NILE RODGERS' SPATIAL DELIVERY
Nile Rodgers has been named Apple Music artist in residence focusing on spatial audio.
To complement the announcement, Rodgers, Apple Music, Warner Music and Hipgnosis Songs (whose chief, Merck Mercuriadis, is pictured here with Rodgers) released a video in which the artist-producer demonstrates his process for remixing material from his catalog in spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, breaking down his creative intent, the technical aspects of his music and the endless possibilities the format has brought to his body of work.
“What Apple is doing with spatial audio is the gateway to the future," Rodgers proclaimed. “Streaming and the portability that comes with it have completely changed the way we consume music and today, everything we do is accompanied by a soundtrack of our favorite songs. That came with a sacrifice of audio quality, but now, with spatial audio, you can have the convenience you want while getting a completely immersive audio experience.
“When I put up my original recordings and listened back in spatial, I started to lament that I didn't have it back then. Like The Beatles in mono, our creativity was limited by the technology of the time. That I could have done more artistically is incredible to me, and thanks to spatial audio, now I can. This is a real gift for music lovers.”
Rodgers and Apple Music will host several spatial-audio playback sessions and educational events this summer, including an evening in Los Angeles at the Dolby Vine Theater and retail activations at Apple Store locations in New York and London, as part of the Today at Apple programming that begins this month.
Rodgers has a long history with Apple Music, including his Apple Music Radio show “Deep Hidden Meaning” (which last month won Best Music Special at the ARIAs), on which songwriters discuss the ideas and inspiration behind their work.
Over the course of his five-decade career, Rodgers has written and produced some of the biggest songs in pop music, both for his own band Chic and artists like Madonna, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Daft Punk and Beyoncé.
