Spatial Audio

17 Apr 2025

Episode 116 Fränk Zimmer (Sounding Future)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Announcement

We’re excited to announce the third instalment of the Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series. As always, the sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. We’ll be providing video demonstrations, spatial audio playback and an exclusive opportunity to interact with our expert guests.

We proudly present our guests from Amadeus, the Co-Founder and CEO – Fabio Kaiser, and the Co-Founder and CTO – Volker Werner. Amadeus developed solutions for acoustic enhancement for live music and speech in multi-purpose venues, concert halls or theatres. Amadeus Immersive Audio provides 3D sound source spatialisation and rendering with accurate localisation and envelopment for indoor and outdoor venues. https://amadeus-acoustics.com/

In this session, we’ll do a deep dive into the science of active acoustics and cover tools and workflows featuring the newly released ART platform.

Event Sign Up Page

How to access the content from our Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series? Head out to our page on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/immersiveaudiopodcast. The sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. The livestream contains video demonstrations and spatial audio playback with live Q&A.

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the media artist, curator, and founder of Sounding Future – Fränk Zimmer from Graz, Austria.

Fränk Zimmer is a media artist, curator, and festival organiser. Originally trained as a communications engineer in Luxembourg, he later studied musicology in Graz and Vienna. His work combines open-source software and hardware in sound and media installations, both in public spaces and artistic contexts. Zimmer also works as a producer and co-curator of ORF musikprotokoll, a festival for contemporary and experimental music. In recent years, his focus has shifted to 3D audio and the development of interactive, web-based listening environments. In 2024, he launched Sounding Future, an online platform dedicated to exploring current technical and artistic innovations in music and audio art.

In this episode, we bring the spotlight on Sounding Future 3D music streaming service, along with an online platform aimed at providing educational resources for composers and spatial sound community.

Fränk Zimmer LinkedIn

Sounding Future Official Website

3D AudioSpace for Streaming

3D AudioSpace Press release

Innovative streaming with the 3D AudioSpace from Sounding Future

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Show Notes 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 Mar 2025

Episode 115 Andrew Knight-Hill & Emma Margetson (University of Greenwich)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Announcement

We’re excited to announce the third instalment of the Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series.

As always, the sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. We’ll be providing video demonstrations, spatial audio playback and an exclusive opportunity to interact with our expert guests.

In this session, we’ll do a deep dive into the science of active acoustics and cover tools and workflows featuring the newly released ART platform.

Event Sign Up Page

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the University of Greenwich Professor of Music and Sound Arts – Andrew Knight-Hill and the Acousmatic Composer and Sound Artist – Dr Emma Margetson from London, UK.

Professor Andrew Knight-Hill is a composer and researcher creating works that explore the interface between music and sound practice. His works have been heard internationally in film festivals and contemporary music concerts. He recently composed music and sound design for the immersive theatrical event “Over Lunan”, which was nominated for Outstanding Cultural Event as part of the 2022 Thistle Awards for Scottish Tourism. He is a Professor of Music and Sound Arts at the University of Greenwich; leader of the SOUND/IMAGE Research Centre; co-director of the Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert Series; convenor of the annual SOUND/IMAGE festival, and director of the Shared Hub for Immersive Future Technologies (SHIFT).

Dr. Emma Margetson is an acousmatic composer and sound artist. Her research interests include sound diffusion and spatialisation practices; site-specific works, sound walks and installations; audience development and engagement; and community music practice. She has received a variety of awards and special mentions for her work, including first prize in the prestigious L’Espace du Son International Spatialisation Competition by INFLUX (Musiques & Recherches), klingt gut! Young Artist Award in 2018 and Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2019. She is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound at the University of Greenwich, a Research Fellow for the AHRC project “Audiovisual Space: Recontextualising Sound-Image Media”, and co-director of the Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert Series.

We dive into the meaning and functions of creativity in spatial audio across genres and disciplines, and you’ll hear a virtual tour of the University of Greenwich sound and music department facilities.

