To further on the development of 3D audio technologies, since 2016, 3D Sound Labs decided to partner with 4 other European companies (Eurecat, HEAD acoustics GmbH, Antenna International and Voodoopop) to create the BINCI consortium, encompassing all the different expertise areas involved in the 3D Audio creative workflow: recording production, post-production, exhibition and delivery. The BINCI project (which stands for binaural tools for the creative industries) started early 2017 and received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The goal is to deliver market ready solutions proven in real production environments.
“We are proud to be the first commercial studio in Europe with a full Sfëar set-up powered by 3D Sound Labs and believe in the new possibilities that we can achieve working with immersive audio,” says Peer Neumann, co-owner at MainBerlin. Ulrich Wirth, sound designer added: “Having an ambisonic-to-binaural system with real time head tracking enables us to work in real 3D audio and freely convert between binaural and 3D reproduction to deliver to anyone regardless of their technical setup. The Sfëar tools are very intuitive and fast to use and open countless new doors for creation. We are convinced we have one of the most powerful tools for the emerging demand of immersive media right here at our fingertips.”
Artists and content creators will have the ability to test the BINCI tools throughout the development phases. The setup at MainBerlin Studio will be made available to validate early-on with professional end-users the new, experimental technologies that are being developed by the BINCI project.
Moreover, the BINCI project has recently been recognized by VERTIGO's program of artistic residencies as one innovative R&D project in the field of information and communication technologies. The VERTIGO program is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) supported by the H2020 Program of the European Commission with the goal to boost synergies between artists, creative people and technologists. Their program of artistic residencies, with a total budget of 900 k€, aims to fund the participation of at least 45 artists in R&D selected projects. Applications are still open and will close on May 22nd, 2017 (For more information and to apply for a residency visit the website: http://vertigo.starts.eu/call-for-artistic-residencies.)
“3D/VR audio provides a new degree of freedom for artistic minds. They can choose where to position each instrument and immerse the listener in a dynamic spatial audio scene, or blur the lines between recorded and live music events," says Dimitri Singer, CEO at 3D Sound Labs. “It's a new opportunity for the music industry. With our partners within the BINCI project, 3D Sound Labs is building the proper tools to record and play back music in ways we've never been able to before.”
Eurecat is the leading Technology Centre of Catalonia with extensive experience in developing cutting-edge audiovisual technologies for the media sector and the creative industries. Sfëar is Eurecat's commercial brand for their 3D Audio and binaural tools. Eurecat is the project coordinator and leads the software development of binaural plugins and tools.
Voodoopop is a small Berlin-based, creative lead animation and production studio producing image films, music videos and TV clips, and recently orienting towards immersive experiences like VR and 360 degrees video. Keen to experiment with the latest audiovisual technologies and to offer innovative, immersive and unique experiences, Voodoopop will have a central role in forming the project's user group and testing the tools developed.
3D Sound Labs is a French VR Audio technology company. It develops 3D/VR Audio software technologies as well as hardware (3D Audio headphones and motion tracking modules) to enable immersive and realistic experience of spatial sound over headphones thanks to its HRTF-based Ambisonics binaural engine. Its SDK will be integrated into BINCI tools which will be compatible with the companies' head tracking hardware.
www.sfear.com | binci.eu | eurecat.org | www.head-acoustics.de
www.antennainternational.com | www.voodoopop.com
www.3DSoundLabs.com
