Explore Spatial Audio: What It Is, How to Use It & Why It Matters
Spatial audio is reshaping how we experience sound, far beyond traditional stereo. Whether you’re working on music, film, games, or VR, spatial formats like Dolby Atmos, Apple Spatial Audio, and AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio are becoming the new standard. And with tools like Dear Reality’s powerful plugins, dearVR PRO 2, dearVR MONITOR, and dearVR AMBI MICRO, spatial audio creation is more accessible than ever.
What Is Spatial Audio?
Unlike stereo (left/right) or even surround sound (front/back), spatial audio adds a third axis—height—resulting in a full 360° immersive soundstage. This offers an experience that mirrors how we naturally hear in real life.
DearVR PRO 2 lets you place sounds anywhere in this 3D space, supporting formats from binaural and Ambisonics to multi-speaker arrays. Even without a dedicated mixing room, you can use dearVR MONITOR to simulate different environments and test your spatial mixes on headphones.
Why Is It Important Now?
Spatial audio is no longer niche. Netflix has integrated it as standard. Apple devices offer native spatial audio playback. Dolby Atmos has moved from cinemas into living rooms. Whether you're an artist, sound designer, or engineer, working in spatial formats is quickly becoming essential.
Binaural Audio & HRTFs
At the core of spatial realism is binaural audio, which mimics how our ears interpret direction and space. This relies on psychoacoustic principles like interaural time and level differences (ITD/ILD). With head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), tools like dearVR PRO 2 and dearVR MONITOR reproduce these effects digitally for lifelike results, even through headphones.
Creating Spatial Audio: No Studio Needed
There are two main methods available for creating spatial and immersive audio: recording and processing. Often, both methods are combined for the best results. A range of recording techniques and technologies exist for capturing spatial audio.
Binaural Head: The Neumann Binaural head (aka Dummy Head) is an industry standard for capturing binaural audio. It uses two omnidirectional mic capsules built into the ears to capture an incredibly realistic, ‘human’ sounding recording. The dummy head gives a much more accurate representation of the original listening environment compared to using a standard stereo microphone setup. Although the listening orientation is fixed to the direction the head is facing, (known as head-locked audio) it doesn’t allow for experiences where the user can change their position or rotation in the listening scene.
Ambisonic Microphones: A unique type of microphone with 4 cardioid capsules aligned in an ambisonic (tetrahedral array) pattern. Using our a software decoder dearVR AMBI MICRO, the recordings are stripped into the individual channels for further processing. These are easy to use although require a specific array of audio interface inputs. Audio is captured in Ambisonics A-format, then decoded to B-format. The resulting audio is then delivered in four directional channels.
X = Depth axis (Front-Back)
Y = Width axis (Left-Right
Z = Height axis (Up-Down)
W = Pressure/Omni channel (all directions with equal gain and phase)
In-Ear microphones: These are an effective way of capturing audio that has a realistic head feeling, and are particularly useful when used with head-mounted cameras (or a go-pro). They are a more affordable system for capturing spatial audio than a binaural head, although they do come with the disadvantage of capturing some of the noise created by the wearer.
Multi-Microphone Array: If you do not have access to specific spatial mics, you can create an effective multi-microphone array to capture sound from multiple directions. This technique uses a selection of standard mono microphones (or custom spatial mics) arranged in different patterns to capture space as intended. This method provides more flexibility, although requires some practice, and additional post-processing for the best results.
Point and Pan: (aka Point-source recording). Even using a single mono microphone can yield spatial results with the right processing. This technique involves capturing sounds up close with a mono mic, then using spatial processing software (such as dearVR PRO2) to digitally spatialize the audio. This works well for channel or object-based audio and can be translated for broadcast across any kind of spatial, surround, or 3D speaker setup. This method is the best for beginners or those with a limited budget who want to make immersive audio with a DIY approach. That being said, it is still used in professional settings and can produce highly realistic results.
Headphones & Virtual Mix Rooms
Even standard headphones can deliver true spatial audio with the right tools. DearVR MONITOR turns any pair of headphones into a professional spatial audio environment, simulating setups from stereo to 9.1.6.
Soundbars & Crosstalk Cancellation
While not as precise as headphones or speaker arrays, soundbars with crosstalk cancellation can approximate 3D audio. These setups benefit from head tracking and real-time filtering, though they’re more common in home entertainment than production.
Final Thought
Record smart: Spatial audio is harder to fix in post.
Stay consistent: Use the same mic type and spatial processing across a project.
Practice: Get to know your gear and plugins before jumping into a session.
Keep it cohesive: Mixing different mic types can break immersion.