Andrew Knight-Hill Website

Andrew Knight-Hill LinkedIn

Emma Margetson LinkedIn

SHIFT: Shared Hub for Immersive Future Technologies

University of Greenwich

Loudspeaker Orchestra Project

Art of Sound: Creativity in Film Sound and Electroacoustic Music

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Show Notes

Survey

Credits

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

07 Mar 2025

Episode 114 Nomono (Part 2)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this two-part series of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel travels to Oslo and Trondheim to meet the Nonomo team behind the Norwegian start-up whose innovation in hardware and cloud-processing aimed to enhance spatial sound recording and post production workflow. In this second episode, we are going to discuss the importance of machine learning for audio, behind the cloud-processing and speech enhancement, talk about the unique Nomono spatial sound recorder design and sustainability policies for hardware manufacturing, and we’ll look into the company’s future roadmap and vision aimed at simplifying spatial audio production.

Kristine Snyder (CEO)

Kristine Snyder is the CEO of Nomono, a company dedicated to simplifying podcast and broadcast journalism production through intuitive hardware and software solutions. With a passion for immersive audio and the power of sound to connect people, Kristine leads Nomono in its mission to make storytelling as effortless and impactful as having a conversation. Kristine is deeply passionate about people and believes in the transformative power of great teamwork. She fosters a collaborative, trust-based and innovative culture at Nomono, enabling the team to push boundaries and bring groundbreaking audio solutions to storytellers worldwide. Before joining Nomono, Kristine worked as a commercial lawyer specialising in intellectual property, bringing a unique perspective to her role by combining strategic leadership with a deep appreciation for Nomono’s vision and technology.

Audun Solvang (Senior Audio Researcher)

Audun Solvang is an entrepreneur, innovator, and researcher with a deep passion for sound. With expertise in audio signal processing, microphone and speaker arrays, psychoacoustics, 3D audio, and room acoustics. His career spans roles in both academia and industry, having co-founded Nomono, where he currently conducts research. Audun’s work has focused on innovative approaches in microphone arrays, beamforming, and sound localization, contributing to a number of patents in the field. With a PhD in audio signal processing from NTNU, he is committed to pushing the boundaries of audio technology while actively shaping the future of sound in communication and entertainment.

Sigurd Saue (Head of Audio Signal Processing) Sigurd has more than 25 years of experience in audio signal processing, music technology and software development. His career includes pioneer work on sonification of seismic data for Statoil, the position as lead software engineer at Voxelvision and as team leader for seismic signal processing in Petrel/Schlumberger. In parallel he has implemented electronic art installations with internationally acclaimed composers and artists. He has served 8 years as associate professor in Music Technology at NTNU.

Ruben Åeng (Lead Audio Engineer)

Ruben Åeng is the lead audio engineer at Nomono, where he was hired in August of 2021. With 12 years of experience from Film and TV production audio, and postproduction, he is involved in many aspects of different teams at Nomono. Including QA, Growth, Content and R&D. For the last two years, he has investigated Ambisonics in particular, but also other immersive audio formats, and immersive media in general.

Iver Jordal (Senior Machine Learning Engineer)

Iver Jordal is a senior machine learning engineer at Nomono, where he ensures their speech enhancement technology delivers great audio quality. With over 20 years of programming experience, his background spans full-stack development, music technology, and a specialization in artificial intelligence. At Nomono, he blends traditional DSP techniques with cutting-edge AI while optimizing processing speed, so users receive their enhanced recordings faster. Outside of work, he’s a dad, vocalist, mountain biker, and demoscener.

Karoline Müller (Industrial Design Lead)

Karoline Müller is the Industrial Design Lead at Nomono, where she has been shaping the company’s products since joining in 2020. Starting as an industrial designer, she has contributed across various design disciplines, bringing creativity and versatility to the team. Over the years, she has played a key role in refining Nomono’s product experiences and design expressions. Passionate about lasting products, she led Nomono’s sustainability committee to drive conscious business practices.

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Show Notes

Nomono Website – https://nomono.co/

Nomono Sound Capsule – https://nomono.co/sound-capsule

Nomono Cloud – https://nomono.co/nomono-cloud

Nomono Spatial Audio – https://nomono.co/spatial-audio-with-nomono

Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/nomonosound

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/nomonosound/posts/?feedView=all

Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass

How to access the content from our Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series? Head out to our Patreon. The sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. The livestream contains video demonstrations and spatial audio playback with live Q&A. Keep up to date with our upcoming events, announcements and industry news by subscribing to our newsletter.

