8D MUSIC

Posted by Jonny Wright,
September 10, 2021

I know what you’re thinking. There aren’t 8 dimensions (that we know of) so how can a piece of audio be programmed to be in 8D?

If you are a bit of an audiophile, 8D music provides a unique listening experience, one that transports you to a different time, place and world. Now, we work in Marketing and we’re pretty damn good at it – but we’re a bit rusty on our sound engineering, so here’s definitely not a copy and paste of what 8D music actually –

“The term 8D music, or 8D audio refers to the effect some producers are using in the post-production process. Essentially, the 8D audio sound is created when an automated panning effect alternating from left to right is added to the final mix of a song. For the uninitiated, panning is the ability to distribute the sound on different audio channels. Take your regular headphones, they have two physical channels: left and right. You can pan the sound all the way to the left or the right or, you can choose a specific sound to be played by one or the other earphone. With 8D audio, this rotating audio structure simulates the feel of moving circles around your head, fully immersing you in the experience. Further, a reverb effect is also added to make it seem like the audio is coming from a live concert.

The final 8D audio result is similar to the one you would feel walking through the streets with headphones on. Audio seemingly comes from all directions and sources, making it feel more like an emotional and sensory experience than regular listening. For most people, 8D audio and 8D music are examples of futuristic technology making its way into our entertainment stream, but in reality, the basis of 8D has been around for quite some time. Anyone who has ever sat through the surround sound test function in a home cinema, or listened to the beginning of Pink Floyd’s Echoes would have experienced a similar phenomenon. Producers and audio engineers have long-established a multi-dimensional audio map that dictates where the sound comes from in relation to the listener. This audio mapping is effectively the formula on how 8D audio works.” Taken from ManyofMany.

8D audio is blowing up at the moment, with YouTube being the biggest marketplace for 8D music. The reason it’s getting so huge comes down to the psychological effect of the final result. People describe listening to 8D audio as a mix of teleportation and the feeling of total weightlessness, all the way through to an out of body experience.

Check out the track below, with both headphones in, to see what 8D music is all about.