What is Virtual Surround? - Spatial Audio Explained

[@AlteraSound]

Literally as I was editing this video Apple announced the Airpods Pro now support Spatial Audio with head tracking built-in.

[@JoeGillian0]

About the airpods pro, seems like a good idea even if I don't think headtracking is really useful at all. I had headtracking on my pc and android smartphone always found it gimmicky since after all I want to keep watching what's on my screen. Still, interesting if they manage to do some good virtual audio too

[@genoalvin]

Haha, perfect timing

[@mikesmith1290]

@@JoeGillian0 I have the airpod pros, and it’s not gimmicky at all. It only works with Disney plus, HBO Max, and soon Netflix. It sounds just like you in a theater!

[@JoeGillian0]

@@mikesmith1290 Hi Mike...i was just talking about the head tracking that i dont find crucial but he a nice bonus, but i am all for the sound in 3d audio or spatial audio. I tried it on my TV or on my computer it was really involving with Sony hw700WS or other headphones on my PC

[@1998Cebola]

Clicked this by chance after hours of confused googling, mostly giving results containing exclusively 10 hours loops of new age "binaural beats", found every bit of information I've been looking for in this ten minute presentation. Extremely good introduction to the subject, thank you very much.

[@AlteraSound]

That's exactly why I made this video, glad you found it!

[@jeeperskreepers3967]

5:45 I almost jumped out of my pants

[@AlteraSound]

I'll take that as a complement, haha. Especially with a name like yours.

[@dekkerfraser]

I like this beginner-friendly explanation, even for stereo

[@Vladyyy]

I always respect the rare ones that say hit the dislike button if you didn’t enjoy the video. They come across as being much more honest (and welcome to feedback) than the rest.

[@TbArkadevic4]

DTS:X® is not a virtual surrlund sound format. It is however a object-based, spatial audio format but is backwards compatible. I believe you are talking about DTS®:Headphone:X™ or DTS Virtual:X™ or DTS:X Ultra. Regular DTS:X carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track, and Dolby Atmos® usually a E-AC3 or TrueHD 7.1 track, which are lossless but has discrete channels, and a masterfile for metadata for spatial processing or upmixing, so that DTS Headphone:X for example can output that audio by using the included metadata sheet which for Dolby Digital and DD+ was meant for dynamic range compression or in Dolby Digital, called 'night mode'. It works by decreasing the delta of the lowest and highest sounds by leveling out the differences in volume so that dialog can ve heard at lower volume, e.g 'night mode'.

[@mikemacedo1]

I am a huge fan of spatial sound and this video helped a lot to better understand that.

[@darealestwon]

Great explanation. I’ve seen so many people who have no idea what spatial audio or Dolby atmos is from people who even write for publications. I had a guy on Reddit argue me that spatial audio and Dolby atmos were the same, Scis a great video explaining spatial audio as a virtualization of surround sound formats

[@Laquoquious]

hella informative and production quality is great bro. Keep it uo

[@Desopolis]

From all the videos I can find “it’s been around for a long time” but I’m still having a hard time understanding the fundamentals. Is there somewhere like a HTRF 101 that explains how the mixers and platforms work? Again, appreciate the video and the help it gave me!

[@ScienceTail]

👋 Hi, no doubt this video make me lot of scenes about surround sound plz can you suggest an alternative of Sony Pulse 3d headphone for my PS5...plz

[@moonseedeyes]

Could you please tell me do I have to buy a sound card to support mixing 5.1.spatial? Or it can use by any regular sound card?

[@lizhang7024]

where can find the video for decoded audio and encoded audio you mentioned in this video

[@DrakenMusic]

I love your educational content, keep it up!

[@skylenoxtribute8518]

Finally a clear video

[@mbahmarijan789]

what type of headphones should I buy to enjoy these things

[@AlteraSound]

Really any pair will work. A lot of people prefer open back headphones like from Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic, but some sources like Sony 360 work better with earbuds.

[@manuelsalgado9664]

Great info man. I’m on the hunt for the best earbuds or headphones for experiencing spatial audio. I have windows sonic, Dolby and DTS. Which is better in your opinion? Also which headphones would you recommend? Just looking for the most immersive experience possible. Seem like the guy that could help me out. That’s in advance.

[@AlteraSound]

In my experience Dolby sounds the best. DTS is slightly worse, and Sonic is much worse. Generally open back headphones sound the best.

[@ordash1136]

Stupid question, but, binaural audio is still a simple 2 channel audio, right? Or is that capable of storing any additional information? Is it just a more sophisticated downmixing algorithm than stereo? (Your videos are incredible, by the way. The best ones on this topic. Thanks for investing time in this!)

[@AlteraSound]

Binaural is just two channels of audio, same as stereo. The line between the two can be a bit blurry, but it comes down to binaural content having extra filtering to create the illusion of sound coming from all directions, whereas stereo only attempts to reproduce sound coming from in front of us.

