ROAD AHEAD THE IMMERSIVE

Jarre says that 2023 is going to be exciting with regard to immersive performances due to a unique relationship he has built with CODA Audio, utilising its bespoke SPACE HUB technology for his live shows.

SPACE HUB makes it simple and straightforward to tailor sound to any space, and has a focus on time coherence as well as improved localisation of sound sources and spatial stability. According to CODA, immersive is only truly possible with phase-aligned sound, and SPACE HUB makes it possible to reproduce the sort of detail needed for human ears, which are perfectly equipped to detect spatial differences. If the phase-alignment isn’t precise, your ears and your brain know something is not right in the immersive sound system.

When Jarre was first introduced to CODA and its people, he instantly clicked with a shared ethos in that music is ‘not flat anymore’, and that we as an industry must try to create a different relationship with listeners, even if it’s with just one speaker.

“CODA is in sync and in phase with not only my expectations, but my opinion of the way we would like to receive and enjoy music these days: not being in front of the music, but being inside it,” declares Jarre. “To share with the audience this idea that when I’m composing, I’m actually inside the music, is a feeling and an emotion I’ve always hoped to convey. I’ve been really quite impressed by the fact that every piece of equipment in the CODA range is based on the idea that you forget the technology, and you forget where the sound is coming from – because this is the true magic of music.

“With CODA, even with just two speakers, you don’t feel like you’re trapped by the limitations of stereo. I think the company has a vision that’s very in sync with current times, and the conversations we’re having about immersive worlds and VR and the metaverse are testament to that. We forget that sound is much more important for human beings than visuals for giving the true feeling of immersion: the visual field is 140 degrees, and audio is 360 degrees, so when you’re in the middle of the metaverse, sound is crucial.”

Jarre recently performed a show at MIDEM in Cannes which I was fortunate enough to witness: a 16.1 CODA N-Ray system immersed the audience ‘in the round’ quite spectacularly. This was achieved using CODA Audio’s SPACE HUB immersive processor, and was the first major performance using the manufacturer’s latest technology.

The speaker setup offers CODA’s signature linear-phase and precise transient response, as well as embracing time alignment to provide a complete 360-degree soundstage. Or in simple terms: the movement between the speakers is smooth and realistic, with no audio hopping around or audible phase issues which might ruin the experience.

“For Oxymore, and for future projects, I’m actually inviting the audience to be inside the music, and trying to create environments where listeners are surrounded by speakers. I’ve been working with CODA to follow up a number of ideas and to develop this ecosystem, because it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. My priority as a musician is to share my music today, and so we have to find some tricks or hijack again in order to push our creativity. I’m very enthusiastic about being able to share my music in such an efficient way emotionally.

“You have lots of people justifying what they’re doing by the technique they are using, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the resulting content, which is completely dependent on the technology you’re using.”

Jarre sees CODA as a very interesting company because of its creative approach to loudspeaker technology. CODA’s SPACE Panels - which were recently showcased to great effect by Jarre himself at the ISE Show in Barcelona, are a great example.

SPACE Panels provide immersive 3D audio within customisable 4K screens using ultra-flat speaker modules, which fit within the 70mm-deep design. They also incorporate acoustical treatment within, and paired with CODA’s LINUS amplification, can provide a top notch 3D audio experience pretty much anywhere - including a tricky demo room, as proven at the ISE Show, where the panels featured projections as well as artwork from Jarre’s Oxymore album.

“CODA believes that in the future, loudspeakers should be part of our day-to-day life, and one way of doing this is making the technology invisible,” Jarre says. “This fits into this idea in modern times where we’re thinking about purity, and respecting the environment. CODA’s SPACE Panels sound absolutely fantastic –as good as the most sophisticated sound systems available, and they also have built-in absorption. The panels are so thin, making them nearly invisible; you can even project visuals onto them, and they really do have amazing acoustic properties.

“My dream for my next video is to have this kind of equipment in my own environment. I don’t think it should necessarily replace the fact that speakers should be visible, because it’s nice to have a visual reference - but then sometimes it’s not, and with this technology CODA is unique in offering me as an artist the choice between both. Being big and being ambitious is not the same, and CODA is a company that is ambitious with the concept of ‘less is more’, which is what I really like.”

Jarre is clearly still as much a pioneer now as he was at the start of his career, and this new CODA relationship looks set to keep him at the absolute forefront of audio technology. I am about to put my final question to him, asking what the next technological trends may be, but he is already one step ahead of me:

“[smiles] I’m convinced that with the emergence of the metaverse and the development of VR and XR (Extended Reality), this is going to be the the way of producing music in the next few years; I think we’ll look back at stereo with the same nice feeling we get when we see a gramophone, and the mono technology that our grandparents had. In the next 10 years, we’ll see immersive become the stereo of the 21st century. And once again, a company like CODA is totally in sync with modern times and requirements in that respect, technology-wise but also with ecology in terms of our relationship with energy. That will be the next game-changer.”

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