Sony has announced its new measurement service and dedicated software for the 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (360VME), a spatial sound technology that uses headphones to reproduce the sound field environment of a reference studio with high precision.

The global technology company explains that with spatial sound content increasing in music, movies, and games, the monitor environment of production studios is becoming multichannel. Conventionally, the production of spatial sound content was generally done in studios equipped with multi-speaker environments, and the number of compatible studios was limiting. Sony says its 360VME supports creators by reproducing the sound field of a multichannel studio with headphones so that they can create spatial sound content from virtually anywhere.

“With 360VME, creators can freely paint a 3D canvas, even with headphones,” says Tatsuya Maeda, President and CEO of Media Integration, Inc.

“The ability to express music as a spatial scene at each stage of composition, arrangement, mixing, etc., is one of the goals of music production. MIL Studio is a cutting-edge studio capable of providing an omnidirectional sound field. We hope that creators will experience a new world of music together with the sound field⁴ of MIL Studio reproduced by 360VME.”

With the measurement service, creators can accurately measure their hearing characteristics in the studio and create customized 360VME profile data. Using the profile data and dedicated software, the headphones virtually reproduce the sound field environment of the studio. Sony boasts this enables users to produce studio-quality spatial sound content such as “360 Reality Audio” in almost any location.

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Sony Supports 360VME with Companion Headphones

Sony points out to support its 360VME solution it has partnered with three studios in the United States and Japan, and each studio will start providing measurement services and dedicated software expected in June. Those studios are the Hit Factory in New York, Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles), and MIL Studio in Tokyo.

Additionally, Sony will continue to provide measurement services at various studios.

“The Hit Factory has been supporting the 360 Reality Audio production environment since 2019, as well as installing many of Sony’s industry-leading digital audio equipment over the last 40 years,” comments Troy Germano, owner and president of The Hit Factory.

“360VME opens up endless possibilities for immersive music creation such as 360 Reality Audio. We are aligned with Sony in promoting this awesome, new mixing technology.”

Coinciding with the announcement of its spatial audio technology, Sony is also launching its MDR-MV1 open-back headphones. Sony states the combination of 360VME and its new headphones provides users with the ability to experience immersive audio to its highest possible levels.

“Since 2019 Studio 6 at Gold Diggers Sound has been equipped as a 360 Reality Audio immersive audio environment.” adds Simon Horrocks, studio manager of Gold Diggers Sound.

“We’ve mixed hundreds of records of 360 Reality Audio and have worked directly with Sony to help introduce spatial sound to the music industry. 360VME will allow more creators to benefit from our years of experience.”

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