Makers of The Metaverse: Martin Rieger On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries
An Interview With Susan Johnston
Don’t care too much about what colleagues think of you. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they know better. I always thought I can’t charge more than them, because they are more experienced. Turns out I can do just that!
The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Martin Rieger.
Martin Rieger (VRTonung) is always looking for new ways to make 3D audio more accessible and tell new immersive stories. Therefore, he traveled around the world for several XR productions and takes care of the post-production in his Munich recording studio.
After a few years in the VR world, he realized how important it is to look at projects holistically so that the sound can unfold its full potential and thus sees himself as a creative-technical interface.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
I wore a VR headset years ago and thought I could see the future. The visuals were rotating around me, but wait! What about sound? Shouldn’t sound also adjust to what you are looking at, coming from all around you? This is where I found my passion, investigating what you can do with the new 3D audio technology.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Hard to decide on one, but a highlight was definitely being ask from the German National Tourist Office to create their whole online marketing campaign in 3D audio. I could develop a concept that puts the sound of tourism first. Therefore, I travelled all across Germany with special microphones and could even tell the camera guy how to record the image in order to make the sound work as good as possible.
It won multiple awards just like the New Media Award.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
When people hear of spatial audio, they think of Dolby Atmos. But films and music are just a small content format in the 3D audio universe. Also, they don’t add as much value as dynamic audio-headtracking can do. It helps us to communicate, navigate and can even be used for stress relief.
There is so much more to discover with sound apart from entertainment. I had projects where we used spatial audio to educate people better then we could with stereo. And now with the metaverse — a three-dimensional virtual space — sound should also be three dimensional, right? But what does that mean and how does it sound like? I can show you!
How do you think this might change the world?
We as humans always experience sound three-dimensionally. Now with new technology we have the possibility to recreate our natural way of hearing.
Like this, we can create completely new experiences on new immersive devices like headphones, smart speakers, soundbars, VR / AR headsets, the metaverse etc.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Sure, it’s not all about entertainment. Dolby is trying hard to be the “spatial audio company”. But with more digitalization comes more need to connect with people.
With “ready player one” people think they get isolated with all the great experiences they could do at home. But that’s not why you’d enter the metaverse. You want to engage with people, it’s a human desire. So yeah, there could be the risk of isolation but I don’t think so yet.
Oh, and regarding spatial audio, it could reach a point where sound experiences get so realistic, you can’t tell if a sound really happened or it was just a virtual illusion.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Go on YouTube and have a listen to the “virtual barber shop” then you will understand ;) I figured the technology is already there but hardly content creators like myself that understand it and mess around with it.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
When I tell people ask what I do, they think about Dolby. This is OK to some extend but hardly do they know what 3D audio means. There is so much bad information out there that’s why I try to do better with my blog, educating people.
They need to understand how it sounds like and what’s their benefit so that it doesn’t become the gimmick that it is currently.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
During covid, I did a lot of live-sessions via Zoom. I could hack Zoom or podcasts to playback spatial audio — binaural stereo as it is called. So suddenly, people at home could experience 3D audio with normal headphones.
I got booked to mix livestreams or create 3D audio stories that were used for virtual events.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
But I’m thankful for everything I learned from my friend Jonathan Sierck. He is a young high-performer of my age. I got to record all the audiobooks he wrote in our early twenties. I was still studying, unsure of what to do with my life, while he was already running two companies, writing books and speaking in front of CEOs of German’s biggest companies. It still blows my mind how he managed to become friends with the coach of the German national soccer team Hansi Flick, got Harald Lesch to be his Ph.D. supervisor, and just knows so many meaningful celebrities.
Thanks to your collaboration, I have learned every word from his work about time management, self-consciousness, resilience etc. This is how I gathered a Swiss pocket knife of skills that are mandatory to become successful.
So, I thought I could do it as well and he was right. It’s still a long way to go, but it’s a rewarding journey.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Sure, all the information is free on my blog. I gave over 20 expert interviews for students to help them with their work on 3D audio. https://www.vrtonung.de/en/student/ I can’t do all the work by myself, so I’m happy when the next generation is taking off.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Don’t care too much about what colleagues think of you. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they know better. I always thought I can’t charge more than them, because they are more experienced. Turns out I can do just that!
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
1. sales are more important than marketing. You don’t need fancy marketing to earn money
2. become an expert in something. Otherwise, you have huge competition.
3. work less — charge more, it’s easier than you think
4. don’t have too much respect for celebrities. They are mostly normal humans with insecurities like all of us
5. don’t try to be everybody’s darling. There are always people that won’t like you. But if they hate you, they’ll try to destroy you, so just leave them alone.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I’m doing a project with the German blood-cancer aid (DKMS), to create 3D audio stories that encourage people to become a donor. So, 3D audio fighting against cancer as you wish: https://www.dkms.de/aktiv-werden/kampagnen-aktivitaeten/wbcd-2022
If spatial audio, it would sound like an actually patient came close to you, telling his or her cancer story. Then followed by flashback scenes where you could immerse yourself into their past and create empathy to why becoming a donor is important.
You are a person of great influence. If you could spread an idea that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can prompt. :-)
I have the strong believe that despite all the bad things happening in the world, there is still something good in everybody of use. People just needed access to methods with which they could better reflect on their internal conflicts and how they could use their energy for good. So, I’d definitely disrupt the schooling system. With the rise of A.I. it becomes clearer how outdated it is, so let’s focus on what really matters
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might see this. :-)
Mr. Beast
How can our readers further follow you online?
https://www.vrtonung.de/en/blog/
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About The Interviewer: Susan Johnston is a Media Futurist, Columnist as well as Founder and Director at New Media Film Festival®. The New Media Film Festival®, honoring stories worth telling since 2009, is an Award-winning, inclusive, and boundary-pushing catalyst for storytelling and technology. Susan was knighted in Rome in 2017 for her work in Arts & Humanity.
