sennheiser's ambeo VR microphone records immersive audio with elegance

at IFA 2016, audio specialist sennheiser is unveiling a strategic focus on 3D immersive audio, a technology that promises the ultimate in audio capture and reproduction. ‘3D audio is the new frontier of excellence, set to transform the listening experience for users across a broad range of applications, from virtual reality gaming to audio recording and broadcasting’, announced co-CEOs daniel sennheiser and dr. andreas sennheiser. ‘we have been active in this area for some time with 9.1 mixing and recording and the audio design for high-profile exhibitions. we are now increasing our efforts considerably to introduce this amazing sound quality into new products and applications, enabling users to experience and shape the future of audio.’ sennheiser’s 3D immersive audio products and activities will bear the new ambeo trademark’.

the microphone’s interior comprises a hexagonal, sculptural design

3D immersive audio is increasingly becoming a format of choice in professional recording, mixing and listening. the composer, producer, and musician simon franglen, well known for his work on the films ‘titanic’, ‘avatar’, and most recently ‘spectre’, comments, ‘every time I do an immersive mix, I notice how much more clearly I can hear what’s going on within a track. the extra playback area allows individual voices and instruments room to breathe in a way that the flat plane of a stereo mix can never hope to accomplish. 3D audio gives a completely new experience to the listener. not only are they inside the music, but they get the opportunity to really hear the detail and the arrangement that the musicians, arrangers and producers put into the recordings. even as a professional, I have listened to tracks that I have thought I knew intimately to discover so much more than the stereo or mono mix was able to give me. once you hear this, music changes forever’.

unheard instruments and voices can now be captured with VR audio recording

another part of the sennheiser ‘ambeo vr microphone’s’ 3D audio experience zone is dedicated to virtual reality. designed with VR content producers, including VR production company visualize, the unobtrusive mic captures high quality audio in four quadrants. the VR microphone will be a staple tool in any live action VR production and will launch in the third quarter of 2016, followed in 2017 by a bundle with the same mic and a software plug-in for post-production of VR content. a further highlight in the 3D audio section is the venue modeling software. the demo version features the room characteristics of several clubs, such as mighty in san francisco, and the rex club in paris, and enables DJs to experience their sets as if they were in the middle of their audience.