In this article, sound designer and re-recording mixer, Roger Guérin cas*mpse explores iRender – Ginger Audio’s new spatial plugin for their GroundControl Sphere software that enables users to hear how their Dolby Atmos session will sound on Apple Music. Lets find out what he thinks…
At the beginning of my career, doing radio commercials and records, I had reasoned that my mixes wouldn’t need heavy mastering. I just had to control my mix so that it wouldn’t trigger the broadcaster’s chain of EQ-compression-limiter. All this while having the loudest mix possible because we all know that if my soap is louder, it’s so much better than yours (sic). So yes, way back, I was second-guessing the broadcasters.
With the widespread adoption of digital audio (DAW) and the promised wider dynamic range, less noise and wow and flutter, everything seemed aligned for a better audio experience… wrong. The reference point of 0VU (+4 dBm) was raised and crunched so much that committees and sub-committees across the world had to intervene: it was getting louder and out of hand. Hence the loudness standards. Plural, because depending on the broadcaster it varies… a lot! So, again I had to second-guess the broadcasters, but this time I had meters.
Once the dust of loudness had settled, the issue of formats was still a burden. You would mix in 7.1 or 5.1 with different deliveries formats (LoRo, LtRt, mono), a somewhat exhaustive task… if only someone...
Well, one day it happened. Dolby came out with Atmos, and the promise that you mix in the format of your choice, and the metadata would take care of the rest. The consumer could listen to a movie (or series) on their sophisticated home theater and continue or catch up on their mobile device. One mix to rule them all.
Unfortunately, we still have to second-guess the broadcasters, namely Apple Music and Movies. Why? Good question. And here’s a condensed simple answer… As with other streamers, Apple Music will accept your Dolby Atmos’ ADM file, but as opposed to other streamers, Apple Music will add its own sauce: Spatial Audio. This isn’t a big deal on itself, but for an object heavy mix, in binaural, the near-mid-far metadata could be interpreted in a surprising way, and this one is hard to second-guess.
Thankfully, the team at Ginger Audio has come up with a solution. An easy solution: a plugin for their GroundControl SPHERE software called iRender Spatial Audio. It’s a free upgrade to previous owners of GroundControl SPHERE (version 1.4.7 and up). I wrote a review a while back Ginger Audio GroundControl Sphere First Look, at the time it was full of promises, admittedly they came through. Here are some iRender specific highlights...
A – A new switchable Peak or LUFS meter
B – Additional Mains and Auxiliaries (crucial for monitoring the effect of Apple’s Spatial Audio)
C – Incremental buttons (0.5 dB per click)
Once you press the gear icon (A) you are greeted to this window (Input A in our example). Then, on the right-hand side (B) you will notice four (4) available Aux. labeled A to D, and when you press on Plugin, all your available plugins are displayed. Select iRender Spatial (C).
The iRender Spatial interface pops-up, but a couple of explanations are in order.
Beside the obvious meters on the left, you will find the loudspeakers’ solos-mutes mid-center, and the LUFS meter on the right (including close to twenty of the most useful loudness meters). But first, you have to choose between Movie or Music. Reference levels aside, even though they are close cousins, I will be concentrating on the Music option.
Then a series of Binaural options are offered:
Binaural Static - Straight (headtracking off).
Binaural Static Personalized - Uses your Personalized Spatial Audio profile when you scanned your face using your iPhone.
Binaural Headtracking - Uses headtracking.
Binaural Headtracking Personalized - Uses headtracking while monitoring through your personalized profile.
Then your choice of Internal Speakers (yes, the ones built-in your Mac) or External Speakers.
Then, you have to configure your listening hardware. By clicking on the Aux > Aux A gear (A) button, you are greeted by another window (the last one, I promise), where you have to choose (B) your listening device, give it a name.
Once you are all set up, it’s time to listen to your mix in some kind of emulation mode of Apple Music. The thing to watch out for is how the “renderer” treats your objects. The panning should hold, but the amount of “reverb” on the near-mid-far objects might sound surprising. In that case you might want to downgrade your near-mid-far binaural settings.
All in all, it’s a great initiative from Ginger Audio. Sincerely, I would never have expected that Apple would have shared their special Spatial Audio sauce, more power to them. Personally, I think it will cut down on having to counter-verify in Logic just to make sure the binaural version is as it should be. Maybe we are entering an era when second-guessing is a thing of the past.
The software is Apple only, Mac OSX 10.14+, and supports Native Apple silicon.
A free trial is available on Ginger Audio’s website.