RCF’s all-new D3PTH Immersive Audio is a sophisticated tool aimed at modern live events, which brings an expanded level of realism and improved intelligibility to audience members. With an enhanced palette of mixing options, D3PTH gives audio engineers, artists and sound designers the ability to render musical details at their best.
Stereo sound systems in live venues can often only offer proper stereo image coverage to about 20% of the complete listening area- because of this, many venue systems are currently running in dual-mono configurations. This is a setup that is at odds with audiences worldwide, as they become increasingly accustomed to enhanced stereo and immersive sound fields, either via headphones, soundbars, or home surround sound systems.
RCF’s new technology brings an immersive listening experience to live events with the D3PTH product line, with a focus on practical and easily achievable speaker configurations. The frontal system setup, where line arrays are arranged above the performing stage, create an immersive stereo field with increased intelligibility and transparency for the listener. Between five and nine line-array clusters are the suggested configurations to set up over the performing stage and the improvement over a traditional dual-mono setup is stunning. Stereo coverage of around 70% is achievable in a typical venue setup- all without limiting the ‘sweet spot’ in which the enhanced stereo field can be perceived.
The Immersive Audio Engine has been fine-tuned specifically for a frontal system layout, to ensure that setup and usage are straightforward. RCF’s D3PTH Control Software is used to drive their new E1 rackmount unit, providing all the necessary processing and control to deliver an Immersive Audio experience. The D3PTH E1 rackmount engine also offers modes geared towards more generic speaker layouts, as well as complete 360° installations.
When in use, D3PTH Immersive Audio enhances the options engineers will have when mixing a live event, giving them more creativity, whilst also increasing clarity at the same time. The FOH engineer has several options- they can reinforce the real position of performers on stage, helping to align visual and auditory cues – or they can distribute outgoing audio to different panning positions, enhancing the perceived separation of sources. Material such as background vocals, secondary instruments, auxiliary percussive instruments and synth cues can all be perceived more clearly. Stereo signal rendering becomes more precise, and the overall width of the stereo image can be adjusted to optimize spaciousness.
To maximize the stereo envelopment of a frontal Immersive Audio system, an acoustics-related reverb section has been fine-tuned and combined with a dedicated convolution-based reverb section. A virtual room is used to improve the perception of audio object positioning,
providing early reflections and contributions via the D3PTH acoustical engine. The convolution-based reverb can be used as a creative tool, improving on or replacing the typical stereo reverb often found in digital consoles. To ensure the mix is not altered beyond the mixing engineer’s intentions, the creative reverb section is designed to ensure a balanced and consistently wide stereo tail. Dedicated ‘Depth’ and ‘Mode’ controls are available for each of the audio objects featured in the mix. These controls can be quickly adjusted to suit the nature of the signal and the mix engineer’s artistic intent.
