HEAR Invests in the Immersive Broadcast Future with Critical Upgrades to GEMINI Mobile Audio Unit
Award-winning live broadcast music experts weigh in on immersive live broadcast mixing and the next frontier of sonic landscape for consumers
New York, NY, November 20, 2024 — HEAR announce that they have upgraded their GEMINI mobile audio unit for fully immersive audio production capabilities. The two-studio vehicle — which has served as the group’s mobile base of operations for such recent major events as the MTV VMAs, 2024 CMT Music Awards, NBC’s Concert for Michigan Central Station – is now capable of producing live 7.1.4 audio mixes which the group see as the future of broadcast audio. In a world that is rapidly embracing consumer-friendly immersive audio formats, HEAR is leading the charge to take advantage of these changes for heightened experiences that bring the home viewer into the live-for-broadcast concert venue.
‘“As broadcast infrastructure is expanding to be able to deliver a full bandwidth 7.1.4 immersive stream, creating immersive content to deliver via Binaural is our short term goal.” states HEAR Co-Founder John Harris. “As broadcast music mixers, immersive formats give us an incredible amount of power to shape the viewer’s listening experience in a way that brings them that much closer to being in the room themselves and experiencing these performances live.”
Although broadcasters have been slow to take advantage of this so far, states Harris, the possibilities inherent in having it are nothing short of revolutionary. “Prior to this moment in history, if a consumer wanted an immersive listening experience they had to make an incredible investment in home entertainment technology that was simply out of reach for most people,” he continues. “With our Binaural workflow, the end user can listen on headphones, stereo speakers or just their TV, suddenly you’ve opened up this immersive landscape to the entire world. It’s a leap in the quality of experience that soon most people will not want to be without.”
“As audio engineers and mixers, we see this as suddenly gaining an incredible new pallet of sonic colors and dimensions that we can use to create something truly spectacular for the home listener that will elevate these performances to what they might expect to hear in a theater or live venue.”
“You can really take advantage of the implied physical space of these performances with current immersive formats and build that into the mixes in a way that people can feel,” adds HEAR’s Rob Macomber. “The level of heightened perception is going to change how people mix live broadcast events forever.”
Designed by Engineer Browning McCollum, GEMINI is already one of the most advanced audio trucks in existence with a powerful pair of matching audio production control rooms that allow for an unprecedented level of control for live broadcast music mixing. The upgrade to 7.1.4 in each room – which includes fresh arrays of Genelec speakers in both – equip HEAR and their colleagues with a set of tools that puts them at the forefront of a new frontier for broadcast audio music that they are eager to share with the world.
“I’m excited that we can now deliver something like this to everyone – billions of people using iPhones, soundbars, modest stereo systems, anything,” enthuses HEAR Co-Founder Jody Elff. “The world is ready for this experience and we’re positioned to deliver it at a level that has never been done before.”
For more information about HEAR, please visit: https://hearmix.com/
About HEAR
HEAR is a partnership between John Harris, Jody Elff, and Rob Macomber providing recording and mixing services, promoting awareness of the value of experienced audio professionals, and connecting content producers with audio specialists across the media spectrum. Harris, Elff, and Macomber have partnered to address the needs of an evolving media industry, providing recording, mixing and audio production resources that focus on the talent and experience of the engineers, coupled with hardware solutions to meet the needs of a new generation of content producers.
With over 70 years of combined professional audio experience focusing on (but not limited to) music, the HEAR team have worked in some of the most demanding audio production environments in the world, from high-profile international television broadcasts to field recordings in Africa, art installations to award-winning album productions, their experience spans the spectrum of what is possible when working with audio in the 21st century.
Steve Bailey