ABOUTUS
3D Audio Design (3DAD) was originally set up by Simon Edmonds of Logic Workshop Ltd and Kieran Tyrrell of Sonalksis Ltd to design, develop and commercialise concepts that they have been jointly developing around production tools for 3D audio. Between them, they have decades of experience in the development of computer based systems for professional audio users dating back to the 1980’s.
In 2009, Simon, having been away from the audio industry for 10 years, decided to go back to university to read, part-time, for an MA in Creative Music Practice at the University of Wales Newport. He graduated with distinction in 2013 having developed a physical 18 channel 3D array and associated 3D mixing software and user interface.
Since graduating, Simon returned to his full time job running his marketing services company, Logic Workshop Limited, when, out of the blue, he received a call from a former fellow student and collaborator who was now working at Cardiff Metropolitan University. They needed someone to help them develop the audio side of their immersive Perceptual Experience research Laboratory.
To cut a long story short, Simon has joined their team and is implementing a 20.4 channel hemispherical speaker array using 3rd order Ambisonic and Vector Based Amplitude Panning technologies. The system will be capable of working in both linear mode (synced to video playback) and interactive mode (driven by Unity3D with Wwise audio extensions).
The fundamental objective is to deliver a completely convincing 3D audio environment for the test subjects. This integrates into a complete sensory experience including vision, sound, temperature, air movement and even smell.
Since the first conversations with Cardiff Metropolitan University about their requirements, we have been playing catch-up to see what is going on in the industry generally and what part we can play in moving things forward. The growth in VR and related areas has seen a plethora of products become available to enable production of content for these systems. The majority are aimed at delivering binaurally encoded 3D audio through headphones. There has recently been developments in the professional sound reinforcement industry to enable immersive audio to reach beyond its traditional home in theatrical production to find a new place in large touring rigs for music venues and festival stages. L-Acoustics have their L-ISA technology and, more recently, D&B Audiotechnik have launched their Soundscape system.
For now, we now plan to focus on full 3D in small(ish) hemispherical arrays designed to deliver maximum accuracy in creating synthetic reality and are reaching out to other universities and research groups to offer our expertise to support therapeutic and neuroscience research from both a systems and content perspective.
Whatever immersive technology is developed and delivered, for the user, it is only the start. Technology is useless without content and we are also expanding the media production capability of Logic Workshop Ltd to include the ability to source, create and produce all forms of immersive audio and video content for our clients and partners. If you want to know about what we can offer, then contact us.