True3D Audio™
An audio production pipeline that allow us to mix anechoic sound elements into a virtual 3D scene with accurate acoustics simulation. Immersive realism for soundscapes, music, and any other material, compatible with any channel format.
Immersive Gaming
Easily use the ready-made 3D environments and 3D mixed production music, ready to be dragged and dropped into your project for instant immersion with sound. Those are not just recordings but audio compositions made full in 3D.
Films and Animation
Use soundscapes, music, and any immersive content from our libraries, fully mixed in 3D, to create final cuts for any format form stereo to surround and beyond. We support and provide all major industry immersive formats.
VR/XR Ready
Composited in 3D, our immersive content yields far more detail than common audio recording and mixing techniques allow. Offer your audience a unique immersive experience by using our audio assets.
What is True3D Audio™ ?
The True3D Audio™ process is our crown jewel and it was possible to achieve only by the slow process of innovating our technologies and techniques through the years. It allow us to mix any material from music to ambience soundscapes to a fully perceived 3D sphere, using acoustics and psychoacoustics. It’s the fusion of science and engineering in the service of immersion.
As we already have our PureSource™ process to get all the elements of a recording in anechoic form, and we also get the acoustics from our Scene Analysis process, we use the results from our research for AuthorNorm™ and acoustic simulations to produce true three-dimensional audio experiences that immerse the listener in an exciting and deep way.
At the image above you can see all the elements of our True3D Audio process gathered in one design sheet:
- The 3D model of the scene made from real measurements we took at the place of recording.
- Lists of which sounds we will place in the 3D mixing environment. Those are isolated elements that we extracted using our PureSource™ process. Each sound list states the object we simulate, the type of sound event (i.e. random sound particles, ambience loop, etc.), and the list of Refined Content that will play from the position.
- Acoustic properties for temporal, geometric, and absorption, together with the timbre character of the complete soundscape. All those was documented during our Scene Analysis process.
Model any scene
Our advanced 3D audio production pipeline allow us to create realistic scene models for any kind of project:
- Music: Gives depth and surrounds the listener with the spatial characteristics of any style.
- Games: Allows for true envelopment of the player with no energy-drop zones as common surround production techniques.
- Film: Allows for more resolution in your film’s sound so that more elements can mix together without one masking another.
- Virtual and Extended Reality: Do we really need to say why? 3D sound and virtual reality go together like beer and more beer.
Scenes made in 3D
This is the first step, we create the model to the specifications of our Audio Asset library or from designs that we worked together with a client for bespoke projects.
Equirectangular projection
From there we convert the 3D scene to equirectangular projection to use it for easy implementation of the sound events around the listener.
High-end audio authoring
At the final step is the production of the final audio experience in our custom setup production workflow, where we combine the data we have for the scene we want to simulate and the audio assets, to create realistic acoustics that render in full 3D.
Imagine listening to the city ambience from a rooftop in a parkour game, and the sound of traffic coming really from below the listener. Or listening to a scary slow-evolving soundtrack in a horror movie with all the elements surrounding the audience.
The knowledge we acquired from our research for AuthorNorm™ allow us to accurately recreate within the medium the sound levels we find in nature. This adds to the believability element of immersion, but also helps the listener perceive the surroundings better. To deliver this level of details we use our HDR Audio protocols for high dynamic range processing that permits an unprecedented level of contrast between the elements.
Final deliverables
For our Audio Asset libraries we decided to offer our immersive content in three major channel formats that has been proven in time. If you bought one of our libraries and you need a different or a custom channel format contact us with details and we’ll get right back to you.
For the bespoke projects we get from clients we can deliver anything from stereo to Dolby Atmos, Auro-3D, DTS Neo:X, IMAX, Higher Order Ambisonics, Hamasaki 22.2, and even custom channel configurations and speaker placements.
We can also supply the content in any breakdown (known as stems) the client wants, so it will be easier to incorporate in games, interactive simulations, augmented reality applications, automotive audio, architectural projects, art projects, you name it! Just send us a line with your needs and we’ll get your project started right away.
Enhanced Stereo
Stereo is the classic format and 100% compatible with everything. We offer a specially enhanced version of stereo that creates the sense of a wider envelopment. We also minimize the need for a small sweet-spot which is a professional practice in audio for media and a safety feature for films and games, which are enjoyed in living-rooms or cinema theaters.
Surround
Surround is the easiest way to envelope your audience and a great way to give your audio more spatial resolution. This format also allows you to fit more elements in the mix without auditory masking. We have chosen to provide a canonical square quad surround speaker configuration, so that there are no energy differences if you rotate the scene around the listener which create level fluctuations between the emitting points in the virtual space.
Ambisonic Sphere
Ambisonics is a full-sphere surround format which is gaining a lot of popularity in immersive projects, high-end games, and electronic music production. We provide the industry standard 1st Order Ambix with ACN channel ordering and SN3D normalization. This ambisonic format can be used everywhere from the YouTube network to the Unity game engine and its the fastest way to supply a skybox of sound around the listeners.
The future is now
There’s not much more to say. Our True3D Audio™ production process encompasses all the all the advanced technologies and processes we developed in our long careers in sound.
It’s a sure way to produce immersive audio that translates exceptionally well to any channel format, so it’s timeless by design.
To get your hands in highly immersive audio content that features True3D Audio™ explore our Audio Assets.
If you need custom immersive content or you would like us to process your own content though the True3D Audio™ pipeline, just contact us directly and we’ll get back to you right away.