Audio Optimisation

Objectives

• Understanding Spatial Audio: Introduce the concept of audio spatialization and its importance in enhancing the immersive experience in Unity 3D applications.
• Using Microsoft Spatializer: Demonstrate how to integrate and utilize the Microsoft Spatializer for advanced audio optimization.
• Optimization Techniques: Show practical steps to optimize audio for different scenarios within a Unity project.

Summary

In this tutorial, we explore the integration of advanced audio spatialization in Unity 3D using Unity’s Audio Spatializer SDK and the Microsoft Spatializer. Unity’s SDK provides sophisticated controls for manipulating how audio is transmitted from a source to a listener, allowing for a more immersive 3D sound experience. This is achieved by applying spatialization effects to each audio source individually. We also discuss the Microsoft Spatializer, a tool for enhancing spatial audio and acoustics in Unity 3D projects. The tutorial guides through the process of enabling these plugins in Unity, emphasizing their role in enhancing audio realism and depth, and how they modify default audio settings for a more engaging auditory experience in games and applications.

Steps

• Start Unity and open your project.

• Navigate to ‘Edit > Project Settings > Audio’ in Unity and select Microsoft Spatializer as the spatializer plugin.

• Enable spatialization by checking the “Enable Spatialization” checkbox and adjusting the Spatial Blend slider to ‘1’.

• Explore audio source settings, focusing on options like “Spatialize” and “Spatialize Post Effect.”

• Adjust the Spatial Blend setting to optimize audio based on the game object’s position.

• Apply these settings to different audio sources in the game, such as ghosts or other characters.

• Save changes and demonstrate the optimized audio in a game scene.

Additional Resources:

Links to Microsoft Spatializer download page: https://github.com/microsoft/spatialaudio-unity/blob/develop/Documentation/QuickStart.md#1-add-the-spatializer-package-reference-to-manifestjson

Official Unity documentation for audio: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Audio.html 

Community forums for further discussion and troubleshooting: https://github.com/microsoft/spatialaudio-unity