The Future of Immersive Music
There is a dramatically increasing demand for artists and audio professionals to create content specifically for 3D-immersive listening on headphones and at home plus new audio experiences as demonstrated by venues such as Lightroom (London), Dareshack (Bristol) and Sphere (Las Vegas).
Most immersive music content, however, is re-purposed stereo productions never intended to be heard outside the two-speaker stereo environment with resulting output feeling disconnected and unfulfilling.
Record companies and artists want to avoid paying for post-production immersive audio mixes of original stereo recordings. They are increasingly requesting music studios deliver cost-effective ways for recording music from the outset in both stereo and immersive formats.
In this panel talk, the makers of 'Flow', Real World Studios, Dr Ruth Farrar from Bath Spa University and Adrian Utley from the band Portishead will share knowledge gained during this immersive music project. They will share insights from their trial to develop new immersive audio processing workflows to overcome current challenges of moving between stereo and immersive formats. They will also discuss their process for developing equipment set-up and sound capture approaches to create novel immersive audio compositions, elevating production processes from traditional stereo to being truly immersive.
Panel members include Hans Martin-Buff, Andrew Scheps, Adrian Utley, Theo Kozlowski and Ruth Farrar.
Ruth Farrar
Immersive Audio Network
Bath Spa University
Dr Ruth Farrar is a sound artist, practice-based researcher and Reader in Creative Media and Enterprise at Bath Spa University. Ruth Farrar is the Co-Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCCI) research centre.
Her current immersive audio research has led to co-creating an audio-first approach to making immersive experiences collaborating with industry partners such as the Roman Baths. Listening to industry and community needs, she recently founded the Immersive Audio Network in the West of England.
Andrew Scheps
Owner
Tonequake Records
Andrew Scheps has engineered and mixed some of the biggest bands in the world: Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Audioslave, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Linkin Park, Hozier, Kaleo and U2. He’s worked with legends such as Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and Iggy Pop, as well as indie artists such as Low Roar, My Brightest Diamond, Motorpsycho, Rancid, Manu Chao, Tinariwen, Farao, CRX, Cass McCombs and Blood Red Shoes.
Andrew has been awarded Grammys for his work with Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ziggy Marley, nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical for his work on The Blue Hour as well as garnering over 20 nominations in categories such as Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Performance. In addition, Andrew was named International Engineer of the Year Award by the UK’s Music Producers Guild.
In 2011 Andrew started Tonequake Records, a boutique indie label with acts including Low Roar, Favez, Fellow Robot, Act Rights, and Jeff Babko.
After 25 years in Los Angeles, Andrew relocated to the UK in July 2015 where he set up his own mix room which is now equipped for Dolby Atmos Music. He has collaborated on several plugins with Waves and develops custom software for controlling Pro Tools to make his life easier.
Hans-Martin Buff
msm
Hans-Martin Buff began his career as a recording engineer and music producer at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, USA, where he made excellent coffee and then proceeded to hone his studio chops by assisting on projects such as Live’s million seller "Throwing Copper".
Hans-Martin worked his way through various Minnesota rock’n’roll factories, before he found a more permanent home at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, whose personal engineer he became and remained for four funky years.
During this period, he wasn’t only responsible for His Purple Majesty’s recordings, but also for Prince’s collaborations with artists such as No Doubt, Chaka Khan and Larry Graham.
Being a native of Germany, Hans-Martin Buff relocated to his home country in 2001, where he has since recorded, mixed and/or produced a host of national and international talent, such as Mousse T., Joss Stone, Zucchero, Eric Burdon, Roachford, Maxi Priest, the Scorpions....
Since 2018, Hans-Martin has explored the subject of 3D-Audio, especially for headphones. Hans-Martin is now considered an industry expert, and he is proud to help artists lift their immersive adventures to the next musical level.
Hans-Martin is affiliated with msm-studios in Munich and Berlin, Germany, and with Real World Studios in Box, England, where he shaped the Dolby Atmos versions of Peter Gabriel’s latest release i/o.
Adrian Utley
Theo Kozlowski
PhD and Research Technician
MyWorld - Bristol Bath
Theo Kozlowski is a Psychology PhD and working research technician with a background in computer science, engineering, music distribution and performance.
Theo is part of an interdisciplinary team working at MyWorld (a partnership between Bristol and Bath universities), undertaking research into "Audience Understanding" (the effect of media content on audiences). The teams aim is to develop and validate a toolkit to aid the creative industries with measuring the benefits of different versions or delivery modes in production; provide independent evaluation of the value and impact of the content to funders and stakeholders, and allow the creation of personalised experiences that are shaped to the individual or audience group, reflecting their needs and understanding. The toolkit will validate the use of existing methods such as questionnaires, and physiological monitoring such as heart rate monitoring and EEG (electroencephalogram), and add new cutting-edge methods to this battery.
Theo formerly ran a record shop (YAM Records - You And Music Records) in Peckham, London, of which still exists as a label, with a history of releases from the likes of Chaos in The CBD, Joe Armon-Jones, Ben Hauke and Footshooter. Previous experiences include running an online radio station on top of a car park in Peckham, and DJing in clubs around the world - from London to Lisbon, to Tokyo and Osaka.