Edinburgh College has opened a Dolby Atmos audio production studio, choosing the Audient ORIA immersive audio interface and monitor controller as a key part of the new 7.1.4 setup.
Edinburgh College is one of the largest music and sound productions schools in Scotland, across two campuses. There are two 125+ seat auditoriums, over 10 recording studios, 100+ fully equipped brand-new Mac workstations and a suite of rehearsal rooms, all bookable by the students. Edinburgh College already had a number of 5.1 equipped studios, so making the move towards immersive audio production was a natural next step.
Steve Galbraith, lead technician, Edinburgh College, said: “We have seven speakers on a horizontal plane, a lovely great big sub in the corner and then our four height channels in the ceiling. The full Dolby Atmos setup gives us that full surround ‘dome’, if you like, over the entire audience and really allows for a much more immersive system.”
Galbraith’s colleague, Gordon Young, who also helped to build the studio, continued: “The Audient ORIA was the first box to come to market that had an entirely in-the-box solution to Dolby Atmos. The integration and the easy calibration of the system was very, very simple…. We’ve also managed to build an entire Foley floor which is integrated into our seating riser. Really just something so conceptually simple as that really just opens up the possibilities for the room.”
Jonathan Bennett, head of school media, music & sound production added: “As the industry between media, music and sound production moves more and more towards spatial and interactive audio, it’s brilliant that we’ve been able to realise such an ambitious space such as this one to give our students the skills they need to succeed.”
Jack Tidy, a BA (Hons) Audio Production degree student, concluded: “You’re getting a more hands-on experience with the mixer, the Dolby Atmos sound and the ORIA – just the sound of the room makes it more prominent.”
