Immersive Audio and How to Achieve It


100% of music listeners prefer live music to recorded playback, why? A live performance "immerses" you and frees you up to move around the room, the dance floor and still be immersed. The goal posts have moved away from two speakers to an array of speakers all around as well as above you to reproduce the illusion of a LIVE performance. Why, in 2023, would anyone voluntarily use only two speakers to recreate this illusion of a live performance in a large room?

Even the artists themselves are using immersive audio in concert to WOW their audience, why not do it at home:

https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/venues/on-the-cover-las-vegas-takes-immersive-live-part-1

 

kota1

Technically, to record at 128 discrete locations would require the mixer to combine them faithfully in, what, 128 to what power number of ways to choose from? And with how many intermediate audio components to decode? Or, without mixing, then with 128 channels and speakers to reproduce? More than there are persons in a full orchestra? (Put a mike on every violinist.) It just seems to me to be a lot of marketing beyond man’s capacity to handle and make sense of... so, if there was ever a time to KISS?

On the other hand, I can certainly understand why persons without a system that provides adequate spatial realism would jump at any promises of possible improvement because they know their systems are lacking. And even audiophiles to check out any and all latest technological developments that could prove beneficial. "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good."

But I return to the point that all "stereo", preceded by whatever descriptive adjective above, still enters our senses in a stereo-solid two-ear configuration, attaining 3-D realism based on the distance between our ears and perceiving distance/depth by milliseconds of timing differences. That depth may be created via 128 channels or via a few milliseconds delay in a traditional stereo recording by the timing of the sound arriving at two-channel microphones. (Perhaps the biggest challenge in milliseconds/depth perception is that speakers' transient response still has the driver waiting to stop vibrating thereby masking the arrival of the secondary, tertiary sounds within the same few ms time span.)

That we have our own sound decoders in our infinitely superior mental technology that can still sense almost immeasurable discrepancies between live and recorded sound will likely always be unmatchable by any human-made technology and may never be satisfied by all our feeble attempts.

@hsbrock 

Technically, to record at 128 discrete locations would require the mixer to combine them faithfully in, what, 128 to what power number of ways to choose from? 

When I see the high channel account I think that is for movie theaters. If you check out the thread I link to above it lays out how most mix studios are setup in a 7.2.4 format and the highest count they generally use is a 9.6.6 format.

And even audiophiles to check out any and all latest technological developments that could prove beneficial. "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good."

This is why I think I adopted object based audio and not SACD, it was too expensive to buy new discs at $20-$50 a pop. Now, $ a month and you get everything? losless, hirez, and object based audio? Not being able to use it all is simply a waste if you are already paying for it in your subscription.

 

The Modern Rock Producer: Steve Wilson Interview:

At :45 min in the video below, "listen to records the way you used to listen to records, the way you don’t anymore" on getting people together in a great atmos or acoustics room and taking them on a musical journey. He laments over the fact that most people don’t have a proper 7.1.4 atmos setup so he sets up listening sessions in studios just so people can here it "proper".

Rick Beato Interviews Steve Wilson:

https://youtu.be/03vThmG46A8

 

 

The George Harrison Atmos remixes are breathtaking. When you hear George singing on "Give Me Love-(Give Me Peace on Earth)" it is like you never really heard him before. So close, so in the room with you, I think it is a combination of 21st century science resurrecting the original masters and then doing what object based audio does best, giving each sound a lifelike, textural quality in its own space, truly beautiful.

70's: Dolby Atmos on Tidal Playlist

The George Harrison Catalog Available in Atmos:

Dhani Harrison said, “22 years since his passing, for what would have been his 80th birthday, I am overjoyed to announce that we are bringing my father’s music catalogue back home to Dark Horse Records, the company he started back in 1974. We look forward to releasing only the finest of packages and hope the fans join us on the deepest of dives into our archives as we continue to grow his legacy through our partnership with BMG, starting with the release of his entire back catalog in Spatial Audio.

https://www.thatericalper.com/2023/02/22/george-harrison-recorded-catalogue-available-now-in-dolby-atmos/

So glad I do not even own a T.V. so I am a stereo guy. This thread is not creating many converts.