Indian Sound Engineering Student Wins Gold at Europe’s Sixth 3D Audio Production Competition

A final year sound engineering student at the University of Huddersfield has won gold in the category of ‘Music Recording/Studio Production’ at Europe’s Sixth 3D Audio Production Competition. Rohith Sakthy, a classically trained Indian vocalist, composed and sang the winning track, Zoella, in Hindi.

Reminding Us to Take a Break

“I composed the song to act as a reminder for us to take a break and make more time for ourselves,” Rohith explained. The competition was organized by the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics in Graz, Austria, and streamed live to academic breakout venues around the world. The jury of the competition included international experts in spatial audio recording, computer music, and audio technology.

Rohith’s Year-Long Placement with Fraunhofer

Rohith entered the competition following a recommendation from where he was working as part of his placement year. He said that without the help of the Placement Unit within the School of Computing and Engineering, he wouldn’t have been able to acquire his year-long placement with Fraunhofer in Germany. Rohith described the placement as a crucial part of his development. He gained a huge amount of experience while working there, and even had the opportunity to work on mixes for international grammy-winning artists such as Alicia Keys.

MPEG-H Audio Codec

Fraunhofer, the developers of a new codec called MPEG-H Audio, provided Rohith with the opportunity to work with next-generation audio technology that provides more realism through sound from above as well as around the listener.

Returning to India

Returning to his hometown of Muvattupuzha in India is still at the forefront of Rohith’s career aspirations. He hopes to set up an immersive studio or record label and become an entrepreneur in the music industry. Immersive music in India is still relatively unheard of, as there are not many studios with the facilities and technology to produce it. However, Rohith believes that by opening an immersive music mixing studio in India, he can raise awareness of the technology and make it more accessible to the Indian people.

Conclusion

Rohith’s success in the 3D Audio Production Competition is a testament to his talent and hard work. His win is also a significant achievement for the University of Huddersfield’s BSc (Hons) Sound Engineering and Music Production degree. As Rohith looks towards graduation and his future in the music industry, it is clear that he has a bright future ahead of him.