Spatial Audio comes to Apple Music — A virtual dance club experience
Apple Music has added fifteen new Boiler Room recordings to its app, as well as a series of new DJ mixes in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos support.
All of this is part of Apple’s ongoing efforts to provide high-quality audio — and perhaps a more engaging experience (thanks, Spatial Audio). The company calls these mixes a “…immersive audio experience with multidimensional sound and clarity,” according to the company, which announced the update on Wednesday.
The Spatial Audio remixes will be released monthly on the relaunched One Mix series, beginning with acclaimed DJ and producer Jeff Mills’ “Outer to Inner Atmosphere: The Escape Velocity Mix.” On the Apple Music app, the hour-long set is currently available.
The Boiler Room recordings were recently mixed in the same Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos format and were taken at a range of nightclubs and festivals on various dates. It’s designed to resemble a night out at a nightclub.
Spatial audio places sections of the music in a virtual 3D environment around the listener’s head using Dolby Atmos, directional audio filters, and frequency modifications on each ear.
India Jordan, Analog Soul, and The Blessed Madonna are among the performers featured in the first fifteen recordings. More DJ sets in Spatial Audio will be released throughout the year as part of Apple Music’s Boiler Room collection.
Hardware that helps
By default, if you own a set of AirPods or Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, you’ll be able to listen to the high-quality remixes. The accelerometers and gyroscopes inside the AirPods and headphones track your head’s position as well as the location of your iPhone.
As a result, no matter which way you turn, the audio quality remains constant.
Spatial Audio is also supported by the speakers on the latest iPhones and iPads. The iPhone 7 and after, iPad 6th generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation, and iPad mini 5th generation are some of the devices that enable Spatial Audio.
Although it’s unclear whether Apple wants to do something similar for other genres, it’s worth noting that the business invests a significant amount of time and money in DJ remixes and electronic music in particular.
Apple, for example, utilizes Shazam’s music recognition technology to analyze a remix to ensure that everyone involved in the song is appropriately compensated. Other genres may be left behind if this is the case.
