New to immersive audio?

What is Immersive audio?

Traditionally, consumers listen to music in stereo - 2 channels, left and right. Stereo gives artists, producers, and engineers (creators) a single dimension to place sound - left to right. Surround formats, such as 5.1 and 7.1, extended this to two dimensions, allowing creators to place sound in a greater field - left to right, forward to back. While in stereo and surround formats, creators used tools such as reverb, delay, eq, etc to create three dimensional experiences for listeners. Immersive audio now capitalizes on technology that allows creators to place sound anywhere in a three dimensional sound field - left to right, front to back, and top to bottom. Pair this alongside the tools traditionally used with stereo and surround and the experience is exactly as the word describes - Immersive.

What Immersive formats exist?

Currently, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio are the leaders for immersive audio in music, but other immersive formats include DTS:X, Auro-3D, and ambisonic.

What is Dolby Atmos?

Dolby Atmos is an immersive audio delivery format created by Dolby Labs. While Axis can deliver in multiple immersive audio formats, Dolby Atmos is our format of choice as it has been widely accepted in the music industry as a standard for delivery by labels and streaming services.

What IS binaural?

Binaural refers to technology for headphones that gives the listener the perception of sound coming from different directions. This is done by utilizing the science and physics of how sound interacts with our heads, shoulders, and ears. Dolby and Apple both have algorithms they have developed to allow users to experience Dolby Atmos in binaural on headphones.

What IS Apple spatial audio?

Apple Spatial Audio is an algorithm capable of decoding Dolby Atmos for binaural consumption with headphones. Dolby has their own algorithm that is currently utilized for binaural consumption via TIDAL and Amazon Music.

Why should I have my Content mixed in Dolby Atmos?

We would pose the question - why not? Not only does Dolby Atmos better emulate how we as humans hear, but it is scalable, which means that when content is mixed in Dolby Atmos we can provide a commercial stereo mix as well. Due to its scalability, the format is more “future-proof” than stereo - allowing a more diverse set of delivery formats and applications from streaming to sync.

Who can listen to and consume Dolby Atmos?

Anyone! As for music - currently, Apple Music, TIDAL, and Amazon Music stream Dolby Atmos Music content. On Apple Music, users can listen to a physical speaker layout via Apple TV connected to a soundbar, AV Receiver, or TV. Users can also listen to Dolby Atmos using Apple’s Spatial Audio algorithm and experience binaural on most Macs and iOS devices with headphones. TIDAL users can listen via Apple TV, Dolby Atmos enabled Android devices, and capable PCs. On Amazon Music, users can listen via the Amazon Echo Studio.

As for film, right now most major movies are mixed and delivered in Dolby Atmos. Netflix requires all content to be mixed in Dolby Atmos, and a large portion of content on Disney+ is in Dolby Atmos as well.

How do I distribute my Content with Dolby Atmos?

Independent artists are able to distribute their Dolby Atmos content via AvidPlay, DistroKid, and more. Both services still require both a stereo and Dolby Atmos mix. Major labels, including Universal, Warner, and Empire support Dolby Atmos distribution in-house.

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