MORE IS MORE IMMERSIVE AUDIO

Thanks to L-Acoustics’ L-ISA and d&b’s Soundscape making headlines, it really feels like immersive audio’s time has come.

Immersive (or ‘spatial’) audio has been around for a while. Ambisonics’ bubble of 3D sound was first in development in the ’70s, for example. But now the conditions are right for immersive audio to take a leap forward into mainstream concert touring, AV events, audio installation, musical theatre, museum and exhibitions, and more.

Such is the flurry of activity it’s hard to separate what ‘immersive’ is and isn’t. Let’s break it down.

IMMERSIVE: 1 WORD, 2 PURPOSES

When we talk about immersive audio systems we’re talking about systems designed to potentially do two distinct jobs (and occasionally, they’ll do both).

The first is