L-Acoustics’ HYRISS (HYperReal Immersive Sound Studio) room is a purpose built 3D listening environment that uses both hardware and software to tailor the acoustics of any part of the space - from a concert hall to a relaxing cocoon.

It consists of an array of microphones, 60 speakers, 8 screens and 12 lightboxes. Billed as ‘one space, endless experiences’, it is certainly an exciting opportunity to create new types of experiences.

It enables live performances to be re-spaced in real time, suddenly the performance in the corner sounds like it's in a cathedral, and stories can be told from any direction. The only limit is creativity.

It was an honour to work with the L-Acoustics Product team on content for the HYRISS launch event at their Highgate showroom in London, crafting a narrative that showed off the capabilities of the new space.

The key takeaway is that immersive experiences are really suited to certain types of content, and not everything works. Music is often better in stereo : being next to the drummer when the cymbals are louder than the vocals is certainly exciting but it doesn’t do the music any favours. Having instruments come at you from different directions changes the quality of the composition and performance, sometimes detrimentally. But in certain situations, like being in the conductor position for an orchestral performance, it does elevate the experience.

Most music is designed to be performed on a stage with a fixed single point of focus - unless it's dance or ambient music which isn't designed to be performed in the same way, but often is with a DJ on a stage - hence the need for enormous visuals. Ambiences like nature sounds by contrast are designed to be all around you, giving you the sense of being in a specific place at a specific time. Your relationship to that place is easily understood as it’s the relationship we live amongst every day and we are used to orientating ourselves within it. Ambiences and diegetic sounds bring transparency - the metaphorical garden to the music's built structure.

Often ‘upmixing’ music to be played back in an enveloping way that it wasn’t originally designed for misunderstands what the music was written for, unless the way it’s been recorded or what it’s about lends itself to this kind of playback. It’s great for 30 seconds but then, because it doesn’t utilise the capabilities of 3D audio for any narrative purpose, your brain stops hearing the difference between it and the stereo version. So what was the point in spending extra budget on something most people won’t be able to tell the difference?

The common mistake is where you see an experience that feels fabulous for a minute or so but then it doesn’t go anywhere, there’s no real reason it’s being presented in this way other than for an initial short-term ‘wow’, like a digital firework. Essentially it’s just a procession of glorified screensavers, which you can’t really charge money for because there’s not enough to the experience.

The reason is simply because the opportunities that these types of presentation spaces offer hasn’t been fully considered yet.

It’s like playing mono sound (single channel) through stereo speakers (two different channels). You’re getting sound, but the stereo effects and movement you can get from using stereo creatively are wasted. As a result, stereo would be seen as ‘more or less the same’ as mono. Which it isn’t. It's only because we weren't yet familiar with what stereo would be good for, which is movement. We had to learn how to hear stereo, which is where the right content was key. Understanding this, the role of the audience position and how it translates outside of an immersive room - eg. a binural rerendered version for headphones allows an immersive project to scale, though the translation can be conceptual rather than literal if the idea is strong enough.

What the HYRISS room enables are new relationships between an experience and the person experiencing it. Are you inside it or outside looking in? Maybe one half of the room is doing one thing while the other half is doing something else. Are the screens mirrors, windows or more conceptual? Foreground or background? What happens if for most of an experience the sound comes from the ceiling - enabling you to walk around freely without moving further away from a sound source as the distance is always constant - unlike walls whose distance fluctuates if you move? Or all the sound come from one wall, before it dramatically changes at a key point. While there are more than 8 speakers, there are 8 screens - how do you utilise them in a meaningful way? 8 voices or points of view? Maybe as well as you focusing on the performance, the performance also focuses 8 characters on you?

The ability to change the acoustics in the room allows the viewer to change spaces without changing their environment. If your footsteps suddenly echo because the Ambiance system has been turned on, you will stop and look around. Maybe your footsteps come back to you from a different place in the room, breaking your sense of your own coherance...

If we substitute the word 'you' in the last paragraph with the word 'artist' and the word 'footsteps' with the word 'voice' you can see how the HYRISS room can become a unique performance space. For this reason it's really important to set the right expectation about what an audience is/is not expected to do because it can be quite varied.

So to summarise, creating experiences that improve on stereo involve two key areas:

Focus hierarchy - where is the listener/viewer meant to focus on at any given time. What is front and what is background support cast? How does it evolve?
Viewer position and setting the correct expectations around their interaction with the experience. Stand, dance, sit or lie? Eyes open or closed? Does it change throughout the piece?

Where is the listener/viewer meant to focus on at any given time. What is front and what is background support cast?Focus HierarchyI can’t stress these enough. Get them wrong and audiences will either feel the music is better in stereo, or they won’t be sure they experienced it ‘correctly’. With multiple touchpoints it becomes critically important to guide people’s attention, or else it gets messy, overwhelming, or you get the dreaded, ‘yeah I loved it…what was it?’ comment where audiences fail to understand what they’ve just experienced.

It doesn’t have to be too prescriptive, but there’s no ambiguity about what you are supposed to do in ABBA Voyage Stand, dance, sit or lie? Eyes open or closed? Does it change throughout the piece?Viewer Position + Expectation Designfor example. It’s a digitally enhanced gig. But even then it feels that the opportunities are only partially realised. Cinemas and gigs get the balance right. Everyone knows what the audience is supposed to do and what to focus on, ABBA VoyageThe holographic 'ABBAtars' of the band are based on their likenesses in 1979. Johan Perssonthough for decades now they still need to mention that you need to put your phone away in a cinema, and there is still an ongoing conversation about appropriate use at a gig.

L-Acoustics are a sound-first company and the HYRISS room is the epitome of this - so as we continue to explore the possibilities, I look forward to sharing some more when it’s appropriate to do so.