A Rendezvous with Immersive Technologies: The Future of Immersive Sound!

Welcome to Explore the future of immersive sound! We showcase the latest immersive sound applications, discuss the future directions of AR & VR experiences, and make new friends in matchmaking event. Event is a side event for The Virtual Orchestra: Sibelius 360 side event. If you have a clue what immersive sound stands for and would like to know more, feel welcome to explore the future of immersive sound! This joint event builds bridges between the grass root discoveries and big scale immersive installations.

Matchmaking event is as part of the  The Virtual Orchestra: Sibelius 360 installation, and organized in collaboration with Aalto University Experience Platform, Aalto University Digi Platform, Aalto University Virtual Cinema Lab, University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy, MiklagardArts, and Helsinki Art Museum.

Program

Marcus Korhonen, Director, Aalto Studios (event host)

Luke Ritchie, Head of Innovation & Partnerships, Philharmonia Orchestra
Step inside the Orchestra – creating audio-led immersive experiences
The Philharmonia Orchestra was the first orchestra to film in VR with binaural microphones, and  have since moved into ambisonic audio, and grown in scale from individual headphones to large multi-speaker arrays. After their first VR film Sibelius 360, they have continued to push the boundaries of immersive audio in VR.

Ville Pulkki, Professor in Acoustics, Aalto University
Research projects in reproduction and synthesis of spatial sound for virtual reality
Prof Ville Pulkki has been researching with his group the reproduction and recording of spatial audio for two decades, and some of his techniques are used in rendering of VR commercially. The talk will discuss the rendering of Ambisonics recording with traditional and non-linear methods. In addition, new techniques to synthesize volumetric sound objects and to produce artistic spatial sound effects are described. Presentation.

Aleksi Malmberg, General Manager of Helsinki Philharmonic
Music driving technology towards people
A full symphony orchestra concert is an immersive sound experience like no other. Always curious to explore the creative possibilities of future technologies in transferring and broadening this unique shared moment between musicians and the audience. Technology comes alive when it touches people. Presentation.

Lily Díaz-Kommonen, Professor in New Media, Aalto University
Interactive Diorama – Rembrandt, 1632
Interactive Diorama is a virtual reality artwork realised during the years 2011-2017. The work that premiered at the Ars Electronica Festival 2017 is an archeological exploration of Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of 1632 by Dr. Nicholaes Tulp. My presentation will focus on the similarities and differences between the original Rembrandt’s painting and the virtual reality work, with the objective of illuminating current discussions regarding the use of VR as a medium for artistic expression. Presentation.

Tapio Lokki, Professor in Acoustics, Aalto University
Immersive concert experience at home
How could the auditory experience in a concert hall be transferred to remote listeners at home? This presentation shows one novel technology, which enables to listen to concerts at home with immersive audio, which is listened to with head-tracked headphones.” Presentation.

Andrea Mancianti, Composer/PhD, Aalto University
A possible artistic approach towards virtuality and immersion
Under the drive of commercial development of affordable devices, Virtual Reality has become a widely available medium for artists, offering a exciting opportunities: very few conventions, workflows to be written from scratch and extremely interesting potentialities as first wave of psychedelic VR of the 90’s showed. The present presentation provides a brief introduction to some key questions arisen during the initial steps of my artistic research in the field of sonic immersive environments.