Spatial Audio File

As we head into the long weekend ahead, might I respectfully suggest you open your ears to a fine quintet of all-new Atmos recommendations on display here in our latest weekly installment of Spatial Audio File? Each track has been lovingly test-driven via personal listening sessions on both my home system and headphones alike. And, hey, if your weekend winds up being somewhat travel-oriented in spots, you can tap directly into the very best of the immersive Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos universe available in the always expanding Apple Music library to serve as your perfect on-the-road-again soundtrack companion. Win-win, I say!! And this week’s five superstar tracks are. . .

It’s no surprise that Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej’s collaborative effort Divine Tides won a Grammy Award in February 2023 for Best Immersive Audio Album for the 360 Reality Audio version of it done by the ace surround-sound mixing team of producer Herbert Waltl and mixer Eric Schilling. Here, Waltl and Schilling discuss how they created that richly expansive 360RA mix, as well as the key differences between stereo mixes and immersive mixes, how to best tap into emotional responses in a spatial audio setting, and how they strive for their mixes to get you to experience hearing certain mix elements both well above and well below your ear height. . .

Remember when we all knew exactly what the song of the summer was? With today’s non-centralized listening habits, it’s harder and harder to have a mass consensus on what constitutes the very best new song to hear pumping out of a car radio and/or at the beach—or through your headphones/earbuds of choice.

Even so, there will always be songs, whether new or old, that define the summer experience, and some of the choices herein this week’s Spatial Audio File definitely fit that bill. Naturally, each of the five tracks to follow has been thoroughly spec’ed and checked by way of my personal deep-dive listening sessions on both my home system and headphones alike. Sometimes, I even put my shades on to get into the proper full-on summertime vibe. You too can find these and other stellar Made for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos tracks within the always expanding Apple Music library.

Shades duly doffed, I now present to you this week’s quintet of sun-drenched but wholly unbowed immersive tracks as follows. . .

Welcome back one and all to the latest weekly installment of Spatial Audio File. As a card-carrying Spatial Audiophile, it's my sacred honor to select five (count ’em) prime Spatial Audio releases on Apple Music by vetting and recommending key individual tracks and (every now and then) full albums via deep-dive listening sessions on my home system and headphones alike. What you will find here is the very best in the immersive Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos universe that’s available in the ever-expanding Apple Music library so you can experience the aural wonders of it all for yourself.

And this week’s fab five are. . .

While I was listening to the five song selections I made for this week’s Spatial Audio File column, I was struck by the fact that we as listeners can easily have our attention sidetracked by catchy choruses—you know, the ones you just can’t help but sing along with every time you hear them. Call it the “Bohemian Rhapsody” syndrome—which, by the way, is not a bad thing at all, mind you. If anything, it proves the artists/songwriters at hand have handily succeeded in their mission to hook you with their music. But as we’re joyfully singing along, we’re not really paying attention to the music itself since we’re technically “competing” with what we’re hearing in the moment.

Hence, once I got my reflexive singing out of the way—either out loud, or in my head—I buckled down to refocus my critical listening of these five tracks, each of which I thoroughly spec’ed and checked by way of my personal deep dive listening sessions on both my home system and headphones alike. You’ll find all of them, alongside a veritable singalong fest of other stellar Made for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos cuts, within the burgeoning Apple Music library.

Let’s curb our ready-to-sing enthusiasm but instead ramp up our ready-to-listen eagerness by checking out this week’s quintet of readily engaging immersive tracks, which are. . .