Published
Tue, Nov 24, 2015, 14:40
- The company is bringing its object-based 3D-audio platform to the dance music sphere by way of club installations and apps aimed at studio and DJ mixing.
Dolby Atmos is jumping from cinemas to nightclubs.
The former is where Dolby is best known—their sound technology is a staple of multiplexes and home-theater setups. Its Atmos systems are based on technology that's a step beyond "channel-based" audio, where sounds are panned between speakers; with Atmos, sound elements are "objects" that can come from just about anywhere and move around freely within a space equipped with the system. This has made it a natural fit for film spectacles like Gravity and Mad Max: Fury Road, which were mixed for Atmos.
Dolby sees a broader application for Atmos than blockbusters, however, and today marks the beginning of the public push to bring the systems into the club space. On one side are nightclubs. According to the company, Atmos systems can be installed around the club's main stacks, mostly in the form of arrays placed above and around the dance floor. A special processor then brings the extra speaker elements and the main system together. Dolby won't say exactly which clubs they're working with at this stage.
On the other side are producers and DJs. Again, details are scarce, but Dolby has described a pair of apps aimed at preparing and performing music on Atmos. For producers, Dolby have a panner plug-in that will let them place sounds in virtual space. For DJs, there's an app on the way that can be used for live-mixing on Atmos systems. Dolby says that tracks mixed for Atmos will be fully supported by CDJ-2000 NXS players as well as Ableton Live.
Further details on Dolby Atmos for clubs is coming soon. In the meantime, you can read about 4DSOUND's work with 3D audio and electronic music here.