Ircam HEar

Name: Ircam HEar
Price: 99 USD
Author: FLUX::

by FLUX:: · Imaging · Binaural headphone renderer

Not rated yet

Ircam HEar renders a stereo or surround mix of up to 16 channels, Dolby Atmos included, to binaural audio for headphone listening.

It uses HRTF filtering based on KEMAR dummy head measurements to simulate listening on loudspeakers, and costs $99.

Best for: Mix Bus, Mastering. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: drag-and-drop routing, full mix, wide, AAX, bus processing, colored, mastering, mix bus, subtle.

What it does

Ircam HEar is a binaural encoder from FLUX:: and IRCAM that plays a stereo, surround or Atmos-bed mix over virtual loudspeakers on headphones. It is meant both for checking multichannel mixes without a speaker room and for delivering a binaural version of them.

Up to 16 channels: channel-based virtualization for stereo, surround and Dolby Atmos beds, with support for Pro Tools HD 7.1.2 and 7.0.2 Atmos buses.
Routing matrix: map each DAW input channel to a virtual speaker output.
Speaker Mode: choose the virtual speaker configuration the input is placed on.
Width and Angle Shift: Speaker Width sets the spread in degrees; Angle Shift changes the angle between the listener and the speaker centre.
Space presets: a range of virtual spaces, each with a subtly different colouration.
HRTF: filtering based on measurements of the KEMAR dummy head and torso.

The current version is 3. A trial is available on request. The product page does not mention head tracking or custom HRTF files.

Source: FLUX:: product page

When to use it

Ircam HEar is a simple, low-cost way to hear a surround or Atmos bed on headphones, or to print a binaural version of it. Unlike stereo imagers such as Ozone Imager or S1 Stereo Imager, it doesn't change the width of the mix itself; it changes how the speaker layout is heard over headphones. Compared with Waves Nx, it offers more channels and a routing matrix but no head tracking. It also uses one generic dummy-head HRTF, so it can't be tuned to your own ears.

Best for: monitoring 5.1, 7.1 and Atmos-bed mixes on headphones, and creating binaural renders for headphone listeners.
Genres: any style; most useful in post-production, broadcast and immersive music.
Look elsewhere if: you want head tracking (Waves Nx) or object-based binaural rendering (the Dolby Atmos Renderer's own binaural output).

Where to buy

FLUX::: $99

Tutorials and reviews

TUTO IRCAM HEAR : Multichannel to Binaural

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