Apple Music Will Stream III Points Sets in Spatial Audio

III Points may only last a couple of days out of the year, but the sets at the music festival can now live on in perpetuity.

Last year, III Points dedicated part of Mana Wynwood to its 444 stage, a dark, romantic dome where three DJs spun for four hours each night. Adding to the mysticism and minimal space was the one-of-a-kind sound system. L-Acoustics introduced its new L-ISA Spatial Audio System in North America at III Points, with production support from Apple Music. For the audiophile, this denotes a setup featuring an 11.1 surround sound system and an L2 Line Array system. In layperson terms, it meant otherworldly sound, where you felt near the speaker no matter where you were inside.

Generally, when a DJ records a set off the mixer, it is unable to pick up the intricacies of a sound system and, with that, the experience. And forget a video captured on someone's phone. Apple Music captured each of the 444 sets from the two-day festival with unprecedented sound quality, and it will release the recordings exclusively on the music streaming platform on January 24.

"Apple got involved because we were discussing their streaming services for DJ mixes and shared what we were doing with 444," III Points cofounder David Sinopoli tells New Times. "At the same time, they were experimenting with a new spatial audio archiving process. Since we were already collaborating with L-Acoustics to line up speakers and planned to deploy spatial audio at the festival, it felt like the perfect synchronicity. We were both working on the same concept simultaneously, making it a perfect fit."

Complete four-house sets from D33 (AKA Danny Daze) B2B Maher Daniel, Heidi Lawden, Pachange Boys, Seth Troxler, and Yu Su will be available to stream. What distinguishes these sets from something uploaded on, say, SoundCloud is the use of spatial audio.

"The spatial audio is what sets it apart — the way the music is archived and mixed in Dolby Atmos," Sinopoli adds.

Spatial audio is virtual surround sound that makes it feel like the music is coming at you from different angles and distances — even if you are just listening in your living room. Apple integrated spatial audio into its AirPods Pro and AirPods Max headphones.

At 444, ambient mics were used to pick up the sounds of the crowd and environment.

"I believe they used 16 different microphones and recording devices placed throughout the room to capture sounds from various angles, including elemental and environmental noises," Sinopoli explains.

The recordings should make you feel like you're in the thick of it during the festival. The audio is mixed with the "dry" original source to give it spatial depth. Sinopoli notes, "From talking and chatter to laughter, they recorded everything in the space. If someone had opened a bag of chips, they probably captured that, too."

Apple Music will also release other III Points 2024 sets sans spatial audio on January 24. Sinopoli says they will also extract sets from the Isotropic, S3quenc3, and RC 95 stages by local and touring acts.

While many music festivals elect to livestream performances, III Points has so far opted to remain an in-person event.

"Historically, III Points hasn't had many archives, recordings, or streams. We've always believed III Points is about the experience — you come here to be present," Sinopoli says. "We were never the streaming festival and didn't lean toward augmented experiences." However, for Sinopoli, the advent of spatial audio led to a paradigm shift. "If we're going to archive a moment, let's lead with that. If we're going to document anything, let's use audio to take us back to that room and recreate its energy."