

The problem here is that there are inherent limitations to this format. The ability to upload spatial audio to Facebook or YouTube is still in early stages as well, with both platforms providing limitations and differences from one another in what you can do.īecause of the spatial decoding available in the Ambisonics B-format, it has currently been adopted as a starting point for incorporating spatial audio in playable 360 media.
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If you have a Gear VR, you can download G’Player from the Oculus store for free, which is a 360 media player that has SOL integrated.Īs their rendering technology is compatible across all platforms, it is still making its way to HMD’s and media sharing platforms. SOL, the rendering engine that plays the GA5 format, can be implemented on the player side for the best spatial results. As always keep an eye on your master meter and provide ample headroom (at least 6dB oughta do it, as many devices that play back spatial audio get crunchy the closer you reach 0dBFS.)īecause of the differences in player platforms and codecs used, there also needs to be a renderer that can play spatial audio that is agnostic to these differences. I find even better results for levels by adjusting the distance slider in the plugin, which gives a true to life perception of distance.
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If an object is too loud, decrease the level of that channel with the gain slider in the master plugin (volume fader automation in Pro Tools is pre-binaural renderer and is therefore not included in the spatial audio file).

Because the end result is interactive, it is always a good idea to check how things sound by switching over to HMD view and moving the mouse around to listen. The biggest shift in sonic workflow deals with spatial positioning, which is dependent on the 360 video you’re working with. Solid editing, compression and EQ are still in effect, as well as utilizing any other DSP plugins at your disposal. This also doesn’t have to be recorded, it could come from sound libraries or layered sounds as you would normally source for the sound design of a film.Įverything else about mixing for video in Pro Tools is as it has always been. This can affect how we perceive the location accurately, which is where the reinforcement of the direct signal microphones, or “objects” comes in to play.Īny direct signal or mono recording that represents a visual component in a 360 video or other immersive media format can be placed in accordance with the action on screen. The image is less clear with often massive changes in frequency response (though not the changes in frequency response that our ears hear naturally when moving in a 3D field). Think of what happens when you start to move a sound source closer to a microphone’s null point. In the case of spatialization, Ambisonic microphones do a lot, but not enough on their own to create detailed spatial information. So if you have this amazing 3D Ambisonic recording, why do you need the lavalier mics as well? Just as with a normal mix, the combination of direct or close microphones and distant ambient microphones can sum together beautifully to create a rich spectrum of frequency content. Lastly this won’t cover programming environments like Unity or Unreal, but definitely be aware that these concepts very much apply to those environments! I’ll also be referring to the Pro Tools environment as it is commonly used, though emerging DAWs like Reaper are quickly becoming used for 360 production. Does producing 360 audio content mean having to learn something completely from scratch? Is it a considerable investment? The goal of this tutorial is to unequivocally say “No!” to all of that and provide a practical pathway to navigate this exciting new era of audio production.īecause of the multitude of directions one could go in when first getting into immersive sound, I’d like to focus more on the post-production aspect of 3D audio than the recording, as it utilizes tools that we most likely already have. Seeing as how the opportunities that are presented to musicians, producers, sound designers, engineers and virtually anyone who works with sound are growing as fast as the immersive media market, it seems like we have to filter through a mess of information to get started.
