Edinburgh College has opened a Dolby Atmos audio production studio, selecting the Audient Oria audio interface and monitor controller as a central part of its 7.1.4 immersive set-up.
‘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,;’ says Head of School Media, Music & Sound Production, Jonathan Bennett.
Lead technician Steve Galbraith and colleague Gordon Young were instrumental in building the studio. ‘We looked at a whole range of solutions, but most of them appeared to have some kind of half-measure,’ Young says. ‘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.’
Edinburgh College already had a number of 5.1 studios, so making the move towards immersive audio production was a natural step. ‘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,’ Galbraith says. ‘The full Dolby Atmos set-up gives us that full surround “dome” over the entire audience, and really allows for a much more immersive system.
‘We’ve also managed to build an entire Foley floor which is integrated into our seating riser,’ he adds. ‘Really just something so conceptually simple as that really just opens up the possibilities for the room.’
The studio is already a hit with students. BA (Hons) Audio Production degree student James Sanderson says, ‘If you’re doing something towards a big project like a video game or a film, there’s so much that you can do.’
Fellow Audio Production student, Jack Tidy agrees: ‘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.’
Edinburgh College prides itself in being one of the largest music and sound productions schools in Scotland, with world-class facilities available across two campuses. There are two 125-plus seat auditoria, more than ten highly specified recording studios (all with a suite of outboard and industry-standard software), upwards of 100 fully equipped Mac workstations and a suite of rehearsal rooms, all bookable by the students.
‘Not only is this space for our students, it’s also to encourage the industry to come in as we continue to grow our collaboration between our students, the industry and our communities,’ Bennett says.
