PMC proudly provides the ultimate large-scale Dolby Atmos audio system for the legendary musician Steven Wilson at the High End, Munich. He will share his extensive knowledge and experience of using immersive audio as a creative tool in his career as one of the world’s leading songwriters, producers, and Grammy-nominated spatial audio mix engineers.
Wilson will host a series of seminars throughout the four days of the High End, Munich, from 9th to 12th May, in which he will talk about his use of immersive audio in the creation of his music and as an in-demand remixer of classic works by other artists. Each presentation will include demonstrations of his immersive mixes, focusing on his latest album, The Harmony Codex, and some of the other artists’ mixes he has produced, which includes works by Tears for Fears, Ultravox and Roxy Music.
Commenting on the opportunity to present immersive/spatial audio to the audiophile audience in Munich, he says, “There are some people who are very sceptical about spatial audio, and yet they love stereo, to which my reply is, ‘You like stereo, you like spatial’. When sound comes from more than one direction, it is, by definition, spatial.
“And, if you play them the right track, in the right context, you can convert them, which is why this event we're doing at the High End is so exciting. We're going to have an incredible system and interesting music. What’s not to love when you hear your favourite music, and you are literally inside the music with the artist.”
The system Wilson refers to will be installed by PMC specially for these presentations. Utilising a mixture of PMC professional studio main-mix monitors and the ci series, which have become the reference for Atmos Music mixing, it will be the largest such installation undertaken by a company whose speakers are found in the world’s foremost recording facilities. Using a system that features both PMC Professional and PMC Home Audio speakers reinforces the approach the company makes to speaker design. All PMC speakers are voiced identically, whether they the smallest hi-fi speaker, the prodigy1, or the largest studio monitors, the QB1 XBD-A. This “Studio to Home” approach ensures that audiophiles hear the sound at home as it was when created in the studio.
A trio of the class-leading BB6 XBD Active monitors, as used by the BBC, Metropolis, LP:ME Dubai and countless other studios, make up the front left, centre and right channels. Surround and height duties will be undertaken by 14 models from the ci series, with the low frequencies handled by four of PMC’s BST awesomely powerful professional-grade subwoofers.
“This is a system unlike any other we have installed for a hi-fi event,” says Oliver Thomas, commercial director and head of design. “It will provide the audiophile visitors to the High End an opportunity to experience immersive audio on a system unlike any they have heard before, just like the ones used in major commercial studios for Atmos mixing, giving them a taste of what is actually heard by the artists and producers.
“To be partnering with a musician of Steven’s calibre is a real honour, and we know the presentations will be an eye-opener for many of the visitors, for whom immersive audio hasn’t yet been featured in their listening experiences. There really is nothing like it and with Steven at the helm, the demonstrations will show just how creatively and carefully this technology can be used to enhance the enjoyment of music.”
Steven Wilson is a leading light in progressive music, with a career spanning over 30 years. He first began making music in his bedroom as a teenager, the results of which were released under the name Porcupine Tree. The band gained huge commercial success and critical acclaim, influencing a generation of bands that followed. Wilson has also produced several solo albums, the latest being The Harmony Codex, which has been described as his “most fully realised work to date.”
Steven Wilson’s presentations will take place in room K1, foyer 1, at the following times:
9th May
11:00 - Intro to spatial audio + tracks from The Harmony Codex and others + Q&A
14:30 - Intro to spatial audio + tracks from The Harmony Codex and others + Q&A
10th, 11th May
11:00 - Intro to spatial audio + tracks from The Harmony Codex and others + Q&A
14:30 - Intro to spatial audio + tracks from The Harmony Codex and others + Q&A
16:30 - The Harmony Codex full album spatial audio playback + Q&A
12th May
11:00 - Intro to spatial audio + tracks from The Harmony Codex and others + Q&A
14:30 - The Harmony Codex full album spatial audio playback + Q&A
In addition to the immersive audio system, PMC will be exhibiting in room D106, atrium 3, where the flagship fenestria and new Active twenty5i series will be on demonstration.
