THE world’s first pop-up immersive music listening room is starting its journey at Penketh, Warrington, this month.
Involving a new and unique music experience, which is being launched by Sound Mixer/Engineer Rob Colquhoun, is coming to Penketh this March, giving Warringtonians the opportunity to be amongst the first members of the public to experience this exciting new audio art form.
Immersive Music Club hosts album playback events on a state-of-the-art immersive soundsystem, which completely surrounds the audience. This burgeoning technology is still largely undiscovered, mainly because there aren’t
any venues (aside from a few flagship Dolby cinemas) fitted with immersive audio systems which include overhead speakers.
In the past couple of years, record companies and recording artists have really started to make use of immersive audio technology for music, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular, bringing music old and new to life in a whole new dimension. Even though Dolby’s Atmos technology has been around for a few years, it remains music’s big secret, one of those “if you know, you know” things, and its only when you hear it with your own ears that you really appreciate the full effect of the experience.
HOW DOES IMMERSIVE AUDIO DIFFER FROM STEREO?
While you may be aware of various buzzword music formats such as Spatial, Immersive and Dolby Atmos, to the majority of us, the technical concept is confusing at best, and downright bewildering at worst. The consumer market is a minefield of Soundbars, AirPods, Smart Speakers, expensive HiFi systems etc.
However, none of these offers a real immersive experience, because true immersive audio includes overhead speakers. Originally created for the cinema, Immersive sound only really comes to life when experienced through an array of synchronised speakers placed all around and (crucially) ABOVE the listener.
WHAT IS IMMERSIVE MUSIC CLUB ALL ABOUT?
Immersive Music Club plays Albums in full, from start to finish, as you would play a film in the cinema, the deliberate opposite of screen-based social media and its short attention span. A handful of seats are set up inside a venue, and then thirteen high quality speakers are placed around and above them. The lights are turned down, phones are on silent, and the audience are given eye masks to wear should they wish. There are no visuals to look at; this is a deep-listening, audioonly experience. When the music starts to play, the audience are taken on an intimate journey with the music, in exquisite detail, exactly as the artist envisioned,
allowing a deep connection you simply can not get outside of going to a concert.
Programme of events
Friday March 13th
IMC 003 – doors 18:30 – 19:00 – Hans Zimmer – Highlights from Dune Part 1 & 2 (1 hour)
IMC 004 – 20:15 – 21:00 – Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (44 Mins)
Saturday March 14th
IMC005. doors 13:30 – 14:00 – 15:15 – Sam Fender – People Watching (48 Mins)
IMC006. 15:00 – 15:30 – 16:30 – Lorde – Virgin (34 mins)
IMC007. 16:15 – 16:45 – 17:45 – Steven Wilson – The Overview (41 Mins)
IMC008. 17:30 – 18:00 – 19:15 – Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go (42 Mins)
IMC009. 19:00 – 19:30 – 20:45 – Jeff Buckley – Grace (52 Mins)
IMC010. 20:30 – 21:00 – 22:00 – David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust (38 mins)
For more details or to purchase tickets priced £6 visit https://www.skiddle.com/g/immersive-music-club/