[@KindOldRaven]

Could it be assumed that having a pair of headphones known to have decent soundstage and 'depth' (like decent open back or semi-open back headphones) will help when going for a good spatial audio experience? I know this might be the dumbest question ever, but I've noticed my (very cheap) open back Philips SHP9500 can sound a lot less ''cramped' than my gaming headsets for both music and in-game audio. So I was kind of just wondering...

[@AlteraSound]

In my experience the type of headphones can definitely make a big difference, but there isn't necessarily one best type of headphones. For example, I've found that Sony 360 sounds much better with in-ear headphones rather than over-ear. In general open back headphones are better, but some of them like the Sennheiser HD series have very tamed high-frequency response, so they don't work as well as others.

[@andreeailiescu2220]

Can you please recommend the best way to go about composing a piece of soundscape & then turning it into spatial audio? Or does it have to be mixed straight in a spatial audio software? I.e can I produce a song in Ableton& then convert it spatially in Reaper for instance? Sorry if it’s a stupidly formulated question. Thanks so much for this vid! Amazing

[@AlteraSound]

There's lots of ways to mix spatial content. You can take just a normal stereo mix and turn it into an immersive format using "upmix" plugins, but the result usually isn't amazing. The better way is to mix directly in a spatial format like you mention. If you prefer producing in Ableton, you can produce your song, then export all of the tracks individually and take them into Reaper and do the spatial mix. That's how most mixes are done, but it does split up the process a bit. I think you can produce spatial mixes within Ableton and do everything at once, but I'm not very familiar with Ableton.

[@genoalvin]

Great Explanation. Thanks. Since these spatial audio solutions can be implimented on almost if not all stereo headsets. are there any inherent headset features like size of drivers, shape and or method of vibration that woul have you suggest any specific brand over another. What are you r recommendations for headsets in 2020? What would you recommend for a PS5 outside of their pulse headset.

[@AlteraSound]

Generally the more accurate the headphones are, the better the surround effect will translate. Personally I'd lean towards recommending open back headphones because the design helps the sound blend into the real world.

[@rajendrabiswas]

I felt apple AirPods max and Sony xm5 do a good job in this...but its sad to see AirPods max having technical issue after a year

[@rajendrabiswas]

I love spatial audio made movies more enjoyable

[@Daredevil792Thefinalfantasy]

Hi I have a question I heard u said you like Dolby Atmos but whats your opinion on DTS-X for headphones and Stereo compared to Atmos. I personally cannot stand Windows Sonic Atmos and DTS-X i tried both but it depends on game and content for me

[@Daredevil792Thefinalfantasy]

i just did another test and it seems when watching this video - Dolby Atmos sounded almost exactly stereo but Sonic and DTS-X had to much decoding issues

[@Desopolis]

This is the first video I could find that gave a clear explanation vs simply talking about [Platform X]’s new game sounds... I also appreciate the examples of applications and hardware but as you’re listing references so fast I have to pause the video or rewatch to catch the names of something you showed. (Ambisonics and Bose AR for example) The video is great but I think it would be helpful for your audience as well as make the video more of a resource if perhaps you included links to the software, hardware or maybe even references you mention.

[@Desopolis]

I’m an idiot, you literally have a video titled “immersive sound 101”

[@AlteraSound]

@@Desopolis Haha, glad you were able to find that one. I've got more videos coming out soon that will cover specific aspects of immersive audio in more detail, and I'll go into more depth with specific tools like Ambisonics.

[@Desopolis]

@@AlteraSound Thats awesome and I think very needed in the space, especially as more people get exposed to it through platforms like the PS5. I’m a developer/web guy with a ton of experience with visual tools and there are significant resources out there for how stuff gets rendered, why a color is a color, etc. Plus tools and libraries.. Sound/signal manipulation is pretty new to me and not as easy to jump into (IMO)... I’m trying to understand what is actually being done to the signal that causes the brain to perceive it at that position, as well as how other sounds in the mix may distort/enhance the effect. Left and Right pan is pretty obvious, but front/back as well as vertical plane is still black magic to me.. I think the usage it games and VR is great but I’ve heard some music lately that the producers/mixers are using spatial sound in absolutely amazing ways..

[@nadruf]

I don't understand why no one test headphone with multiple microphones each side and show the sound waves

[@elenapena5483]

ponen el titulo en español, y luego el video está en inglés...

[@AlteraSound]

Yo no puso el titulo en espanol. Probablemente es traduccion automatico.

[@Richie131hun]

Of course an actual Dolby Atmos speaker setup costs more than a pair of headphones because it's 765 times better.

[@turbotonic27]

thumbs up for senua

[@leonchui]

What about THX? You didn't mention anything in your video for THX.