Soundscape is first and foremost a producer of point of interest commentaries for moving applications - Moving Media.

From its inception, Soundscape has placed the creative execution - audio commentaries - at the heart of its activity; every one of Soundscape's technical advances seeks to improve the end listener's audio experience.

What this means in practice is the removing of inflexibilities ordinarily associated with pre-recorded audio tours in vehicular environments - cars, trains, coaches and boats - and thereby freeing the commentary creator of mechanical constraints such as fixed time lengths, multiple Points Of Interest (POI) within a single piece, seasonal changes to the landscape etc.

Because traffic flows are in constant and largely unpredictable flux, Soundscape uses such factors as location, direction of travel and speed of travel to permit delivery of different commentary pieces for any specific POI according to these and other variables as they exist at the time of delivery.

One commentary might ordinarily be heard at any given POI in free moving traffic yet if for any reason traffic slows or stops completely then other pieces will then play to expand upon the initial POI and take advantage of the slower movement.

Perhaps Tuesdays are a market day in the town being travelled through, or August 15th is the birthday of a town's famous son or daughter. Market day and 'on this day' commentaries can be played on the appropriate days and even, if needed, at the appropriate times (and tides). Perhaps dusk lends itself to the delivery of a certain commentary. Soundscape can play a different commentary according to the time of day.

In these and many other ways Soundscape technology works with the commentary material intelligently, on the spot, to deliver a magical, exquisitely appropriate audio experience for the listener. And ultimately what the listener hears is the only important matter - not how it is done.

Putting it all together - Soundscape Authoring

An important part of Soundscape's innovation is its Authoring system - an easy-to-use, Windows-based software programme by which the recorded commentaries are first conceived, edited, programmed, simulated and fine-tuned.

Its purpose is to allow the user to engineer and re-create the listener's audio experience when and where he/she wishes without the need for repetitive, time-consuming and therefore expensive fieldwork.

Digital still or video footage, 3D maps, aerial photography and a wealth of other sources can be integrated both as an output (to create a multi-media experience for the listener/viewer) and to assist the researcher in timing, sequencing, prioritising and zoning the selected digital audio files; all with the aim of producing excellent effects with accuracy and speed.

Commentary production often begins with an authoring journey along the designated route, by car...

... or perhaps by boat

The resulting audio aide-memoire, GPS log of the trip and perhaps an accompanying video aid the creator in researching and writing the commentaries.

Once the commentaries have been recorded, the resulting digital audio files are loaded onto the computer and programmed to play according to the selected criteria - location, direction of travel, speed of travel for example.

 

Once the route is complete, both the Soundscape delivery programme and accompanying audio files can then be transferred to the chosen platform - in this case, using a standard USB data key.

Finally the data is loaded into the chosen player, in this case a standard Soundscape commentary unit - but it could be anything from another laptop or PC, hand-held PC, mobile phone or sat-nav unit.

The Soundscape Authoring system is available to all customers under license.