Summary
Spatial audio is all the rage these days.Whether you are gaming, watching a movie, or even listening to music, there is a good chance that it supports spatial audio in some way. While most people are probably just on the enjoying side of spatial audio, if you are producing any content and want to add spatial audio to your arsenal, Audeze and Embody just made it a whole lot more accessible.
If you are into hi-fi audio, you have probably heard about Audeze and their excellent headphones andheadsets, but unless you are in the music production world, there is a good chance that you haven’t heard of Embody, but you probably have heard of their past work in games likeCyberpunk 2077andFinal Fantasy XIV.With these two names in the industry, one producing some of the best headphones for spatial audio listening and the other producing incredible software to create spatial audio, their new collaboration, Immerse Virtual Studio Pro, will surely be a game changer.
What Is Immerse Virtual Studio Pro?
Mixing high-end audio has always been a daunting task if you don’t have a full studio set up, but Immerse Studio Pro is here to help remove that barrier to entry. With this software, you can confidently mix Dolby Atmos, stereo, surround, or Apple Music with just a pair of headphones.
Leveraging HRTF technology (Head-related transfer function), this software can recreate studio sound quality for mixing with accurate height, depth of field, and cross-talk, all with just a click of a button, even in a room with no sound treatment, on a pair of compatible headphones. Because of the partnership with Audeze, both the PlayStation and Xbox versions of the Maxwell headset are compatible with Immerse Studio Pro. However, it also works with Apple AirPods, for those who prefer iOS devices.
What Does This Mean For Gamers?
While the release of this software doesn’t directly affect gamers, like a new headset or headphones would, it does mean that a lot more creators are going to have access to spatial audio creation. With this, we can expect more indie titles to explore the world of high-quality audio, rather than just the larger AAA games that have made strides with it recently.
It is probably going to take a while for these changes to become more visible, but picturing a future of gaming where every title offers spatial audio support in some fashion is incredibly exciting.
How To Access Immerse Virtual Studio Pro
Because Immerse Virtual Studio Pro’s launch was just announced on August 6th, at the time of writing, the software is only available via Inquiry. However, if you want a taste of what this software is like, the Immerse Virtual Studio Pro Apple Music edition is available for macOS users through a 14-day free trial.
Immerse Virtual Studio Pro seems like it will follow a similar path to the Apple Music Edition software, so we can expect to see a monthly subscription or a one-time payment option for this at some point in the near future.
FAQ
Q: When not to use spatial audio?
While spatial audio is great for a lot of scenarios, there are still some situations, like working out or going for a walk, where it can get a bit disorienting. Any situation where you are moving your head around a fair bit, can cause spatial audio to be more distracting than if you were just listening to the content normally.
Q: Is spatial sound better than stereo?
Unlike stereo sound channels, which is limited to just the left and right channels, spatial audio incorporates height, which allows for the content to sound more similar to how we naturally hear noises in real life.
