About Us

We are a focus group of sound engineers and researchers who have teamed up to:

• Advance immersive sound recording techniques for orchestral music.
• Bridge the gap between academia and the audio industry.
• Share expert knowledge and high-quality immersive recording resources to support education and research.
• Study perceptual differences across various recording techniques.
• Inspire current and future sound engineers, composers and researchers to explore immersive audio.

Recording Session

To create the open-access database of high-quality immersive recordings, we recorded two pieces of orchestral music in two different layouts, using eight microphone arrays—developed by seven professional recording engineers—simultaneously.

• Microphone arrays: 2L Prism, AirCage, ESMA-3D, P3H Anamorphic, P3H Pyramid, PAMA, PCMA-3D & PentaSphere.
• Orchestral layouts: Circular (360°) & Traditional (180°).
• Music: Train Journey by Volker Bertelmann (a.k.a. Hauschka) & Kammersinfonie für 23 Soloinstumente by Schreker.
• Musicians: London Contemporary Orchestra.
• Venue/Date: Lyndhurst Hall, AIR Studios, London, 17 Dec 2024.

Open-Access Database

The ECHO Database can be accessed for free under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Students, educators, and practitioners can use the recordings not only to learn about microphone array techniques but also to practice orchestral mixing with world-class material. The database includes the following:

• Original multitrack recordings from the eight microphone arrays used by the focus group, along with additional ambience microphones, a KU100 dummy head, an EigenMike EM32, and spot microphones.

• ADM/BWF and 7.1.4 re-render files of Dolby Atmos mixes created by the engineers.

• Binaural versions of the mixes rendered with APL Virtuoso.