AES Berlin 2014
Workshop W10
Monday, April 28, 09:00 — 10:00 (Estrel Hall C2)
W10 - The Immersive Sound Format: Requirements and Challenges for Tools and Workflow
Chair:Bert Van Daele, Auro Technologies NV - Mol, Belgium
Panelist:
Sven Mevissen, Auro Technologies - London, UK
Abstract:
The Digital Cinema world has recently seen the advent of several new audio formats, each claiming to bring a new three-dimensional, immersive sound listening experience to the movie-going audience. As a result, several organizations, such as NATO (National Association of Theatre Owners) and DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) have described a set of requirements, effectively requesting for a single, royalty-free, open interoperable standard for Immersive Sound, incorporating object-based audio capabilities.
The introduction of this new standardized format brings a few new challenges for content creators, such as movie studios and post-production facilities. Indeed, although the introduction of the standard simplifies the distribution of content with Immersive Sound, several challenges still remain, such as creating the standard 5.1 (and 7.1) Surround versions, as well as optimizing the object-based elements of the Immersive Sound standard for reproduction on a plethora of reproduction systems, each with a number of common as well as unique features.
This presentation discusses a unified workflow that enables the simultaneous creation of content in various audio formats for cinema, including the Immersive Sound format. Several attention points are highlighted such as the compatibility between deliverables, creative possibilities and limitations, playback in theaters and at home. Finally, a set of software tools is presented supporting this workflow.
