Spatial sound technology that uses headphones to reproduce the sound field environment of the studio
Sony Corporation (“Sony“) announced the launch of its measurement service and dedicated software for the 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (“360VME”), a spatial sound technology that uses headphones to reproduce the sound field environment of a reference studio with high precision. As spatial sound content is increasing in music, movies, and games, the monitor environment of production studios is becoming multi-channel. Conventionally, the production of spatial sound content was generally done in studios equipped with multi-speaker environments, and the number of compatible studios was limiting. 360VME supports creators by reproducing the sound field of a multi-channel studio with headphones so that they can create spatial sound content from virtually anywhere.
With the measurement service, creators can accurately measure their hearing characteristics in the studio and create customized 360VME profile data. Using the profile data and dedicated software, the headphones virtually reproduce the sound field environment of the studio. This enables users to produce studio-quality spatial sound content such as “360 Reality Audio1” in almost any location. Sony partners with three influential studios in the United States and Japan, and each studio will start providing measurement services and dedicated software expected in June.
In addition, Sony‘s MDR-MV1, an open-back monitor headphone planned to be newly released, will maximize the performance of the 360VME, and by using them together, creators can reproduce the sound field environment of the studio with even higher precision.
The measurement services at three studios in the United States and Japan
A measurement service will be provided for creating personalized 360VME profile data and will be available expected in June from three studios in the United States and Japan: The Hit Factory (New York), Gold Diggers Sound (Los Angeles), and MIL Studio (Tokyo). Sony will continue to work to provide measurement services at various studios.
“With 360VME, creators can freely paint a 3D canvas, even with headphones,” said Tatsuya Maeda, President and CEO of Media Integration, Inc. “The ability to express music as a spatial scene at each stage of composition, arrangement, mixing, etc., is one of the goals of music production. MIL Studio is a cutting-edge studio capable of providing an omnidirectional sound field. We hope that creators will experience a new world of music together with the 16-channel sound field of MIL Studio reproduced by 360VME.”
Provision of dedicated software
Dedicated software to render spatial sound content for headphones using 360VME profile data will be available (provided by each studio after the measurement service is implemented at the studio) around the June timeframe. The software works in conjunction with the Digital Audio Workstation software and “360 WalkMix Creator” (Plug-in software from Audio Futures, Inc. that enables the production of 360 Reality Audio content on major Digital Audio Workstations. Click here for details) to virtually reproduce the sound field environment of the studio with headphones.
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