Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast Why Immersive Audio Should Feel Familiar, Not Futuristic | Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Ep. 613
What if immersive audio is not about the future at all, but about going back to how music was always meant to be heard?
In this episode of Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, Bobby sits down with Adrian Weidmann, CEO and founder of Immersive Design Labs, to unpack why Dolby Atmos and immersive audio have left so many engineers scrambling, and how the real breakthrough is not technology, but clarity. Adrian shares how his background in test and measurement, studio microphones, and live capture shaped a radically simple philosophy, accuracy over novelty.
From designing a preamp to be “the electrical equivalent of effectively a 12 inch piece of copper wire” with no coloration, to building a 7.1.4 array that mirrors Dolby’s speaker layout, Adrian explains why immersive audio should feel natural, not futuristic.
If you care about sound, space, and the emotional impact of music, this conversation will challenge the way you think about recording.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Dolby Atmos came out of cinema and now engineers are scrambling to figure out what to do with it
• The biggest challenge with immersive audio is clarity, not technology
• The preamp was designed to be the electrical equivalent of a 12 inch piece of copper wire with no coloration
• Immersive audio should capture musicians playing in a space, not chase novelty
• The IDL array replicates the positioning of a 7.1.4 Dolby speaker configuration
• Embrace the bleed, the room itself should become an active instrument
• Each song should be affiliated with its appropriate acoustic space
• A microphone is a transducer, and anything other than an omni is a compromise
• Focus on the song, capture the emotions associated with the interaction with the musicians
• Success advice from outside the studio, I show up
Connect with Adrian Weidmann and Immersive Design Labs:
Immersive Design Labs Facebook
Immersive Design Labs LinkedIn
Immersive Design Labs Instagram
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