sick-holoplot/

03 Nov 2023

Episode 88 Dave Marston & Matt Firth (BBC R&D)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

This episode is sponsored by Innovate Audio. Innovate Audio offers a range of software-based spatial audio processing tools. Their latest product, panLab Console, is a macOS application that adds 3D spatial audio rendering capabilities to live audio mixing consoles, including popular models from Yamaha, Midas and Behringer. This means you can achieve an object-based audio workflow, utilising the hardware you already own. Immersive Audio Podcast listeners can get an exclusive 20% discount on all panLab licences, use code Immersive20 at checkout. Find out more at innovateaudio.co.uk *Offer available until June 2024.*

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the members of the BBC R&D Audio team Dave Marston and Matt Firth from the United Kingdom.

Dave is part of the audio team in BBC R&D, having joined the corporation in 2000. His role in the audio team is mainly involved in the development of the Audio Definition Model (ADM), Next Generation Audio (NGA), and standardisation. His main area of standardisation work for many years has been at the ITU, representing both the BBC and the UK. Over this period, he has been involved in the standardisation of the ADM, Serial ADM, and the BW64 file format, as well as other related standards and reports. Over many years Dave has worked closely with the EBU and currently chairs the AS-PSE group on personalised sound experiences. One area the group is currently working on is a production profile for the ADM. Past EBU work includes audio codec subjective testing, the BWAV file format, and other ADM-related projects. Dave has also worked on many collaborative projects over many years, some of which were EU-funded projects (such as ICoSOLE and Orpheus) and some were part of the BBC’s Audio Research Partnership working with Universities. The most recent area of ADM-related work Dave has been involved in is looking at its use in live production scenarios. This work has included a live trial of Serial ADM, the ADM-OSC protocol, and NGA codecs with the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

Matt Firth is a Project R&D Engineer in the Audio Team at BBC Research and Development and leads a workstream on the production of audio experiences. Matt joined BBC R&D in 2015 and has been working on audio production tools and workflows for the past 8 years with a particular focus on Next Generation Audio (NGA) and spatial audio. His work with the BBC has included developing spatial audio tools for live binaural production at scale for the BBC Proms and developing the production tools used for the ORPHEUS project which demonstrated an end-to-end object-based media chain for audio content. Matt has also been involved in standardisation work around the Audio Definition Model (ADM) through the ITU since 2019. He is part of the development team behind the EAR Production Suite which facilitates NGA production using ADM. Recently, Matt was involved in running the live ADM production trials for the Eurovision Song Contest. He also developed some of the production tools and rendering software used during the trial.

We talk about the Next Generation Audio for Live Event Broadcasting, covering aspects such as immersion, interactivity, personalisation and workflows featuring cutting-edge codecs and metadata for Audio Definition Model (ADM), Serial ADM (S-ADM), and OSC-ADM.

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Newsboard

Our friends at the Sennheiser Ambeo Mobility team are on the lookout for a Senior Audio Engineer, check out the link for more details – https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3725223871/

Show Notes

Dave Marston Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-marston-5231961/

Matt Firth Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-firth-mf/

BBC R&D Website – https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd

BBC R&D Blog – https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog

Live Next Generation Audio trial at Eurovision 2023 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2023-06-eurovision-next-generation-audio

The EAR Production Suite (EPS) – https://ear-production-suite.ebu.io/

L-ISA – https://l-isa.l-acoustics.com/

New AirPods Pro Support ‘groundbreaking ultra-low latency audio protocol’ for Vision Pro – https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-low-latency-audio-protocol-airpods-pro/

Razer is Releasing Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds for Quest 3 – https://www.roadtovr.com/razer-quest-3-noise-cancelling-earbuds/

Audiomovers release landmark plugin Binaural Renderer for Apple Music – https://audiomediainternational.com/audiomovers-release-landmark-plugin-binaural-renderer-for-apple-music/

SPAT Revolution Now Supports Audio-Technica’s BP3600 Immersive Audio Microphone – https://audioxpress.com/news/spat-revolution-now-supports-audio-technica-s-bp3600-immersive-audio-microphone

Sphere Las Vegas – https://www.thespherevegas.com/

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

15 Sep 2023

Episode 84 Alejandro Cabrera (Audio Brewers)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

This episode is sponsored by Berlin-based pro-audio company HOLOPLOT, which features the multi-award-winning X1 Matrix Array. X1 is software-driven, combining 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis to achieve authentic sound localisation and complete control over sound in both the vertical and horizontal axes. HOLOPLOT is pivoting the revolution in sound control, enabling the positioning of virtual loudspeakers within a space, allowing for a completely new way of designing and experiencing immersive audio on a large scale. To find more, visit https://holoplot.com.

