ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an in-depth look at object-audio production, delivery and rendering across cinema, broadcasting and interactive applications. It first reviews how audio objects can be represented spatially and how the associated spatial metadata is used to render the objects to loudspeakers. In particular, the chapter discusses some common object panning algorithms and their tradeoffs. It describes several application-specific sets of metadata, beyond spatial representation, enabling interactivity and fine-grain control of artistic intent. The chapter covers specific audio object parametric coding strategies for low bit-rate delivery, e.g. to the home, and provides some insights on where audio object delivery brings the most improvement compared to channel-based delivery. It discusses how some new tools and conversion techniques can be used to complement traditional microphone techniques to capture sets of objects for both immersive and interactive applications. Finally, the chapter describes two industry-wide topics: extending loudness metering and control to object-based presentations as standardization for interchange and delivery of object-based content.
