EAR Production Suite
How does it work?
1Install the tools and open the REAPER project template
2Add your audio objects to the project and set the parameters for spatial audio and personalisation
3Export your object-based mix as an Audio Definition Model (ADM) file
What is the EAR Production Suite?
The EAR Production Suite is a set of VST® plugins for digital audio workstations (DAWs), with an extension for the REAPER DAW. It enables audio creators to produce content that is immersive and personalisable.
You can create 3D spatial audio scenes and reproduce these on headphones and many standard loudspeaker configurations. You can also define personalisation options, such as different language choices or dialogue enhancement controls - for example, giving your audience the power to adjust the speech levels in their favourite drama or the background ambient sound of a crowd while watching their favourite sport.
All of this is enabled by taking an object-based approach, using the ADM standard. The REAPER extension allows you to import and export your object-based mix to an ADM file for delivery and archiving.
By using these tools to author audio content, creators are able to make sound experiences in a way that can be truly tailored to their listener’s individual wants and needs.
Top tips to get you ready
The plugins in the EAR Production Suite fall into three categories: input, scene, and monitoring. You should only have one EAR Scene plugin in a project, but this can be fed by any number of input plugins (object or bed) and can feed any number of monitoring plugins (for loudspeakers or headphones).
You can use the EAR Production Suite to create ADM BW64 files and also import and edit existing ones. To export to more traditional formats (non-object-based), you can render the output of the monitoring plug-ins. Integration with some other 3rd party spatial plug-ins is also supported.
Why not take your immersive and interactive audio projects further with the Audio Orchestrator? With this tool you can adapt the content to work across multiple synchronised devices, allowing you to tell your stories in a new and unique way. Audio Orchestrator is also available on MakerBox and was developed by Â鶹Éç R&D.
What do we want to learn from the EAR Production Suite?
The EAR Production Suite is part of the Â鶹Éç R&D Audio Team’s wider work on creating personalised and immersive listening experiences - and the tools to deliver them.
We are keen to build the community of practice around personalised and immersive audio production. We are focussing on the ADM standard to enable better interoperability between tools and ensure production is independent from the delivery codecs used.
We're interested to see what other creators make and to explore other creative applications of object-based audio, as well as continuing to improve on production tools for making this type of content.
The EAR Production Suite is a joint open-source development from Â鶹Éç R&D and IRT, and published by the European Broadcasting Union.