Audio and visual critic Reiji Asakura talks about noteworthy devices and genres in a series "Reiji Asakura's New Digital Review". This time, we will explain live music distribution, which has increased in number at an accelerating rate since the spring of 2020, and whose image quality and sound quality have rapidly evolved accordingly. The postponement or cancellation of music live performances to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection is not tied to time or place, and has brought about a different way of enjoying concert halls.
In the spring of 2020, in response to the declaration of a state of emergency to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection, it was announced that all music live performances would be canceled or postponed. Not only artists, but also many people involved in live performances, as well as the audience who were looking forward to the live performances, have had a tremendous impact.
At first, the sound quality was MP3 and AAC, and the video quality was good, full HD, but from around autumn, with the enhancement of the distribution system, high image quality and high sound quality progressed rapidly. Combined with the improvement in internet speed in the home, an environment has been created in which people can enjoy live music with high sound quality and high image quality while staying at home.
While functioning as an alternative to music live performances, live distribution has a different appeal from real live performances. No matter how big the concert venue is, the maximum number of people who can actually go to a concert is about tens of thousands. There are also restrictions on places such as overseas performances, so there are people who can't go even if they want to.
When it comes to distribution, it goes beyond that framework and many people can watch it at once. It's natural to want to have a better experience with live streaming, and if you can enjoy it with very good image quality and sound quality, you can get an experience that exceeds that of attending a real concert.
The real thrill of a concert held in real life is the excitement, realism, and atmosphere that can only be experienced inside the venue. However, in addition to being influenced by the position of the seat, there is also a disadvantage that it can only be seen (heard) from a certain position.
Kaela Kimura's first delivery that changed the value of music live
In recent live streaming, multi-camera shooting, zooming in on the artist, zooming in on the player playing the instrument, etc. There are plenty of ways to enjoy it that are unique to distribution, such as being able to see what you want to see. It offers a different dimension of enjoyment from the real world. Properly crafted music content is getting to be able to hear good sound properly.
What I thought was "well-staging" from the live recordings was Kaela Kimura's first online live "KAELA presents on-line LIVE 2020 'NEVERLAND'" held in September 2020. I listened to the high-resolution sound delivered by e-onkyo music. The vocal is completely localized in the center, and the image and sound image of the singer are united. Visually imagining the sense of sound image, in addition to high image quality and sound quality, it has become possible to have a new experience that cannot be obtained even at a live venue with multiple perspectives.
In addition to these movements, multi-channel 3D surround distribution is also gaining momentum. The advantage of this is that you can get a sense of hall. Already, Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D, which can reproduce 3D surround sound, are attracting attention not only for movies but also for live streaming.
Seiko Matsuda's 40th anniversary live distribution live, which was truly satisfying with both video and sound But here are a few that I found particularly great.
The first is Seiko Matsuda's live broadcast "40th Anniversary Seiko Matsuda 2020 'Romantic Studio Live'" in October 2020. I think this was a live broadcast that could be called a revolution.
"40th Anniversary Seiko Matsuda 2020 'Romantic Studio Live'"2020 is a memorable year for Seiko Matsuda, who will be celebrating her 40th debut anniversary. However, since it was an environment where live performances could not be performed at all, we adopted the method of live distribution. I watched it on a 150-inch 4K projector and JBL "Project K2" speakers, and the sound and visuals were excellent.
Compatible with HDR, even the subtle gradations of the skin are expressed, and there is no color loss. Despite the high-definition image quality, the resolution was also good. The sound was great too. The band consists of 6 members, and the sound of each instrument is very clear. Especially the keyboard playing was splendid and enjoyable. Seiko Matsuda's voice was clear and well heard.
Because it was a live performance in a recording studio, the basic acoustics were secured, and the mixing was good as well as the performance. I felt that it was a really satisfying live broadcast. If this kind of quality can be realized, it will be possible to divert it to other genres such as classical music as well as pop music.
When I talked to the U-NEXT person who was in charge of the distribution, they were originally careful about image quality and sound quality. It was said that it was. I think that it was a live distribution that was created precisely because it is a highly conscious distribution company.
WOWOW's challenge created a new form of distribution
There was another big live distribution event in October. That is the advanced audio distribution experiment sponsored by WOWOW. WOWOW has been searching for new content that wants to deliver music live with good sound, not just broadcasting, and it was implemented as part of that.
This experiment, which was held twice on October 6th and 28th, used MQA and Auro-3D for the codec. MQA is widely used for high-resolution downloads and high-resolution CDs, and is attracting attention as a next-generation high-quality sound codec.
Recorded in 192kHz/24bit linear PCM using a total of 14 surround microphones, played by marimba player Masato Nagura. This is converted to "HPL" (HeadPhone Listening), which can be heard as stereophonic sound with headphones, and downmixed to 2 channels. Then encode to MQA format. Finally, it was converted to MPEG-4 ALS (Audio Lossless Coding) and delivered to viewers along with the video.
Viewers who receive this file online can use the free application "VLC Media Player" on their PC to play the video, and connect the audio to an MQA compatible DAC via USB on the PC to obtain analog audio. took.
When I actually listened to it, I was very impressed by the way the sound flew and the atmosphere was vivid, and I was very moved to hear the subtleties of Mr. Nagura's performance, who freely handles the four mallets with both hands.
There is of course the value of listening live, but audio has evolved in order to get closer to the live performance. As a result, you can get a freshness and a live feeling in a different sense that you can't even find in live performances. I think that it is possible to realize it because MQA has excellent time resolution and is easy to handle.
