Built around precise spatial synchronicity and featuring a state-of-the-art, three-dimensional IOSONO sound system and dazzling lighting array, Vivid’s Progressum is an exercise in sonic and visual immersion.
Progressum is an audio-visual installation, produced by sound system designer, Des O’Neill, lighting designer, Peter Rubie and composer, Peret von Sturmer. Coda Audio Services provided the loudspeakers and drive. aFX-Global provided the IOSONO processing at Vivid House and the audio post-production studio used to create the spatial audio mixes for creating the immersive audio content. Encircled Audio Solutions, based in Germany, supplied support for IOSONO.
A real-time spatial audio rendering system called IOSONO was used inside to deliver the spatial audio mix for this project. The IOSONOinside processor is an object-based spatial audio renderer that utilises a Wavefield Synthesis (WFS) algorithm to render audio objects in real-time to the attached loudspeaker array.
The audio loudspeaker system designed for Progressum at Vivid House consisted of fifty loudspeakers distributed across four layers plus a subwoofer layer. Starting from the ground up, there was an underfloor layer, under screen layer, the main ring and a height or ceiling layer. The IOSONO system allows you to address each speaker individually or as one array. This allows a lot of creative freedom as you can select a sound object and move it around the space on the horizontal and vertical plane while automating this movement or placing the sound object directly on a speaker for a discrete channel spot effect.
A combination of self-powered speakers and non-powered speakers was used. Each loudspeaker and amplifier channel got a direct feed from the IOSONO Processor. The IOSONO renderer can output up to 128 channels of audio per processor via MADI. Direct Out Technologies’ Andimo DA/AD MADI converters were used with their breakout panels to distribute the signal to the amplifiers. Each loudspeaker in the system is calibrated to deliver a sound pressure level of 85db SPL using calibration pink noise @ -20db RMS at a central listening position in the space ensuring plenty of headroom in the system.
The IOSONO processor carries out the function of time and phase alignment through the creation of a Loudspeaker File. This is a file that informs the system of where all the attached loudspeakers are located in a 3-dimensional space. The IOSONOinside processor comes with system tuning tools that allow for multiple measurement mics, phase check, SPL check, frequency response and the creation of target EQ curves for each of the speaker outputs.
The majority of the Progressum sound design and composition was mixed at the aFX studios well in advance of arriving on site. There was some time onsite for fine-tuning, however, it was found that the mix translated well from the studio to Vivid House. The Studios are equipped with an IOSONO CORE system and a multi-layer speaker array. The speaker count in the studio is less than what was available at Vivid House however, this was not a problem as the IOSONO system is completely object-based the IOSONO processor rendered the mix from the studio to the attached speaker system at the venue.
