Sphere Entertainment has pulled back the curtain to give a behind the scenes look at the audio technology at work for the upcoming The Wizard of Oz show at the Sphere. Newly discovered archival material from the 1939 film is being leveraged alongside the classic score to give audiences a fully immersive step into Oz.
To take advantage of Sphere Immersive Sound’s 167,000 programmable speakers, and ability to direct sound anywhere in the venue, the original film’s mono score was re-recorded to take on new clarity via Sphere Immersive Sound, while preserving the casts’ vocal performances. The mono audio had to first be separated into individual stems of vocals, dialogue, and sound effects. This process, a collaboration between Sphere Studios and Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, used advanced audio technologies to create the individual components without distortion or artifact. Inside Sphere, the stems are being layered together to create a sound mix that reveals a depth and clarity unheard in the 1939 film.
Watch the video above, courtesy of Sphere Entertainment, to see the artists and engineers describe this undertaking in their own words.
