Immersive audio makes music audible beyond the stereo left and right, providing full range to the height, depth, and breadth of the song. As a result, the song sounds more vibrant, bold, and true to the artist’s original vision. Its goal is to localize sound all around you, essentially turning it from 2D to 3D. An example of immersive audio is Dolby Atmos, a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was initially made for the cinema market, with its first installation being in ‘El Capitan Theater’ in Los Angeles, for the premiere of the movie ‘Brave’ in June 2012. Around this time, Dolby Atmos began to popularize and by 2013, it was in 300 locations worldwide. More than 10,000 movie theater screens with Dolby Atmos capability were either installed or committed to as of October 2022.
Another instance of immersive audio is Auro-3D, an audio format developed by Belgium-based company Auro Technologies. Auro-3D is designed along three layers of sound: surround, height and overhead ceiling. It builds upon the conventional 2D surround sound system to produce a spatial sound field by encircling the audience with a height layer. The Auro-3D concept was developed in 2005 by Wilfried Van Baelen, who actually coined the immersive sound designation. The format was originally introduced to the public in 2006 at the AES Convention in Paris, but it wasn’t until 2011, where they partnered with display hardware manufacturer ‘Barco’ to incorporate Auro-3D into cinema setups.
In recent times, developers have implemented the immersive audio experience into video games, one being Fortnite. Users of Fortnite have the option to “turn on” 3D audio spatialization, providing them with somewhat of a strategic advantage. For instance, you can hear opponents both above and below and valuable items can be easily located with 3D audio; the sound of the item intensifies as you get closer.
Overall, I believe this can impact the way I produce music since it will compel me to concentrate on the depth and width of my sound, rather than prioritizing sound selection or melody. As a result, this can be beneficial for my future production as it can train my ear to create a mix similar to that of Dolby Atmos or Auro-3D.
Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Dolby Atmos. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Atmos.
Wikipedia (2022). Auro-3D. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auro-3D.
www.youtube.com (2019). Fortnite Dev Update – 3D Audio. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/WDUbxKGb2nY [Accessed 22 May 2025].