360 WalkMix Creator
360 WalkMix Creator is a spatial audio mixing plug-in compatible with most DAWs and able to encode the output in 360 Reality Audio Music Format, a format optimized for music distribution and compliant with MPEG-H Audio. This is the plug-in behind Sony 360 Reality Audio. Developed by Audio Futures, Inc., a subsidiary of Virtual Sonics, Inc., it lets creators take standard stem files or multitrack recordings and dynamically place and move each sound independently within a 360-degree spherical sound field through a drag-and-drop workflow, and includes a built-in binaural virtualiser that digitally reproduces how room reflections and the shape of the ear change a sound, so mixes can be monitored convincingly on ordinary headphones. It also forms part of Sony's wider 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (360VME) ecosystem, working alongside dedicated software that reproduces the measured acoustic field of a partner studio, such as The Hit Factory in New York, Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles or MIL Studio in Tokyo, on headphones anywhere.
tech specs
history
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360 WalkMix Creator was developed by Audio Futures, Inc., a subsidiary of Virtual Sonics, Inc., specifically as the production tool for Sony's 360 Reality Audio, the company's object-based spatial sound technology for music. Gold Diggers Sound's Studio 6 in Los Angeles, for instance, has been set up as a 360 Reality Audio environment since 2019, giving an indication of how early the plug-in was already embedded in professional workflows. Sony expanded the ecosystem further with the 360 Virtual Mixing Environment service, letting creators measure their own hearing characteristics at partner studios and carry that personalised profile with them to mix on headphones anywhere, using dedicated software alongside WalkMix Creator. The plug-in itself has since been upgraded and rebranded, dropping the "360" prefix to become simply WalkMix Creator.
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