Unleash the R in VR

VR, MR, AR, 360° video, …: through arts, entertainment and professional applications, XR is rapidly becoming part of our daily lives. 
 
Technologies are evolving with every blink of the eye. So is immersive audio. Everyday, more complex and accurate sound spatiliasation tools join the quest for ultimate immersion. As the urgency for compelling XR experiences rises, so does the awareness that sound plays a crucial role in creating convincing artificial realism.
 
This is where sonoRealm joins the XR production process. Combining profound knowledge of traditional sound production with expertise in today’s XR audio creation and game design, we implement the most efficient tools and strategies to engage any audience with your XR content.
With over 15 years of experience and a proven track record in sound design and mixing, we know how to create compelling and engaging sound for any  project.
 

Feel free to drop an e-mail or find us on social media. And stay tuned, as lots of sound stuff is coming this way…

Let Sound be your Ally

Engaging Sound Design

All sound design starts with a story or experience. There’s no magical formula here as every project is unique and calls for it’s own particular approach. However, 15 years of experience in linear media has thought me many techniques, principles and concepts that can all help to build this unique approach driven by the goals and expectations of the project. Such techniques might vary from character or environment design to setting moods, invoking emotional responses or guiding the player’s relationship to the narrative.

Compelling Audio Development

Audio development (sometimes somewhat confusingly referred to as technical sound design or audio programming) is what makes all of this work. Whereas in movies the sound team shapes every single sound to match the action on the screen, underline a particular moment in the story, or evoke a specific idea or emotion, in interactive media 
adaptive audio has to be implemented to make all of this happen in realtime. 
In the end it’s all about immersing the player in the narrative experience.

Middleware Consultancy

Do I need middleware and why? Great question! Thanks for asking.

Middleware is not just a tool to allow any sound designer to work on your game. All middleware solutions have their merits and drawbacks, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore it’s crucial to carefully choose the middleware that best suits your project. Many aspects should be taken into consideration, e.g.:

– the game engine used: do not underestimate the power of your engine. Unreal for example has a great built in audio engine, which provides amazing flexibility for creating adaptive audio. Obviously, the closer you can keep your sound to your game design and code, the more flexibility and creative freedom you have to build an adaptive and interactive sound experience.

– spatialization: depending on the game you’re developing, your needs for spatialization will differ. For compelling game environments and high quality binauralisation, in general the best results are achieved by letting the engine handle spatialization, possibly in conjunction with dedicated spatialization tools. Some middleware solution allow seamless integration in such scenarios, while others ‘hijack’ the master mix, eliminiating the possibility of using high fidelity binauralisation, which is desirable for VR and immersive games.

– level geometry: some middleware and spatialization tools are better suited for working with complex geometries, while others work better for simple shaped rooms and environments. Several questions come to mind when choosing the right solutions for your project, e.g. do you need complex raytracing for sound propagation and acoustics? Are you dynamic geometries? Etc…

– use of adaptive music, its structure and the desired interaction with your game

– dialogue systems and localisation

– sonic complexity,  desired amount of simultaneous sounds, performance and target platforms.