Live sound: Enhancing the audio
David Bowie is... at the V&A, with 3D sound created by Sennheiser’s Gregor Zielinsky
Tabaluga, where the complex stage configuration had to change to suit each arena venue’s dimensions and audience layout. At the Royal Albert Hall in London, TiMax audio localisation has featured in Bobby Aitken’s sound designs for over a dozen years and is set to return again in February 2014, dispelling any notion that localised audio may be simply a gimmick. “Usually people are excited
about 3D audio the moment they hear it, not needing time to get used to it,” adds Iosono’s Katja Lehmann. A newer kid on the surround audio block (the company’s first processor was released in 2011), Iosono “started with a lot of cinema and permanent installations but noticed a growing demand for 3D audio solutions for live and event installations in the past year”. At Prolight + Sound in
Frankfurt this year, Berlin- based phase7’s production of Neither – the “world’s first 3D
“Usually people are excited about 3D audio the moment they hear it, not needing time to get used to it” Katja Lehmann, Iosono
Not a gimmick: TiMax audio localisation at last year’s Royal Albert Hall production of Aida
of ears to enjoy – and is seemingly enjoying a surge in popularity. Just don’t confuse it with ‘localised’ or surround audio: “Surround is not 3D. It’s only when you add height speakers to the system that you have a real third dimension,” says Gregor Zielinsky, international recording applications manager and audio specialist at Sennheiser. Zielinsky developed an algorithm to up-mix old stereo and mono Bowie recordings into a true 3D mash-up produced by
40 l PSNLIVE 2013
Tony Visconti specifically for the ‘David Bowie is...’ exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Unlike 3D video, Zielinsky
says the general public is embracing 3D audio more and more: “I know from Geoffrey Marsh, one of the V&A curators, that they found the audio experience so smashing, so incredible that they are thinking about using the system for other exhibitions as well. You can see in general that the topic of 3D audio, be it at home,
in cinemas or other applications, is definitely becoming more and more important.” Zielinsky’s algorithm has also caught the ear of manufacturers outside the pro-audio sphere, with Mercedes and Audi interested in using it for future car models, and certain other companies interested in the algorithm for simulation purposes. So will we ever see a 3D rock gig? Zielinsky’s not so sure: “The first thing I said was ‘nobody would do that’. It’s not used in rock ’n’ roll. However we did do 3D recordings of our friends from [metal legends] Manowar. Joey DeMaio is a real sound and tech freak. He was thinking about doing live performances in 3D I have to say I don’t believe that would really make sense, but Joey is so crazy and so freaky he might do it!”
SOUND IN SPACE “3D Sound has become an oft-overused term for a wide range of things,” says Dave Haydon from TiMax
developers Out Board. “It differs from the more empirical ‘localised audio’ – enhanced spatialisation of usually surround sound environments using a variety of techniques including ambisonics, wavefield synthesis and our TiMax delay-imaging processes.” If true 3D audio ‘doesn’t
make sense’ for live performances, localised audio “is becoming an industry standard for vocal sound reinforcement across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia and the UK, in premier opera, drama and certain types of musical theatre and special events,” says Haydon, adding that “producers and directors who’ve will often not work any other way once they’ve experienced it.” Out Board’s TiMax SoundHub source-oriented reinforcement (SOR) spatialisation and TiMax Tracker have been deployed in an increasing number of stage and musical productions as of late, most notably for the German touring rock musical
opera” won the German Stage Award’s Opus for Technical Realisation based in part on the Iosono-enabled immersive audio. It was artistic director Sven
Soeren Beyer’s first project using the surround processor, but more are planned: In August phase7 will produce a “walk-through opera” – Mauricio Kagel’s Celestial Mechanics – in the foyers of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The audience will then walk through a soundfield created by 75 loudspeakers as the sounds of weather phenomena swirl through the air. “We use the technology that’s
available, and try and use it in a creative way,” said Beyer. “It’s the tools of our time. If I had lived 200 years ago I would’ve been happy with a gas lamp.” Or perhaps, some limestone. PSNLIVE 2013
www.iosono-sound.com www.meyersound.com www.outboard.co.uk www.sennheiser.co.uk www.yamahaproaudio.com
www.psneurope.com
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