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel is joined by the Audio Software Developer at Audio Brewers – Alejandro Cabrera from Athens, Greece.

Alejandro Cabrera is an Audio Software Developer and the Founder of Audio Brewers. Originally from Colombia, currently based in Athens, Greece. He studied Modern Music with an Emphasis in Jazz (Taller de Musics, Barcelona – Spain), BA (Hons) in Music Production and Sound Engineering (University of Wales), and MSc in Sound Design (Edinburgh Napier University). Alejandro has been developing audio tools for over 10 years, including his first Sample Library ‘kFootsteps’. While working at 8Dio Productions as a producer and later a creative director, Alejandro was involved in the development of over 100 Sample Libraries. Additionally, he participated in the development of the Sequential Dave Smith’s Prophet X/XL which won the TEC Award for Best New Musical Instrument in 2019. Alejandro founded Audio Brewers in 2020, the first company to develop Virtual Instruments recorded, mixed, and delivered in Ambisonics, for dedicated immersive audio productions.

We talk about their unique set of tools and features for spatial audio designed for a fast workflow for different creative applications and Alejandro explains his concept of impressionism in immersive audio.

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Show Notes

Alejandro Cabrera LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejocazu/

Audio Brewers Website – https://www.audiobrewers.com/

Audio Brewers Youtube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/audiobrewers

ab Encoder – https://www.audiobrewers.com/plugins/p/ab-encoder

ab PitchShifter – https://www.audiobrewers.com/plugins/p/ab-pitchshifter

ab Stutter – https://www.audiobrewers.com/plugins/p/ab-stutter

Audio for extended realities: A case study informed exposition – https://shorturl.at/gjxD3

Sound Experience Survey: Fulldome and Planetariums – https://www.ips-planetarium.org/news/632118/IPS-Sound-Survey.htm

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

15 Aug 2023

Episode 83 SXSW 2024 Panel Picker Announcement

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

SXSW 2024 Panel Picker Announcement 📢 “State of Play of Immersive Audio: Past, Present & Future”

With the hindsight of releasing almost 100 episodes, we’ve met a lot of companies and experts covering a broad spectrum of topics fundamental to our industry. This panel will highlight the key indicative developments that have defined the immersive audio industry for the past decade, reflect on the current trends and look forward to the future. Our four expert guests and moderators Audioscenic, HOLOPLOT, 1.618 DIGITAL, Monica Bolles will cover the key sectors: large-scale immersive events, interactive live performance, spatial audio for consumer devices, virtual training for VR and immersive media production.

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Show Notes

Please support our idea and give us your vote!

Voting link -> https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/132288

Voting Deadline Midnight 20th of August 2023.

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

14 Jul 2023

Episode 80 Mélia Roger & Grégoire Chauvot (3D Audio Field Recording for SFX Libraries)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the field recordists Mélia Roger and Grégoire Chauvot, from Paris, France.

Mélia Roger is a sound designer for film and art installations. She has a classical music background and has a Master’s Degree in sound engineering (ENS Louis-Lumière, Paris). She spent the last year of her Master’s in the Transdisciplinary Studies Program at the Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland, where she developed an artistic approach to sound, working with voice and field recordings. She is now living between Paris and Zurich, working in post-production for film and her personal art projects.

Grégoire Chauvot is a sound designer who graduated from the prestigious La Femis in Paris. Working mainly with cinema, he uses field recording to the foreground in his approach to film sound and never hesitates to leave the studio in search of new material. His interest in collecting unique and immersive sounds led him to develop in collaboration with Mélia Roger and HAL a recording rig designed specifically for Dolby Atmos capture.

Mélia and Grégoire talk about their collaboration with HAL Audio resulting in the development of a 7.0.2 audio recording rig designed to capture Dolby Atmos natively and the recent launch of the Urban Atmos SFX library for the multichannel postproduction workflow.

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Show Notes

Mélia Roger LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/m%C3%A9lia-roger-65474a150/

Grégoire Chauvot LinkedIn –https://www.linkedin.com/in/gr%C3%A9goire-chauvot-663864a6/

HAL Audio – https://www.hal-audio.com

Urban Atmos Library – https://www.hal-audio.com/product/urban-atmos

Urban Atmos SFX Library Discount Code – immersive30 (Expires on July the 22nd 2023)

Audio for extended realities: A case study informed exposition – https://shorturl.at/gjxD3

Sound Experience Survey: Fulldome and Planetariums – https://www.ips-planetarium.org/news/632118/IPS-Sound-Survey.htm

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

30 Jun 2023

Episode 79 Jelmer Althuis (Spatial Audio for Wellness)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the sound designer – Jelmer Althuis from Groningen, Netherlands.

