The FAME Audio Group held its 32nd meeting at BBC R&D North in Salford on Thursday last week. As well as addressing a full agenda, the group was lucky enough to be shown around the BBC Blue Room, where cutting edge consumer technologies ranging from VR and 360° video capture to the vanishingly small micro:bit computer and its associated online programming environment were on demo.
Being a group of audio experts, the real jewel in the crown was the opportunity to experience the effects of various Next Generation Audio (NGA) renderers currently under consideration in ITU WP6 and which BBC R&D is evaluating. Chris Pike demonstrated the renderers in BBC R&D North’s state-of-the-art listening room (42 loudspeakers arranged at three heights in accordance with the layouts specified in Recommendation ITU-R BS.2051-0, together with three subwoofers) that provided the group with a unique opportunity to experience at first hand the tangible effects of the renderers under consideration for international standardisation.
The group was also able to sample some of the BBC’s binaural recording of portions of this year’s Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall in London. The binaural material requires the use of headphones to properly appreciate the aural envelopment that the technique can provide when done properly, as was very evidently the case here. You can try it yourself using a modern browser and going to bbc.in/2bxLMWv. Many thanks go to BBC R&D North for hosting an excellent meeting.