Jul 31

Jul 31 12 Songs: Labyrinths

I am both intrigued and horrified by Apple’s new “Spatial Audio” feature. Part of me is ready for the future, eager even, to dive headlong into furthest reaches of the sonic unknown. It seems like the next step, after all; if mono is the equivalent of two dimensional listening, and stereo adds a third, shouldn’t we have long since accessed that fourth dimension by now?

But the realist in me recognizes that any attempt by a Fortune 500 company to reinvent the standard for music enjoyment is, in all likelihood, a scam. The selling point is their patented “head tracking” technology (did Big Brother come up with that name?) which supposedly allows the sound source to be perceived as existing in a fixed point in space. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose of wearing headphones?

Someone let me know when they remix Sleep’s Dopesmoker for spatial audio, we’ll talk then. For now, here’s an old-fashioned “headphone mix.” Strictly stereophonic, as always. —Jackson Todd