Survey

Credits

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

28 Feb 2025

Episode 113 Nomono (Part 1)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

Kristine Snyder (CEO)

Audun Solvang (Senior Audio Researcher)

Sigurd Saue (Head of Audio Signal Processing)

Sigurd has more than 25 years of experience in audio signal processing, music technology and software development. His career includes pioneer work on sonification of seismic data for Statoil, the position as lead software engineer at Voxelvision and as team leader for seismic signal processing in Petrel/Schlumberger. In parallel he has implemented electronic art installations with internationally acclaimed composers and artists. He has served 8 years as associate professor in Music Technology at NTNU.

Ruben Åeng (Lead Audio Engineer)

Iver Jordal (Senior Machine Learning Engineer)

Karoline Müller (Industrial Design Lead)

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Show Notes

Nomono Website – https://nomono.co/

Nomono Sound Capsule – https://nomono.co/sound-capsule

Nomono Cloud – https://nomono.co/nomono-cloud

Nomono Spatial Audio – https://nomono.co/spatial-audio-with-nomono

Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/nomonosound

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/nomonosound/posts/?feedView=all

Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass

Survey

Credits

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

23 Dec 2024

Episode 109 Kent Bye (Voices of VR)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass

How to access the content from our Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series? Head out to our Patreon.

The sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. The livestream contains video demonstrations and spatial audio playback with live Q&A.

Keep up to date with our upcoming events, announcements and industry news by subscribing to our newsletter.

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the philosopher, oral historian and experiential journalist Kent Bye, from Oregon, US.

Since May 2014, Kent Bye has travelled around the world interviewing the pioneering artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the field of virtual & augmented reality. To date, this effort has produced over 1500 Voices of VR podcasts. Kent is a philosopher, oral historian and experiential journalist helping define the patterns of immersive storytelling, experiential design and the ultimate potential of XR. Kent shares his unique perspective on the current evolution and future possibilities of XR technologies and we dive into the significance of spatial audio in immersive storytelling, arts and communication.

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Show Notes

Voice of VR Website – https://voicesofvr.com

Voice of VR Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/voicesofvr

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

Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/kentbye.com

X – https://x.com/kentbye

Survey

Credits

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

13 Dec 2024

Episode 108 David Ledoux (Société Des Arts Technologiques)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass

How to access the content from our Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series? Head out to our page on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/immersiveaudiopodcast. These sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. We go deeper by providing video demonstrations, spatial audio playback and an exclusive opportunity to interact with our expert guests. Our latest instalment features the Co-Founder and CEO of Atmoky – Dr Markus Zaunschirm, the Co-Founder and Lead Developer at Atmoky – Christian Schörkhuber and audio, director at VRelax – Jelmer Althuis! In this session, we cover spatial and interactive sound design for games, XR and web applications using cutting-edge authoring tools by https://atmoky.com/.

Keep up to date with our upcoming events, announcements and industry news by subscribing to our newsletter https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/.

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the Research Integrator in immersive sound at the Society for Arts and Technology – David Ledoux from Montreal, Canada.

Holder of a Master’s degree in composition and sound creation, David has spent countless hours experimenting with sound spatialization in the speaker domes at the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal. As a teaching assistant in acoustics, psychoacoustics, sound recording, and mixing, as well as a research assistant for the Groupe de Recherche en Immersion Spatiale (GRIS), David has acquired unique expertise while contributing to the development of SpatGRIS, an open-source software suite for sound spatialization. After serving as the Immersive Lead Audio, overseeing the operational integration of the new 93.5 channels audio system for the Satosphere and providing technical support to artists in residence, David is now working as a Research-Integrator in immersive sound at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), offering services and consulting in scenophony for various projects, both for internal needs and external partners of the SAT. David is also a Collaborating Member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Music and Multimedia Technologies (CIRMMT). David covers various immersive audio initiatives and projects under the SAT umbrella featuring the 93.5 channel audio system for the Satosphere and we dive into the concept of Scenophonic Spatial Audio.

