“Music is spiritual,” award-winning Indian composer A. R. Rahman once said during an interview. Anyone who enters the artist’s Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios near his home in Chennai will immediately hear what he means. Driven by a desire to bring audiences around the world together, Rahman and his team strive for nothing less than auditory perfection. The studio crew recently installed the certifi ed Auro-3D® studio system to bring its 3D sound mixing capabilities to the next level.
Drawing the audience in
“Before we switched to Auro 11.1, we used the DTS 5.1 and Dolby sound formats to establish an immersive experience,” explains Shiva Kumar, chief sound engineer at AM Studios. “But when Barco contacted us to present their Auro 11.1 audio platform, we wanted to see how it could help us to further awe audiences around the world.” It only took a few demos to convince the critical sound engineers of Auro 11.1’s capabilities. “From the get-go, we were impressed by the natural and authentic quality of the sound. We immediately saw new opportunities to draw people into the story.”
A sound journey
From concept development through installation by trusted Barco partners Meyer Sound and Auro Technologies, the roll-out of the system took just two months. During that time, Meyer Sound was fully available to AM Studios, addressing the engineers’ every question or concern. That service continues to this day, enabling the studio to draw maximum value from its new solution. “I am very satisfied with Auro 11.1,” says sound engineer Anantha Krishnan. “The translation of the sound effects to the theater is almost 99 percent. Furthermore, other formats can sound very harsh and chaotic at times whereas Auro 11.1 enables us to create natural sound that is truly enveloping.