Wide News
From recording, broadcast, postproduction and A/V
South Korea opens first 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos studio
South Korea has seen the opening of its first 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos studio, Sound360 the creation of CEO Jung Hoon Choi, who is already a well-known figure in the Korean music industry through his Audioguy record label. Key to the installation is the use of Genelec’s Smart Active Monitors.
‘The recording room is designed for Dolby Atmos 3D audio, and immersive sound recording and mixing,’ explains Ha Neul Lee, the audio engineer responsible for both stereo and Dolby Atmos mixing at Audioguy. ‘Reverberation time and acoustic treatment for the studio were also calibrated for 360° mixing with the surround monitors.’
Sounds of the Super Bowl
Among the most highly anticipated US sports events of the year, Super Bowl LVI took place in front of 70,000 fans at LA’s SoFi Stadium and reported a record viewership of more than 112m. The event included the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, with performances from Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J Blige and others.
ATK Audiotek – the event’s live-sound provider for 24 consecutive years – provided an extensive Dante audio infrastructure featuring components from Focusrite’s RedNet range of audio converters and interfaces that supported DiGiCo mixing and JBL loudspeaker systems. Alongside, ATK made extensive use of Shure and Sennheiser wireless technology for mics and IEM systems.
Genelec brings Jeff Balding’s mixes into Dolby Atmos
Known for his work with artists including the Eagles, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain and Megadeth among others, Grammy-nominated producer engineer Jeff Balding recently equipped his studio with an all-Genelec 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos immersive-sound system.
Located in the heart of Nashville’s Berry Hill recording community, the studio the horizontal array now comprises nine Genelec 8351 Smart Active Monitors for LCR and surrounds (including two for wide coverage) and four 8331A monitors above the mix position as the overhead array, with two 7370A subwoofers handling bass management as well as the LFE.
Birmingham Rep makes space for Animal Farm
A new stage adaptation of George Orwells’ classic – using War Horse puppeteer Toby Olié’s beautifully crafted horses, pigs, birds, and sound design by Tom Gibbons usinf d&b audiotechnik Soundscape object-based positioning – has opened at the Birmingham Rep to rave reviews.
The production sees pre-recorded dialogue played back live, with on-stage actors manipulating the mouths of the puppets. A key aspect to the realism of the surreal piece was accurately positioning the audio script parts to each puppet as they speak.
Studio Zuid adopts TiMax
Located in the south of Antwerp, Studio Zuid theatre has transformed its ability to entertain with TiMax SoundHub-S64 spatial processing. The venue’s amphitheatre-like auditorium hosts a wide variety of musical dining experiences, the first of which was an immersive production of The Bodyguard, made famous by the Whitney Houston film and its award-winning soundtrack.
Sound designer and venue audio director Erik Loots had a bold vision for the type of production the venue needed and the level of audio flexibility he wanted for shows: ‘I needed TiMax because of its capability to deal with both channel-based and object-based audio," he explains. ‘I have long been a fan of TiMax and its flexibility and, as this show was entirely mixed in immersive, TiMax was theperfect for the job.’