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Show Notes

David Ledoux – LinkedIn

David Ledoux Instagram

David Ledoux Personal Website

SAT Official Website

SAT Projects

Scenophonic Spatial Audio Facebook Group

Survey

Credits

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

15 Nov 2024

Episode 107 Hans-Martin Buff (Music Production with Spatial Audio)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Announcement

We’re excited to announce the second instalment of the Immersive Audio Podcast Masterclass series. The sessions are designed to enhance your practical learning experience and are delivered by world-class experts. We go a level deeper by providing video demonstrations, spatial audio playback and an exclusive opportunity to interact with our expert guests.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immersive-audio-podcast-masterclass-with-atmoky-tickets-1058089757949?aff=oddtdtcreator

We proudly present our experts the Co-Founder and CEO of Atmoky – Dr Markus Zaunschirm, the Co-Founder and Lead Developer at Atmoky – Christian Schörkhuber and the founder of The Sphere of Sound, audio, director at VRelax – Jelmer Althuis! In this session, we’ll cover spatial and interactive sound design for games, XR and web applications using cutting-edge authoring tools. https://atmoky.com/

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the world-renowned recording engineer and music producer Hans-Martin Buff from Bath, United Kingdom.

Hans-Martin began his career at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, USA, where he made excellent coffee and then proceeded to hone his studio chops by assisting on projects such as Live’s million-seller “Throwing Copper”. Hans-Martin worked his way through various Minnesota rock’n’roll factories before he found a more permanent home at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, whose personal engineer he became and remained for four funky years. During this period, he wasn’t only responsible for His Purple Majesty’s recordings, but also for Prince’s collaborations with artists such as No Doubt, Chaka Khan and Larry Graham. Being a native of Germany, Hans-Martin Buff relocated to his home country in 2001, where he has since recorded, mixed and produced a host of national and international talent, such as Mousse T., Joss Stone, Zucchero, Eric Burdon, Roachford, Maxi Priest, the Scorpions…. Since 2018, Hans-Martin has explored the subject of 3D audio, especially for headphones. Hans-Martin is now considered an industry expert, and he is proud to help artists lift their immersive adventures to the next musical level. Hans-Martin is affiliated with msm-studios in Munich and Berlin, Germany, and with Real World Studios in Box, England, where he has recently shaped the Dolby Atmos versions of Peter Gabriel’s recent releases. Hans-Martin’s research focuses on the guidance of the musical mind from stereo to immersive in a recording studio setting.

Hans-Martin shares his perspective on music recording, production and distribution for spatial audio formats, and we discuss his recent work on the Grammy-nominated Peter Gabriel’s latest album – “I/O”.

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Show Notes

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-martin-buff-51835594/

Official Website – https://www.buffwerk.com/

Real World Studios – https://realworldstudios.com/

MSM Studios https://www.msm-studios.com/

Peter Gabriel I/O Album – https://petergabriel.com/release/i-o-2/

Pure Audio Streaming – https://pureaudiostreaming.com/

Survey

Credits

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

25 Oct 2024

Episode 106 (DOK Exchange XR)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel co-hosts the DOK Exchange XR annual podcast with its regular host and curator – Weronika Lewandowska. They are joined by a spatial audio designer and engineer – Aili Niimura and a spatial audio designer and co-founder at DELTA Soundworks – Ana Monte.

We discuss how to enhance human interactions through spatial audio and how to approach designing audio experiences that foster meaningful connections within immersive environments. Can spatial audio help create more collaborative or socially engaging XR experiences, how does the physical environment influence design choices and what are the challenges Ana and Aili face when it comes to the integration of spatial audio for immersive experiences that may involve both fully digital and speaker-based deployment and much more.

Weronika Lewandowska is the coordinator of DOK Exchange XR, a spoken word poet and performer with a PhD in cultural studies. She experiments with interdisciplinary forms of poetry, and her work has been published internationally and exhibited eg. at The Palais de Tokyo in Paris. She co-directed, wrote, and produced the VR experience “Nightsss”, which premiered at Sundance. She has served as an expert for the Committee for Innovative Film Projects at the National Film Institute Poland (2021) and mentors the Climate Challenge XR project for the European Space Agency. She curates innovative XR showcases, such as the “Embodied Realms” festival focused on XR and performance art in Poland and, the “XRossspace Showcase” in BFI London (2023). She writes and researches XR climate games for the Guest XR (AI RL Agent) research project.

