Follow-Me & Immersive / Spatial Audio

Immersive or spatial audio transforms a space into a sensory environment where you get to experience audio that is almost designed specifically for you depending on your location in the space. Combined with a Follow-Me system this opens us all up to a world where we become more engaged and the audio enveloping us based on our position, or the performers audio profile moving with them through the space.

Through our adoption of the OSC protocol (both in & out), we can easily, quickly & reliably connect to these immersive systems, processors and software. Meaning we can give these systems what they have been missing up until now – stable, reliable & accurate object based positional tracking data.

Traditionally, audio was channel based; those channels being mixed at FOH ‘live’ then outputted through the speaker array. But, now for spatial systems, instead of assigning sounds to specific channels, sounds are treated as objects that can be placed anywhere in three-dimensional space. Meaning they can place an object/track/sound/instrument anywhere in the room & move it around.

Who?

It is easy to think of the ‘big 4’  in audio that each have an immersive system to offer. Namely, the Adamson Fletcher Machine, d&b Soundscape, L-Acoustics L-ISA and Meyer Sound Spacemap Go. We have done integration tests, demos or actual live performances with all those systems.

Of course, not everyone wants to be locked into those premium immersive systems. Maybe they want a more economical solution, or something that allows them to use existing audio line arrays, speakers or point sources already existing in their space / inventory.

So, for those venues other brands can offer a software only or software/processor combination to provide that solution to connect to a generic audio system or other brand of speaker apart from the above four.

These are Amadeus Acoustics, Astro Spatial Audio, Encircled Audio, Fulcrum Acoustic, Holophonix, Holoplot and Trusound – All of which provide processor hardware and software. Finally, FLUX Immersive provide a powerful software only tool called SPAT Revolution.

How?

As with Follow-Me, they must start with measuring the space they want to work in. With Follow-Me we can easily track into the audience areas. With immersive audio it entirely revolves around pinpointing the specific sound into the audience, but also onstage too.

Once the installation of line arrays, speakers or point sources is complete, they can start measuring various data they may need, such as –

• Define the origin and coordinate axes.
  • Define the room dimensions on every level – onstage and around all audience areas.
  • Define the mix position.
  • Measure the ear-level, front, lateral, overhead, rear or floor speakers, line arrays, subwoofers and consider speaker/singer/musician positions.

So, to do this Adamson have Blueprint, d&b have ArrayCalc, L-Acoustics have Soundvision and Meyer have MAPP 3D. Various other 3rd party measurement tools are also available to measure the space. 

Of course, certain prestige venues or those manufacturers above have a database of already measured dimensions including all levels and seating areas, an example is below of a venue in d&b ArrayCalc – 

Once they have measured everything, they can start piecing the line arrays, point sources and subwoofers together in their own software and tweaking everything to perfection.

Why?

Designers, creatives, product manufacturers and the end user (the concertgoer, the museum attendee) demand more from an experience or product. People want a real, live, immersive and emotion filled event to fuel the senses and create a memorable, profound experience.

Follow-Me adapts to that being a premium provider of tracking solutions, we’re merely at the start of that process – our development team are already thinking years ahead of where tracking is going and sculpting that path. Audio in turn rise to the occasion too with developing audio engineering to evolve and revolutionise.

Daily Use

A venue may have an immersive system installed, but this doesn’t mean every visiting artist, band or performer may want, need or be capable of using it. Immersive systems both need and come alive with multiple musicians whose sound will suit an immersive nature. Often this is electronic or ambient music, or multi-instrumental collectives and large ensembles like an orchestra.

If you can imagine a punk trio of vocal/guitar, bass and drums, this is unlikely to benefit from a spatial system as it is a limited number of tracks (vocal, guitar, bass, snare drum, kick drum, etc) to position or send around the speaker array. Plus, the style of music may just not suit or need an immersive environment.

The Royal Albert Hall in the UK is a perfect example. They have one of the biggest indoor audio installations that includes auditorium PA, but also a speaker in each of the 140 private boxes. The install is normally a traditional venue PA, but it can be adapted to be fully immersive by adding a couple of line arrays to complete the physical setup. After this a few software suites are used to reconfigure the speakers to be a fully spatial system for whomever wants it.

End Result

Follow-Me provides the coordinate positioning data and the ability to scale, limit, position and manipulate it to the specific demands of the audio world. With our trusted and established connection to lighting, it seems only fair to share that with audio too! We can connect to any spatial system within minutes, from our side it is so easy.

The Future

Up until now, immersive and spatial audio is largely used in 2D (there are exceptions to this), so only X & Y axis data is used. But, with Follow-Me we are already able to work in full 3D. Therefore, we can offer immersive audio systems 3D positional data right now, giving them height channels to work with. So, in addition to left, right, and surround channels, height adds a vertical dimension to the sound, opening up all sorts of creative possibilities. The right show or venue would be needed to make this a viable reality. We could imagine that the Sphere in Las Vegas could easily be a perfect venue for this, as one example.