With the Brussels SAE Institute and film director George Lucas investing in Auro-3D technology, the format is taking on a new dimension, notes Marc Maes
(L-R): Robin Reumers (College Manager), Thierry Boqué (head instructor) and Pierre Coheur, professor of acoustics and electronics
THE SAE Institute (School of Audio Engineering) has become the first facility in Belgium outside of Galaxy Studios to install a studio in an Auro-3D configuration. Robin Reumers, SAE manager, is convinced of the future potential of Auro-3D. “Students must have access to new formats such as Auro-3D for re-mixing 5.1 mixes to the three-dimensional sound,” he comments. “Training our students in working with this cutting-edge technology and getting acquainted with the upper (‘overhead’ or ‘voice of God’) channels gives them the edge over other engineers, offering wider work options. We feel very honoured to be able to provide our students with such a new opportunity in the audio business.” The 10.1 Auro-3D configuration, consisting of 10 Sonodyne SM100Ak studio monitors, is installed in the SAE’s post-production studio, which features an Avid D-Control console running Pro Tools with Auro-3D plug-ins. The SAE opted for Sonodyne monitors after having tested several brands. “Sonodyne is a relatively new brand, but we get excellent results from end-users,”
says Matthias Aerts, managing director of IdealAudio, Benelux distributor for Sonodyne. “In addition to their sound quality, the speakers are quite affordable, which makes them interesting for home studios. Plans are to use the same monitors in the Dutch SAE Institute as well.” The post-production studio is used as an exercise room for the SAE’s audio students – Reumers,
"Training our students in this technology... gives them the edge"
Robin Reumers, SAE
who combines his SAE job with the seat of chief technical officer at Galaxy Studios, says the SAE is currently teaching student engineers the panning of audio and effects to the three-dimensional sound. “A next step will be recording in Auro-3D on location,” he adds. A second implementation of 3D audio is the George Lucas film Red Tails (released in January) – the first movie
recorded in Auro 3D. The sound was mixed at Galaxy Studios in Mol by George Lucas’s engineers – Lucas installed an Auro-3D 11.1 configuration in his Skywalker Sound Mix A studio last summer. “The Skywalker studio was the first with Auro-3D next to Galaxy,” says Wilfried van Baelen, managing director of Galaxy. “When we heard that George Lucas would have the sound mix for Red Tails done at Galaxy, we installed a second Auro-3D 11.1 mixing room, with Barco displays and five super Pro Tools systems allowing the Lucas engineers to do the mix of some 600 tracks in just five days – a record.” With blockbuster content now
available in the new movie audio format, insiders expect that Barco, a manufacturer of digital projection systems, will see an increase of Auro-3D installations in movie theatres. In Belgium, the Antwerp Kinepolis multiplex cinema is currently the first to test the 11.1 three-dimensional sound. The Auro-3D format was first
developed by van Baelen in 2005, and launched within the Galaxy Studios structure under the Auro Technologies brand early in 2011. www.auro-3d.com