Aili Niimura is a spatial audio designer and engineer dedicated to pushing the boundaries of spatial audio and AR/VR. Currently working on spatial audio prototyping as a Meta contractor, formerly driving Metaverse voice experiences at Microsoft Mesh, and spatial audio experiences and devices at Bang & Olufsen. Her focus revolves around end-to-end spatial design, aiming to bridge the gap between art and technology in these areas: Voices in the Metaverse, Spatial Audio Prototyping, Immersive Sound Design, Tuning Spatial Audio Algorithms, Audio Tooling for creators and Spatial Audio to enhance human interactions.

Ana Monte is a leading expert in spatial audio, co-founder, and sound designer at DELTA Soundworks. Ana specialises in creating immersive audio content that places listeners inside the story across formats like XR, Fulldome, and Themed Attractions. She draws inspiration for authentic soundscapes from her deep interest in different cultures and her experience as a sound recordist and sound designer for documentaries.

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Show Notes

DOK Exchange XR is DOK Leipzig’s networking and inspiration programme on interactive and immersive storytelling with a focus on XR works and the sustainable development of the international community of XR creators, producers and distributors. This year’s programme focuses on Spatial Audio and will take place in a hybrid form on 31 October and 1 November 2024. For more information follow – https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/dok-exchange-xr#-dok-exchange-xr-conference

Weronika Lewandowska LinkedIn

Aili Niimura LinkedIn

Ana Monte LinkedIn

Survey

Credits

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

06 Jun 2024

Episode 103 Nick Malgieri (d&b Soundscape)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

This episode is sponsored by HHB Communications, the UK’s leader in Pro Audio Technology. For years HHB has been delivering the latest and most innovative pro audio solutions to the world’s top recording studios, post facilities, and broadcasters. The team at HHB provide best-in-class consultation, installation, training, and technical support to customers who want to build or upgrade their studio environment for immersive audio workflow. To find out more or book a demo at their HQ facility visit www.hhb.co.uk

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the advanced system specialist at d&b audiotechnik – Nick Malgieri from Asheville, US.

Nick began his audio career working in the punk/metal clubs of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, he’s worked in concert touring, symphony halls, broadcast events, recording studios, and all other forms of live sound. 30 years later, he now supports Soundscape projects in North, Central and South America for d&b audiotechnik under the title of Advanced Systems Specialist. Nick is based in Asheville, North Carolina, the mountain town home of d&b’s headquarters for the Americas.

Nick talks about the d&b audiotechnik’s biggest shows and we dive into their new spatial audio rendering system – d&b Soundscape discussing hardware and software integration.

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Show Notes

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-malgieri-094aa655/

d&b Audiotechnik – https://www.dbaudio.com/global/en/

d&b Audiotechnik Soundscape – https://www.dbsoundscape.com/global/en/

Our Sponsors

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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

Credits

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

24 May 2024

Episode 102 David Lopez de Arenosa (Curious Immersive)

By Immersive Audio Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel and Monica Bolles are joined by the live sound engineer and immersive audio specialist – David Lopez de Arenosa from LA, US.

David Lopez de Arenosa is a live sound engineer and immersive audio specialist. He has deployed sound systems for some of the largest concerts and festivals in the United States such as Coachella and EDC Las Vegas, and has mixed front-of-house and monitors for many world-renowned artists across a multitude of genres. He is also the founder of Curious Immersive, a design and production company that brings immersive audio technologies to the live entertainment industry. Recent projects include the Sonic Sphere New York, the Polygon Stage at Wonderfruit Festival in Thailand, and many brand activations and fan experiences for companies such as Audible, Cisco, Warner Music Group and more.

David talks about the entire process of getting an immersive live show from the studio to the crowds, covering pre-production, different immersive rendering technologies, mixing techniques and sound systems.

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