AES Fall Convention 2022

This session will be followed by a listening session from 11:30- 12:00  in room 3D07

As the popularity of object-based immersive audio production continue to grow, the art of mastering has had to adjust to accommodate this rapidly expanding ecosystem. Currently, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio are the two leading object-based audio technologies in the world of music production. In the early days of these formats, the role of mastering was in question. As the demand for, and access to, these audio formats continues to increase, so does the need for a better understanding of the immersive audio mastering process.

Although the art of immersive audio mastering has been discussed among the AES mastering community, it would be highly beneficial for this discussion to be held with the broader engineering community.

The goal of this presentation will be to engage with the AES community at large in discussions on the aesthetics and approaches to mastering object-based immersive audio.

The presentation can include musical examples and visual references, as well as encourage audience questions, and interactive panel discussions.

At this moment in history, immersive audio music production is at a major crossroads. This presentation is an opportunity to explore and establish the role of mastering in object-based immersive audio music production for the community at large.

In recent years, various loudspeaker setups have been established for Immersive Music playback, such as Auro 3D 9.1, 11.1 and 13.1 as well as Dolby Atmos 5.1.2, 7.1.4 and 9.1.6. The number of loudspeakers has a major influence on the spatial resolution during playback. It is comparable to the resolution of a display: the higher the resolution, the more details can be displayed with it.

In addition to the spatial resolution of the loudspeakers, a comparably high resolution is also required for the content to be reproduced. If the resolution of the content is lower than that of the loudspeaker playback, there is a discrepancy. This is also easy to understand in the optical world: If the resolution of a graphic is significantly lower than that of the display, the graphic looks pixelated.

The resolution of the content essentially depends on two factors. On the one hand, the number of tracks in a music production plays an important role: The higher the number, the finer the sound patterns for certain directions can be worked out. On the other hand, there should be plenty of stereo signals to create impressive-sounding auditory connections between the loudspeakers.

During his workshop, Lasse Nipkow explains how spatial resolution can be used for music production and what this means for different loudspeaker setups. He does this using psychoacoustic phenomena and impressive sound samples.

This is a companion listening session to the presentation "Immersive Music Mastering - Approaches and Aesthetics", held earlier in the day.

As the popularity of object-based immersive audio production continue to grow, the art of mastering has had to adjust to accommodate this rapidly expanding ecosystem. Currently, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio are the two leading object-based audio technologies in the world of music production. In the early days of these formats, the role of mastering was in question. As the demand for, and access to, these audio formats continues to increase, so does the need for a better understanding of the immersive audio mastering process.

Although the art of immersive audio mastering has been discussed among the AES mastering community, it would be highly beneficial for this discussion to be held with the broader engineering community.

The goal of this presentation will be to engage with the AES community at large in discussions on the aesthetics and approaches to mastering object-based immersive audio.

The presentation can include musical examples and visual references, as well as encourage audience questions, and interactive panel discussions.

At this moment in history, immersive audio music production is at a major crossroads. This presentation is an opportunity to explore and establish the role of mastering in object-based immersive audio music production for the community at large.

The Immersive Disaster ... and its opportunities. Well, these days a lot of immersive formats are available, and will this be the end, or is something else on the horizon? Big questions and considerations are around like how to create, which tools are needed, where to mix, how to deliver, and do somebody pays for all this? The workshop will do a tour through all these tasks with short stops to elaborate on some issues.

Once upon a time, there was Werner Dabringhaus, a German Tonmeister, who thought, why not use four height channels. He did it and it was good. Then Wilfried van Baelen came a long and took over this idea from Werner, created Auro 3D, mixed Red Tails in Auro 3D in 2011 and it was good. Then 2012 Dolby comes up with Atmos...

...to be continued in this workshop.