The latest state-of-the-art sound studio at MAINZ (The Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand) Christchurch, has been around four years in the making, and ensures MAINZ students are gaining an industry-standard training experience in immersive audio.
MAINZ Programme Manager, Ivan Shevchuk, said the studio was now complete after the final install recently took place - upgrading some of the speakers to Adam audio speakers, with professional installation from long-time industry partner, Rockshop.
Immersive audio - also known as Dolby Atmos - has been around in the movie world for more than a decade. “There is a solid demand for graduates who are familiar with it and mixing in this format, ... we’re pursuing the significant developments in industry,” Mr Shevchuk said.
“A pivotal moment for us was seeing it as an emerging trend in the industry and we felt compelled to explore this new format to give students the textual understanding and skills of working in this format.”
Adding the top-end product to their repertoire of teaching tools helped MAINZ to keep pace with contemporary trends, and was essential training for graduates who worked in TV and movies.
Also, platforms such as Apple Music are pushing for immersive audio in Dolby Atmos, “in releases, remasters; any significant new releases, as a rule, will come in immersive audio,” Mr Shevchuk explained.
MAINZ already taught in stereo surround sound (five speakers plus sub woofer); immersive audio is multidimensional, by immersing the listener in sounds which are created from multiple points on both horizontal and vertical planes. This gives the audio a 3D effect, moving the sound around the listener, creating an accurate, real-world, ‘live’ sound. “It’s an enveloping sound experience,” Mr Shevchuk added.
The addition of this specialist sound environment at MAINZ helped to foster recognition within the industry that MAINZ caters to their standards and is well equipped to train students who will be effective employees for the contemporary workplace. Mr Shevchuk said immersive audio is integrated into MAINZ programme delivery. “Level 6 students will use it. We are thrilled to offer this at our specialist campus and it indicates our ongoing commitment to provide MAINZ students with the latest technology.”
It was another string to the bow of SIT, who now offered two equally equipped immersive audio studios across two campuses – MAINZ joins SIT Sound’s Dolby Atmos certified studio in Invercargill which was completed last year.
MAINZ also offers STAR and short courses too; students can contact their school careers advisor for further information.
MAINZ is open for applications for 2025 for the NZ Diploma in Audio Engineering and Production, NZ Cert DJ and Electronic Music Production, NZ Cert EETECH (Entertainment and Event Technology)
Apply now, please go to www.sit.ac.nz/Campus/MAINZ-Christchurch
MAINZ is a faculty of the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT)