How does Spatial Audio sound so good?

mistercharlie

I'm writing another article and would love some help with feedback. This time it's about Spatial Audio.

I've been using one of the new MacBook Pros for the last week or two, and one thing that has really impressed me is the Spatial Audio. On iOS I thought it was a gimmick, but on the Mac, through the built-in speakers, it's pretty great -- even with music.

Why? Because it doesn't do the whole swoop-around-the-head thing. Instead, it jut gives a lovely wide soundstage from the laptop speakers. These speakers are pretty good, but the faux-3D really makes them seem fuller, if only because the sound is bigger.

My questions:

• What do you think of this kind of wizardry?
• How does is manage its magic? I know there's some psychoacoustic stuff at play, but what are the principles (paging @richardyot ).
• Is anyone using/interested in using it for their own music or sound design?

StudioES

Worth researching -
Dolby 3D
SRS 3D (Sound Retrieval System)
Roland RSS (Roland Sound Space)
BBE Sonic Maximizer (crossovers + phase-shifting; not saturators/exciters like the Aphex Aural Exciter, etc.)
SPL Vitalizer
Behringer Edison (SOS has a helpful 'How It Works' section in their 1994 review)

Those types of psychoacoustic processors use crossovers, EQ, phase-shifting, to tiny delays, to reverb, and/or all of the above.

My questions:
What do you think of this kind of wizardry?

imo, it's a novelty, but can be useful, especially when making foley or soundtracks for computer games. I disable it when listening to music, watching TV or movies.

How does is manage its magic? I know there's some psychoacoustic stuff at play, but what are the principles (paging @richardyot ).

See above.

Is anyone using/interested in using it for their own music or sound design?

It's useful for creating a more immersive experience in computer games.

StudioES

And try listening to early Beatles stereo tracks, Collective Soul's 1995 self-titled album, or something like David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' through Spatial Audio, and let us know how it sounds.

krassmann

I noticed already several times that you mentioned working on an article. Would you mind sharing links to your articles? Perhaps post it to the creations, who says it's only for music 😉

Simon

@ocelot said:
And try listening to early Beatles stereo tracks

The real ones or the "mono reporcessed to stereo" fakes or the Capitol reverb drenched versions?

StudioES

@Simon said:

@ocelot said:
And try listening to early Beatles stereo tracks

The real ones or the "mono reporcessed to stereo" fakes or the Capitol reverb drenched versions?

The version that Mr. Charlie is most familiar with. As a start.

mistercharlie

@krassmann said:
I noticed already several times that you mentioned working on an article. Would you mind sharing links to your articles? Perhaps post it to the creations, who says it's only for music 😉

I will! I usually put the link in the same thread as the request for comments.

@Simon said:

@ocelot said:
And try listening to early Beatles stereo tracks

The real ones or the "mono reporcessed to stereo" fakes or the Capitol reverb drenched versions?

Some of those old Beatles stereo recordings were interesting. One version of Strawberry Fields I had put the drum and bass all over on one side, and the rest to the other side. I liked to listen to this “drum’n’bass” version by panning it all the way to one side.

jonmoore

I find Spatial Audio to be a disruptive experience for anything that was originally recorded in stereo but there have been a few classical recordings I've listened to on Apple Music where the technology makes sense. I also agree with @ocelot that it makes more sense with multi-media experiences such as games and VR.

There was a well known progressive house record label here in the UK T:me Recording, that released tracks using Roland Sound Space (RSS) 3d sound imaging in the nineties. Most of it was aural toss, but the young Charles Webster (ace deep house producer) cut his teeth at the legendary Square Dance Studios where T:me Recording's material was recorded and the tracks he engineered make for an interesting exploration of the technology.

As with all things Apple, psychoacoustic audio is nothing new, but it will be interesting to see whether they can make the consumer tech stick with the general public any more than home 3d cinema or quadraphonic Hi-Fi.

jonmoore

Here's an example of one of the T:me Recording tracks engineered and co-written by Charles Webster which makes sense of the technology (it's very much a track of it's time). Having a record label based on 3d audio encoding was a weird choice for a dance record label (hence the label went out of business within a few years). However many of the tracks put out on T:me command decent second-hand prices these days.

https://www.discogs.com/master/847140-Symetrics-Anyway