- Hey, it's Justine
and right now I'm at the Sony Hall in New York
and we're heading into an event
for Sony's 360 Reality Audio.
They announced this this year at CES.
I didn't get a chance to demo it there,
but today I'm going to finally get to check it out.
They also announced some new artists hopping on board
this new 360 reality platform.
They have Mark Ronson, Pharrell,
and they're also announcing some older artists
like Billy Joel and Bob Dylan.
So this is really exciting because taking these songs
that we all know and love
and turning them into this 360 reality experience
is pretty cool.
So let's go head into the event
and see if we can learn a little more
about 360 Reality Audio.
Let's go.
(upbeat music)
A huge "thank you" to Sony 360 Reality Audio
for sponsoring this video.
So the way that people hear is different.
What's really cool about 360 Reality Audio
is it's trying to take that real life experience
and mimic that into a headphone experience for all users.
So the way that 360 Reality Audio works
is using object audio technology,
Sony software maps sound sources, like instruments,
in a 360 space.
So it's able to determine distance,
sound reflection of instruments and vocals.
But what's really cool is it can personally optimize
the sound for the shape of your ear.
Like I can't even make this up,
the app actually scans the shape of your ear
so that it can personally optimize
that sound for the shape of your ear.
Like I, this is insane. This is crazy.
I'm about to head over and test it out now,
so let's go check it out.
- [Man] This is our Xperia 1 phone.
And basically you can do this
on any Android or Apple device.
And basically you want to go into the headphones app.
This is the app that is going to help to customize it.
- So right now we are going to get my ears calibrated.
This is super exciting.
- Okay, so you're going to hit next.
- Hitting next.
- Okay it's going, so you're going
to go straight through. - (gasping) That's my head.
Okay - Move up a little closer.
Remember, keep your hands on the bottom of the handset.
- Okay - It'll help you kind of gauge
where you're at.
Now take a step back for me.
(mumbles) So I'm going to pull you back a little bit.
You're doing well. So now come back just a little.
(laughter)
So now you're going to hit start
- Okay
- You killed it. Good job.
- My ears are now officially optimized.
So this is going to be the first time
that I'm trying this out.
I saw this at CES, but I didn't get a chance to demo it.
So I'm so excited to try it.
- You want to get her face while she's bugging out.
- Whoa
Okay, so it's kind of hard for your guys
to hear what I'm hearing.
Actually it's completely impossible for your to hear it.
(announcer talking over speakers)
- So while she's jamming I can tell you (mumbles)
- Are you talking to me? - Yeah, those are awesome
noise can...
I was, but you aren't going to hear me. (laughter)
So what she was listening to and the real big thing
about 360 is it takes you almost into another dimension.
It's object based 360 degree listening.
So it's not like left-right audio, boring,
which just sounds loud.
But you're hearing instruments all around your head.
So you hear something above you, behind you
and it really recreates you being on stage
with everybody around you.
It's pretty cool.
(laughter)
- I don't know what he said. I don't know what he said.
- [Woman] We heard him.
- [Man] All right.
- [Woman] We appreciated what he said.
- [Man] Excellent.
- This sounds so good.
So onstage Mark Ronson and YEBBA performed this song.
I had never heard this song before
so now having seen it live and now hearing it in 360 audio
is so freaking awesome.
(upbeat music)
Am I yelling? - [Woman] A little bit.
(upbeat music)
- So stereo audio is just the left and the right.
360 expands that soundscape to a dynamic environment.
We can map up to 128 locations in a circular environment.
So not only is this a really great new format
for us as listeners, but for creators and performers.
This is really awesome.
So I'm going to chat with Mike,
who was actually onstage with Mark Ronson
about how this actually works as a producer.
- Hi, I'm Mike Piacentini,
I'm the mastering engineer at Battery Studios,
which is Sony's in house music production studio.
We've been doing a lot of work
with the Sony 360 Reality Audio.
We have a new program that we are giving
to producers that lets us create this,
these kind of mixes.
It's an object based program where you can take
the individual elements of the mix,
like the drums, bass, vocals, guitars,
and put them wherever you want
in 360 degrees around the head.
- Well, that was perfect.
I didn't even have to ask a question.
That was incredible. (chuckling)
So this is the Amazon Echo Studio.
This is one of the first smart speakers
to actually take advantage of the 360 Reality Audio.
I'm definitely excited to try this out.
I think it's really incredible what they are doing.
They're pushing the industry forward
with this new platform and a new format.
and I'm so excited for you guys to experience it.
Because being here in person and actually getting to hear it
like I wish that I could let you hear it.
I just want to take the headphones off
and put them on you.
Well thank you guys so much for watching.
I'm looking forward to checking this out when it's released.
It'll be out in the fall on IOS and Android.
One of the things that I'm really excited about
is the live concert aspect,
because this is really something that is made
for that immersive dynamic experience.
Taking live concerts, like you can't actually be there,
they can record these
and now using this 360 Reality Audio,
it'll actually make it feel like you're at the concert
if you can't be there.
Well, I'm going to go.
Got to hop on a plane to LAX.
What's that song? Miley? Cardigan?
(upbeat music)