Jelmer Althuis is the founder of The Sphere of Sound, audio director at VRelax and sound designer at Aku.World. With a passion for audio and technology, Jelmer has dedicated his career to creating immersive audio experiences for a variety of next-generation media. He is an experienced audio professional with a strong background in sound design and audio production. In 2017 he fully immersed himself in spatial sound design for VR and Art applications in particular. In 2018 he joined the VRelax team as audio director, where he mainly focused on the psychological effect and the influence of spatial sound on well-being. Having created a lot of spatial audio designs helping people to feel relaxed, combining audio and biofeedback techniques and several research activities, he has learned his skill on the job. He has a strong passion for the spatial audio format because he strongly believes in the added value of spatial audio experiences for eHealth & Wellbeing as well as for the digital arts and web3 applications.

Jelmer speaks about his work dedicated to wellness and relaxation through sound and we look at the recent proliferation of spatial audio in the E-Health product market.

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Show Notes

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelmeralthuis/

The Sphere of Sound Website – www.sphereofsound.com

VRelax Website – https://vrelax.com/en/

Audio for extended realities: A case study informed exposition – https://shorturl.at/gjxD3

Sound Experience Survey: Fulldome and Planetariums – https://www.ips-planetarium.org/news/632118/IPS-Sound-Survey.htm

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

26 May 2023

Episode 77 HOLOPLOT (3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the HOLOPLOT team, Segment Manager for Performing Arts and Live – Reese Kirsh and Segment Manager for Immersive and Experiential Applications – Natalia Szczepanczyk and the award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry. We hold a detailed discussion on HOLOPLOT’s technical hardware and software capabilities and talk about the recent David Hockney exhibition at Lightroom, where Gareth shares his experience in creating content and working with this paradigm-shifting technology.

Reese Kirsh has been working within the performing arts sector for over a decade in various roles, including Head of Sound for some of the largest West End and Broadway productions, before joining HOLOPLOT as Performing Arts Segment Manager. He’s very aware of the narrative around immersive and what it means to deliver the right tech to empower creative content rather than distract from it.

Natalia Szczepanczyk is the Segment Manager for Immersive and Experiential Applications at HOLOPLOT. She has a design and consultancy background and previously worked with loudspeaker manufacturer Genelec and consultancies Mouchel and Buro Happold. Natalia specialises in audio system design and acoustics for experiential audience experiences within the themed entertainment sectors.

Gareth Fry is a sound designer best known for his cutting-edge work in theatre and his collaborations with many leading UK theatre directors and companies. His work includes over 20 productions at the National Theatre, over 20 at the Royal Court and countless more at venues such as the Bridge Theatre, Old Vic, Young Vic, in the West End and many more. He has also designed events and exhibitions, from the V&A’s landmark David Bowie Is exhibition to being asked by Danny Boyle to design the sound effects for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and having received a number of awards for his work.

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Show Notes

HOLOPLOT Offical Website – https://holoplot.com/

Reese Kirsh – https://www.linkedin.com/in/reesekirsh/

Natalia Szczepanczyk – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nszcz/

Gareth Fry – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth-fry-32b8217/

HOLOPLOT Plan Software – https://holoplot.com/?/software/

Lightroom – https://holoplot.com/lp_lightroom/

Lightroom (David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) – https://lightroom.uk/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsIejBhDOARIsANYqkD269P44zmkGRBKcwg-hRQEfn8FckxGBcBRzJBxTcwxGjmWQ7Rdhl8AaAncTEALw_wcB

The soundscapes of Illuminarium – https://holoplot.com/applications/

HOLOPLOT Official Rental Provider – https://www.ct-group.com/uk/

Survey

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

20 Jan 2023

Episode 73 Arjen Van Der Schoot (Audio Ease)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

This episode is sponsored by Spatial, the immersive audio software that gives a new dimension to sound. Spatial gives creators the tools to create interactive soundscapes using our powerful 3D authoring tool, Spatial Studio. Their software modernises traditional channel-based audio; by rethinking how we hear and feel immersive experiences, anywhere. To find more go to https://www.spatialinc.com.

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the co-founder at Audio Ease – Arjen Van Der Schoot from Utrecht, Netherlands.

Arjen studied music technology at the Utrecht School of Arts. After which Arjen and 4 of his fellow graduates started Audio Ease in 1995. He was freelancing recording Classical music, Minoring in Classical guitar and majoring in software development for audio and music. Together they made about 10 products before their big break with Altiverb which became an industry standard. The 360pan suite came out of the fierce hope that an old affection – ambisonics, would now finally definitely make it, because somebody thought of it in the context of head-tracked VR, an application that requires headphones, in Arjen’s opinion the only medium it is perfect for.

Arjen tells a fascinating story of the creation of Audio Ease and the famous Altiverb and we explore the topic of convolution for spatial audio.

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