![]() So unless you're close to average, some of this spatial audio stuff is just going to sound weird for you. Presently mass-market spatializing software only delivers you a few models of what the world sounds like to an average-sized person. It's based on physics and beyond the scope of this article, but the shape of your ears, their distance from each other, the size of your head, the distance from your shoulders all conspire to create the unique way you HEAR the world. Quick sidebar: Unfortunately, we all HEAR differently. You probably won't tell what tools are being used just by listening - but they all impart a certain quality. The various tools all have different ways of recording or computing the binaural output you hear. You'll also get a sense of what it sounds like. You'll find many design decisions are head-scratchers - like panning characters to the extreme sides for no narrative reason other than (Hey, look, I’m over here!) So it’s a good idea to listen to as much spatial audio as you can. But more often hear clumsy uses of the tools and techniques that don't seem narratively necessary. I've heard some great spatial examples where story and design came together to create a rich sonic experience. Over time, I've realized this has more to do with the design approach and craft employed than the tech itself. I often haven’t liked the sound of spatial audio as the main dish in shows I’ve heard. Second, writing for audio is hard - writing for Immersive use of Spatial Audio is still harder. First and most importantly - I haven’t worked on many shows whose stories called for full spatial audio treatment. The reason this has been my preferred approach is two-fold. But, even then, it was not the main dish - it was spice done for effect in an otherwise “normal” stereo production. I used spatialized audio in all my work (documentary and fiction) since Inside The Exorcist in 2017. But it's not always an all-or-nothing approach. On the surface, Fiction seems obvious, more than Documentary maybe. What kinds of shows lend themselves to the immersive use of spatial audio? At that point, the spatial results between the tools are minimal.Ĭraft and intent still rule the day regardless of the tools used. But even Atmos delivers a Binaural mix to headphones. In-person, however, like a theater with multi-speaker arrays, the 3D audio effect can be truly remarkable with several tools operating in that space.ĭolby Atmos has the most buzz presently. Technical aside: Headphones are the great equalizer of spatial audio as all the tools output a similar-sounding Binaural headphone mix to deliver the 3D effect. It doesn't matter if we're using Ambisonic recording techniques (Wolverine), Neumann Head recording (The Darkest Night), Dolby Atmos mixes (QCODE), or the many, many hybrid approaches (like I have used since 2017) if the story, the writing, and presentation don't lend itself to immersive USE of spatial audio techniques - simply putting sounds 360 degrees around our listener won't create more immersion for them. Tools and techniques come later when we ask and answer, “what’s our intent”? But story and characters are the main tools to build immersion - and then the treatment.įor me - the reason for nearly everything I do in design and direction has to be in the story. People get immersed in STORY and CHARACTER - the audio treatment of those components (like spatial audio) can enhance, detract or make NO difference to the kind of immersion the listener feels. ![]() So with that in mind, let's return to the question I raised in the previous article - WHY use spatial audio tools to tell your story? Will using these tools create that driveway moment for your listener? It might! But not only because those tools are being used. Think about it - is the person sitting in the driveway with the car running until they hear the rest of a story on NPR any less "immersed" than a person listening to a Dolby Atmos mixed audio drama? But, in the end, it's up to the listener to decide if they are immersed. We can use fancy tools to put sounds around our listener - or use the simplest method of talking into a microphone to create an immersive audio story. So I'm not going to bury the lede - Immersion is in the EARS of the listener. Welcome back! If you missed the first part going over the brief history of the tech being used to deliver "spatial audio" to headphones, please check it out below.
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