In the ever-evolving world of audio, a technology has emerged that redefines the way we experience music: Immersive Audio. If you take a look behind the scenes, you quickly realize that the creative drive behind the innovations in music comes from the sound engineers. Their work has tirelessly paved the way for technologies such as Dolby Atmos.
The evolution of sound
Today, innovations such as AURO-3D and Dolby Atmos have established themselves as outstanding representatives of immersive audio technology. Dolby Atmos was initially introduced in cinemas to give viewers the feeling of being in the middle of a movie, but it has since expanded into the realm of music, creating a breathtakingly immersive soundscape for music lovers.
The magic of Dolby Atmos lies in its ability to overcome the limitations of conventional channels and place and move sound anywhere in a three-dimensional space.
A glimpse behind the scenes
At the heart of Dolby Atmos and immersive audio are the sound engineers: those who have dedicated their careers to perfecting immersive sound. With their deep understanding of acoustics, associated technology and music, they create soundscapes that put the listener directly into the music instead of “just” hearing it.
Sound engineers are the pioneers of immersive sound, experimenting with new techniques and pushing the boundaries of known audio production, but they are also the ones responsible for its dissemination.
Because even today, hardly any artists know about immersive sound – and many of those who do often still see it as a kind of “gimmick” that can be added as a remix to the actual album. The artists who are enthusiastic about immersive audio today were often invited by sound engineers themselves and convinced to reinvent their works with demonstrations and sound samples.
Because as you can imagine, most artists are excited by the opportunity to make their music more immersive and find more ways to take their creative vision to the highest possible level, if only they were offered it.
And this is where the real art of sound engineering begins: Immersive audio is not just a technical endeavor, but actually a complex dance between art and technology. Sound engineers play a crucial role in balancing these elements, ensuring that the original essence of the music is preserved in the mix – while making it sound as good as possible.
In our upcoming series of interviews, we want to put sound engineers in the spotlight and shed some light on the background to their work:
Where do they see the biggest challenges in establishing immersive audio as a conventional music format, what technologies do they use for their creative work and what exactly does this look like? Can we expect formats like Dolby Atmos to become the new stereo? And how exactly did you go about making Immersive Sound better known and bringing it to people?
You can find out all this and more in the upcoming series on our blog – subscribe to our newsletter if you don’t want to miss an interview!
