The Iconic Abbey Road Audio Experience Is Coming to Cars—and Maybe Your Next Headphones

What’s so remarkable about Abbey Road Studios’ precious and elaborate sound is that to some extent it relies on a variety of homegrown, one-of-a-kind equipment that looks, to the untrained eye, like it could be. at home in a quiet corner of the set Doctor Who.

“The first thing I asked myself when Bowers & Wilkins approached us about Studio Mode was, how do we make it authentic?” Mirek Stiles, head of audio for Abbey Road Studios tells WIRED. “Abbey Road and its parent company EMI made compressors, suppressors, etc., especially in the 1950s and ’60s, so how do we record that sound?”

Which means that not only did Bowers & Wilkins and Abbey Road Studios find themselves trying to capture the “fingerprints” of a physical room and transfer them into a digital environment, but they also found themselves trying to replicate a special effect, one- by removing media, mixers, and other studio equipment. Heath Robinson-esque. This kind of equipment at Abbey Road Studios is the stuff of recording legends – so when one of these recordings is found, the interest runs deep, and advertising is feral.

Despite the obvious challenges and challenges presented in bringing Abbey Road Studio Mode to market, Mirek seems very happy with the results. “The cabin of the car is small and hopeless. But I had some equipment that I thought would help, and the key to real sound is studio recording equipment and techniques that artists use. When a studio sound is physically recorded, more experimentation leads to a more reliable method. “

I’ve heard the Abbey Road Studio method at work, and honestly there’s no arguing with its power. The display is very clear and deep, almost identical to the original screen The Garage Teamallows the owner of the Volvo EX90 to dial through a 180-degree horizontal plane between the “vintage” and “modern” studio, while the vertical transition between the studio room and the control room is also available. The user can choose a position on one of these two axes to hear the sounds they enjoy the most and enjoy the visuals that are heard on the roads ahead of any other car audio system available.