Zylia
Zylia is the only company in the world that introduced to the global market a multi-microphone system for recording and playback of volumetric, fully navigable audio (based on the so-called 6 degrees of freedom)
Project title
ZYLIA - a music recording and production system that uses surround sound and virtual reality techniques
Name of Beneficiary/Beneficiaries
Zylia Sp. z o.o. (limited liability company)
Name of programme
Intelligent Development Operational Programme
Competition
Fast Path
Project value
PLN 3 607 532.56
Funding value
PLN 2 740 583.48
Project delivery period
from 1 May 2018 till 30 April 2021
Meet our team
Zylia company develops revolutionary tools and technologies for recording and post-processing of music, 3D audio,and Virtual Reality.
Our mission
Every day we help artists to reach their audience and shorten the distance between them and their audience. With this in mind we develop and provide technologies that enables high-quality spatial sound recording, thanks to which the listeners can have the “being there’ experience.
Our team consists of engineers, musicians and scientists who are characterized by creative thinking and a common passion for developing new technologies. Mutual trust allows us to take responsibility for the implementation of our mission.
View the results of our work
Zylia is the only company in the world that introduced to the global market a multi-microphone system for recording and playback of volumetric, fully navigable audio (based on the so-called 6 degrees of freedom). The system is used in projects related to, inter alia, music, 360° recordings, virtual reality, sports, acoustic measurements and scientific research. The technology developed by the company is a response to the currently strongly developing trends of Apple 3D, Dolby Atmos, Oculus TV, Metaverse and other such inventions. Zyla's solution is a system of many spherical ambisonic microphone arrays which, by synchronously recording a large audio space (sampling through multi-point recordings in 360°), record the entire soundstage with 100% reliability. The work of the microphones is supported by software that transforms the obtained recordings into a large three-dimensional sound stage. The listener moving in an audio space reconstructed in this way, can freely shift around in any direction as if he would do it in the real world, and his movement will be accompanied by realistic listening experiences.
Video – How It Works - A brief Introduction to the ZYLIA 6DoF Navigable Audio System
Video presenting the possibilities of the ZYLIA 6DoF Navigable Audio System - the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, 34 musicians and world-class conductor Maestro Łukasz Borowicz recorded live with the Zylia 30 microphone system, capturing the entire sound stage.
Immersive concert by Jordan Rudess (Dream Theatre), Steve Horelick and Jerry Marotta (former member of Peter Gabriel’s band) at Dreamland Studios, New York. The fantastic performance of the three musicians was captured by several 360° cameras and Zylia microphones. Thanks to multi-point recordings, the viewer will be able to watch the concert from several different angles and listen to realistic 3D sound from every vantage point.
“Jordan Rudess & Friends in 3D Audio”
What problem is addressed by the project?
Please imagine a situation in which we can go virtually to a concert of the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic and, thanks to the technology developed in this project, sit virtually in the 2nd row. Another person may choose the thirteenth row, and someone else may choose to place himself between the musicians or next to the Conductor. Changing the place changes the acoustics, sounds, their directionality, but also the image. It changes our perception and sensations. The listener moves virtually to the concert venue and experiences such impressions and emotions as if he/she were there.
Another person virtually enters the Formula 1 racing museum, for example, and thanks to the VR headset and navigable audio can get the impression that he was in a race or doing a pit-stop to refuel an F1 car. There are hundreds of scenarios for such navigable recordings and they depend on the creativity of the people who will conceive them.
The recordings made with the ZYLIA 6DoF Navigable Audio system are a kind of representation of a sound stage in the form of the sound space sampled with many microphone arrays. This representation constitutes an input to the 6DoF renderer – a software that properly processes audio data and enables sound reproduction on various playback systems, e.g. on multi-speaker installations (multi-channel audio) or headphones (binaural sound). The renderer additionally takes cognisance of information about the position and rotation of the listener moving in a virtual space (e.g. a virtual museum, forest or concert hall). In this manner, the renderer controls the sound reproduction process in such a way that the listener has the impression of actually being at the location of the recording and is able to move freely in this space. He can walk up to a stage where the artists are performing, or even step on it and stand next to any musician of his choice. He can walk around the recorded car or go inside and check whether is not too loud. At any point in time, the sound he will hear will be slightly different as it would be in reality.
Who uses the project results?
The solution placed on the market by Zylia company has caught the attention of many global companies in the audio, IT, media, technology and film industries as well as research groups from the best universities and institutes of technology in the world. Currently, ZYLIA 6DoF Navigable Audio is used by clients such as: Red Bull Media House, Huawei Technologies, Honk Kong Film Academy, Aalto University, Eidos-Montreal, McGill University, Austrian Academy of Science, Saint-Gobain Research Paris, National Institute. of Applied Sciences (INSA Lyon), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, etc.
The system is used in projects related to, inter alia, music and concerts, 360° recordings, virtual reality, sports, acoustic measurements and scientific research. The product is intended for:
- top audio laboratories developing 3D technologies and the latest MPEG-H 3D Audio and MPEG-I Immersive Audio standards;
- volumetric capture studios;
- audio engineers who create sound for 360° films, virtual reality and surround sound;
- professional musicians and artists who want to steam their concerts in a way that has been unavailable so far - so that each of their listeners will feel like at a live concert;
- concert organizers interested in relocating the viewer into a virtual reality;
- game industry developers who create realistic sound environment;
- artists and creators operating in the virtual reality and augmented reality (VR / AR) industry.
Our advice for other applicants
Even the best design and technology require market verification. Therefore, we suggest that each beneficiary of NCBR projects simultaneously seeks financing for the promotion of a technology or products and for the preparation of their initial production. You should also boldly look for customers globally and not limit yourself to the domestic market.
Zylia company invites investors to join the exciting journey of scaling the company to the needs of global markets.