Supporting R&D at Maida Vale Studios
0.3XR Stories is supporting two University of York research and development projects at the iconic Maida Vale Studios.
Networked musical performance
A collaboration between the University of York’s AudioLab and Google has developed a series of immersive audio visual scenes. The work is part of a wider project investigating networked musical performance between different spaces that aims to allow musicians to perform with one another in virtual spaces over a low-latency network.
The research team built a digital twin (a virtual representation) of Maida Vale Studio 4 (MV4) in Unreal Engine based on physical measurements of the space.
XR Stories provided support with performance capture, recording animations of individual musicians playing their instruments whilst wearing mocap suits within a Vicon capture volume. The recorded animations were then mapped onto Metahumans (Unreal Engine’s digital avatar creation tool) to create a virtual band who appear as if they are playing live in MV4.
Visit the AudioLab website to find out more about the project.
SAFFIRE (Scalable Audio Frameworks For Immersive Realtime Experiences)
SAFFIRE is a collaboration between the University of York’s Audio Lab, BBC Singers, BBC R&D and the CoSTAR Live Lab. The research and development team has created a platform for networked musical performance whereby multiple performers, at remote locations, can perform together in a shared virtual performance space. Performances are broadcast to a live audience, who can interact with the performers in real-time.
On 21 May, members of the public joined a virtual choir to perform and record a new commission for the BBC Centenary Concert. The concert will take place at the Barbican, London on 2 October 2024 to celebrate 100 years of the BBC Singers.
Using binaural recording techniques, optimised for headphones, people were able to experience what it would be like to perform live with the BBC Singers in Maida Vale Studio 2 (MV2) from their own homes. Participants were then encouraged to send a recording of their performance which will be mixed with the BBC Singers to generate the final piece to be played at the BBC Centenary Concert.
XR Stories provided technical support, expertise and specialist recording equipment on the day of the streamed performance. This included the KU100 Binaural Dummy head, which was used to create immersive audio recordings from within the ranks of the BBC Singers.
The SAFFIRE team plans to repeat the project on a larger scale in the future.
Visit the SAFFIRE website to find out more about the project.
The SAFFIRE research and development team at Maida Vale Studios.
Categories: Research, Technology