Training on Immersive Sound

Presentation

Immersive sound is becoming increasingly important in our work, particularly with its growing presence on online music streaming platforms. Knowing how to produce with these new formats is now almost essential. How can we regularly offer immersive sound productions for our radio stations? This raises a number of questions – from recording techniques and post-production to archiving and broadcasting.

This training course, combining an online theoretical part and practical on-site sessions, aims to provide concrete answers to these challenges. It is delivered by experts from Radio France’s Innovation Department, the sound engineers responsible for France Musique’s immersive productions, with the collaboration of expert BBC R&D engineers from the EBU Technology and Innovation Audio Systems Group.

Classical Music Plenary, Copenhagen, June 2025 © Christian Larsen/DR

Target audience & attendance

The training is designed for experienced sound engineers from EBU Members, Associates and Approved Participants who wish to integrate immersive sound into their practice, and comprises two main parts:

1/ Theoretical

Three 2-hour online sessions. These sessions are open to all sound engineers working in radio production, including radio drama, music recording and mixing. The sessions have been conceived as a series; therefore, attendance at all three sessions is required.

2/ Practical

A 2-day in-person session at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique in Paris, focused on the application of immersive sound to classical music recordings, aimed at sound engineers specialized in classical music production. This session will be repeated twice, and groups will include a maximum of 6 people.

You may register either for the theoretical part only, or for both the theoretical and the practical (on-site) parts. Please note that completing the full theoretical part (all 3 online sessions) is mandatory in order to attend the in-person session.

Learning objectives

• Understand the context of immersive sound development.  
• Learn about current immersive sound broadcasting tools.  
• Explore recording techniques suitable for immersive recording production.  
• Learn immersive sound mixing practices that ensure good interoperability for classical music (Practical part). 

Programme

The training includes three 2-hour online sessions and a 2-day on-site session at Radio France. Participants will be able to choose one of two available in-person dates, to allow flexibility in attendance.

Theoretical part – Online  

Session 1: Wednesday 4 March 2026, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET

Delivered by Hervé Déjardin and Frédéric Changenet, Heads of Radio France’s Innovation Department

Content:

• Why immersive sound? / What is immersive sound 
• Overview of the immersive sound landscape from the consumer perspective 
• Critical listening of productions (binaural and multichannel) 
• France Musique's strategy 

Session 2: Wednesday 11 March 2026, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET

Delivered by Hervé Déjardin and Frédéric Changenet, Heads of Radio France’s Innovation Department; Alan Archer-Boyd (Lead R&D Engineer, BBC R&D) and Dave Marston (Senior R&D Engineer, BBC R&D), EBU T&I Audio Systems

Content:

• Rendering techniques
  • Multichannel
  • Ambisonic
  • Binaural
  • Object-Based Audio (OBA)
    • ADM – the universal format to produce immersive audio
• From Broadcast to Broadband – How to deliver Immersive Audio to the Audience

Session 3: Wednesday 18 March 2026, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET