Tokyo, Japan (April 11, 2023)—Sony Corporation has announced the launch of its 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (360VME) spatial sound platform, which combines a measurement service, dedicated software and recommended headphones to reproduce the sound field environment of a reference studio.
360VME allows creators to reproduce the sound field of a multi-channel studio with headphones so that they can create spatial sound content from virtually anywhere. With Sony’s measurement service, creators can accurately measure their hearing characteristics in the studio and create customized 360VME profile data. Using the profile data and dedicated software, the headphones will virtually reproduce the sound field environment of the studio, enabling users to produce spatial sound content such as 360 Reality Audio, Sony’s object-based spatial sound technology, in almost any location.
Sony has partnered with three studios—The Hit Factory in New York, Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles and Tokyo’s MIL Studio—which are scheduled to start providing measurement services and dedicated software in June.
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Dedicated software, also currently scheduled for release in June, works in conjunction with the DAW and 360 WalkMix Creator [https://360ra.com/360-walkmix-creator/], a plug-in from Audio Futures, to virtually reproduce the sound field environment of the studio with headphones. Sony’s open-back MDR-MV1 monitor headphones, which the company says maximize the performance of the 360VME, likewise will become available in June.
“With 360VME, creators can freely paint a 3D canvas, even with headphones,” said Tatsuya Maeda, president and CEO of Media Integration, Inc. “The ability to express music as a spatial scene at each stage of composition, arrangement, mixing, etc., is one of the goals of music production. MIL Studio is a cutting-edge studio capable of providing an omnidirectional sound field. We hope that creators will experience a new world of music together with the sound field [360VME reproduces a 16-channel sound field] of MIL Studio reproduced by 360VME.”
“The Hit Factory has been supporting the 360 Reality Audio production environment since 2019, as well as installing many of Sony’s industry-leading digital audio equipment over the last 40 years,” said Troy Germano, owner and president of The Hit Factory. “360VME opens up endless possibilities for immersive music creation such as 360 Reality Audio. We are aligned with Sony in promoting this awesome, new mixing technology.”
“Since 2019, Studio 6 at Gold Diggers Sound has been equipped as a 360 Reality Audio immersive audio environment,” said Simon Horrocks, studio manager of Gold Diggers Sound. “We’ve mixed hundreds of records of 360 Reality Audio and have worked directly with Sony to help introduce spatial sound to the music industry. 360VME will allow more creators to benefit from our years of experience.”
