¿Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? There has been a close cause-and-effect relationship between art and life, which has motivated thousands of artists to propose new realities, with which they pretend to generate an impact in their current environment. To do this, the artist must take the existing tools and transgress their limits in order to create something new and captivating. The world of sound for audiovisual media is not an exception, it has been transformed since silent cinema until today’s virtual reality.

 

This project seeks to take the most recent technological tools in 360 audio mix and apply them to music in an experimental and non-conventional manner, and measure their impact on the audience. Ecco 360 aspires to change the role of the music spectator, who goes from being passive in conventional music mix (stereo) to active and immerse in the 360 mix. Nonetheless, in order to make sure that this change will occur effectively, one must ask the following question: Does music mixed in 360 degrees work?

 

Currently there has been a great development in 360 technology used in videoclips, movies, trailers, etc. These videos usually come with predetermined audio mixes, which are generally in stereo. This results in a limited experience, where the user suffers a dissociation between the visual and auditory world (caused by being able to choose freely where to look, but still receiving a predetermined audio mix disconnected to their head movements). This project aims to create that connection between the user and a musical interpretation experience, immersing them in the recording sessions, concerts and experiences of a specific band.

 

The pillars of the project are four songs which are presented both in conventional stereo audio (as a normal EP), as well as a 360 audiovisual product. The songs were composed, produced and played by the band Ecco. Each 360 video experiments with different  approaches to 360 audio mixing. The first video is a live session in studio, the second one a concert, the third one a videoclip and the last video is a two-minute film with sound design in 360. This was an interdisciplinary project as it required visual production, script writing, choreography and, of course, musical recording and mixing. The project has been distributed through social media (Youtube) so that any person can access it using 360 goggles, VR Box or a cell phone (preferably with gyroscope) and headphones.