There are times when I feel that the relationship between live and streaming is about to be reversed if MQA is used. Since online distribution can be listened to anywhere in the world, if it becomes common, the live market itself will change fundamentally.
Especially for operas, which require a large amount of performance costs, expensive tickets are currently required. You may even find it cheaper. The MQA stream made me feel that hope.
"WOWOW high-definition audio distribution experiment at MQA". Provided by: MQA JAPAN From the left, Mr. Hideo Irimajiri, Mr. Masato Nagura, and Mr. Reiji Asakura from the WOWOW Technical Department. Provided by: MQA JAPANThe second WOWOW advanced audio distribution experiment held on October 28th was the world's first discrete 3D audio using AURO Codec, AURO 3D's high-quality immersive audio coding technology. It was a live video broadcast. On the day of the event, I think it was very meaningful, such as being able to watch this distribution in Belgium.
Dolby Atmos is also known as 3D audio, but it is more based on movies. On the other hand, the AURO 3D produces sound from each channel, so it can express a sound field that envelops you, and even deliver a fluffy atmosphere.
The distribution experiment at this time was a duo concert of piano and drums by Mayo Nakano and Takanobu Baba, which was also wonderful. AURO 9.1 was used for distribution, with a speaker configuration of front (right/center/left), surround (right/left) and subwoofer, front height (right/left), and height surround (right/left). To listen to the distribution on AURO 9.1, you need an AV center with AURO-3D decoding function, but you can listen to it as 5.1ch even on non-compatible devices.
In fact, when I listened to it, I was very moved. The feeling of playing air itself is delivered to the home in a very dense form. I felt that this was very groundbreaking.
KORG's "Live Extreme" Delivers Surprising Streaming Quality
In October, there was another noteworthy announcement regarding live streaming. That is the Internet video distribution system "Live Extreme" developed by KORG. This system has already attracted a lot of attention and is used in various distribution scenes, but I was very surprised that such high image quality and sound quality could be obtained via the Internet.
Live Extreme has three points. The first is high image quality and high sound quality, the second is the ease of system introduction on the platform side, and the third is easy access for users.
Video can be delivered up to 4K, sound up to PCM 384kHz/24bit, DSD 5.6MHz. When I asked Mr. Koji Oishi of KORG, who developed it, he said, "Our biggest commitment is 'audio first'. Until now, distribution systems have combined audio with video, but we've focused on sound and audio. By synchronizing the video to the clock, we can give the maximum resource to the sound.”
There have already been inquiries from many platformers, and some of them have asked to use it in music college classes. In response to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, online classes have become commonplace, and the sound quality of ordinary online meeting tools was unsatisfactory. It is said that it was done.
Korg "Live Extreme" system overviewAbout 100,000 people watched New Japan Philharmonic's live, which also realized multi-angle
The breakthrough in 2021 was Dolby Atmos and It is a concert of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra delivered in high resolution. Held on January 23rd, the concert was recorded in high-resolution multi-channel. It was distributed by U-NEXT, a video distribution service, and Thumva, a live streaming service with high sound quality and high image quality. The distribution has already ended in February, but a total of 100,000 people have watched it.
Sumida Triphony Hall, the venue, has appropriate reverberation characteristics and is also known for its beautiful sound reverberation. The sound delivered in 48kHz/24-bit recording also had a sense of a hall, and the moment the orchestra played the sound, it seemed to spread out and spread out, giving us the feeling of listening at the venue.
This content can be switched with multi-angle video, and seven angles of view can be selected from the menu. It was devised such as changing the sound of Dolby Atmos little by little depending on the angle of the video, and it is said that six types of audio were prepared.
According to U-NEXT, which carried out multi-angle distribution, more cameras can be placed. Ideally, cameras should be placed around all the performers and filmed from three directions, but I think it would be best if you could select the image of the conductor and switch to the sound heard by the conductor. . The same is true for players, and if you can experience yourself performing, this will also be a new way to enjoy the distribution.
The recording was done by Akira Fukada, who is known as a master of multi-recording. The sound quality is natural and unpretentious, and can be said to be “Mr. Fukada’s sound”. Good balance between reverberation and direct sound, clear. I was able to listen to it with a pleasant sound quality.
This distribution was carried out as part of the support project for the Agency for Cultural Affairs' "Culture and Arts Profitability Enhancement Project". We recorded a sound source that can handle both Dolby Atmos and lossless, but in order to do that, we needed high-resolution and multi-track recording, and we were able to do it because of Mr. Fukada.
When I asked Mr. Fukada about that time, he said, "The demand for music distribution is increasing, but most of them are compressed sound sources such as AAC, and the sound is not very good. I wanted to do it, and I wanted to make use of 3D audio,” he commented.
The setting of the microphone was based on a paper by Mr. Hucock Lee of the UK. For normal heights, such as 5.1ch and 7.1ch, it seems that an omnidirectional microphone captures the whole picture, but if the height direction microphone is also omnidirectional, the sound will be heard by the high speaker and the floor speaker during playback. It is said that it will be worn. In order to avoid this, the microphone in the height direction is said to be unidirectional.
In order to get a bird's-eye view of the entire orchestra, 4 omni-directional microphones were added to create a feeling of being surrounded. It is said that four omnidirectional microphones in the height direction are placed above the orchestra, a main microphone and a unidirectional microphone above it.
In fact, by increasing the number of microphones, he felt that the sound of Triphony Hall was recorded as it was, and although he made some adjustments, he said that he did not do any extreme processing. Above all, I was moved by listening to "Fukada Sound".