FREE EBOOK
Getting to Know Ambisonics
A Practical Guide for Sound Engineers, Sound Designers and Artists
Understand Ambisonics with almost no maths. Learn how the format works, hear how the theory impacts the sound via practical exercises. Also learn how to avoid common mistakes when recording, mixing, monitoring and delivering spatial audio.
Practical first
Written for people who make audio and want to hear how the theory impacts the sound.
Format-focused
The concepts apply whichever Ambisonic tools you choose to use.
Written to be useful
Exercises, workflow advice, a quick reference and DAW guidance.
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– Peter Stitt, author of Getting to Know Ambisonics
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START WITH THE SOUND, NOT THE EQUATIONS
Ambisonics is easier to work with once the signal flow makes sense.
Ambisonics can look intimidating because a lot of explanations start with the maths. This guide sticks to what is most vital for practical workflows: what the signals represent, how you create them, what processing you can apply, and how to create a final scene the listener can hear.
If you already understand mono/stereo recording and mixing, you have more transferable knowledge than you might think. The aim is to connect Ambisonics to familiar audio concepts and give you enough understanding to make sensible production decisions.
By the end, you’ll be able to:
- Follow an Ambisonic signal from capture or panning through processing and decoding.
- Understand what Ambisonic order changes and when higher order is useful.
- Work with Ambisonic microphones, panners and decoders more confidently.
- Monitor in binaural and understand what the decoder is doing.
- Avoid common setup, channel-ordering, level and signal-integrity mistakes.
- Make more informed choices when mixing and delivering immersive audio.
INSIDE THE GUIDE
From first principles to practical workflow
The book is designed to work both as an introduction and as something you can come back to when you are in the middle of a project.
01
Ambisonics: Explained
Understand the fundamentals of Ambisonics: order, panning, Ambisonic microphones, processing and decoding. No need to dive into the equations.
02
Binaural & Ambisonics
Learn how binaural hearing relates to spatial audio, as well as what happens when an Ambisonic scene is decoded for headphone listening.
03
Tips for Working with Ambisonics
Tips about setup, signal integrity, monitoring, mix checking, mixing decisions and creative use as well as pitfalls to avoid.
04
Keep It Beside the DAW
A compact Ambisonics quick reference, DAW setup guidance, and a glossary of useful terminology.
WHO IT’S FOR
For people who want to use and understand Ambisonics
Sound engineers
Develop a practical mental model for routing, processing, monitoring and maintaining spatial integrity through a mix.
Sound designers
Understand the scene-based workflow well enough to place, move, transform and monitor sound in three dimensions.
Artists & composers
Learn enough of the technical side to make creative decisions confidently without turning the production process into an engineering exercise.
WHY I WROTE IT
Years of experience gathered in one place.
Since releasing the aX Plugins in 2018, I’ve had a lot of questions from people who are interested in Ambisonics but find it harder to approach than it needs to be. I wrote this guide to put the things I’ve learned into one place and explain the format in the most intuitive way I could.
I’ve kept the maths to an absolute minimum, while including references for readers who want to dig deeper. Most importantly, the book is about Ambisonics as a technology, not specific plugins or tools. The ideas apply regardless of which tools you use.
– Peter Stitt, SSA Plugins
WANT TO PUT IT INTO PRACTICE?
Work with Ambisonics using the aX Plugins.
The aX Plugins cover the Ambisonic production chain from panning and scene rotation through dynamics, EQ, delay, metering and binaural monitoring. They’re designed to be as intuitive as possible to anyone used to working with traditional mono/stereo workflows, while taking advantage of spatial processing for added flexibility.
READY TO GET STARTED?
Get to know Ambisonics
Download the complete guide and keep it nearby for your next spatial-audio project.
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