The world of Audio Mixing is slowly evolving. In less than 100 years, engineers have gone from mixing in Mono Audio to mixing in Immersive Audio. Chances are you have heard a lot of words thrown around regarding different audio formats - Immersive Sound, 3D Sound, Surround sound, Quadraphonic sound, Ambisonics, Binaural, and others over the years.
Here in Kenya, we face a major challenge in Audio Mixing. As the rest of the world slowly shifts into Immersive audio mixing, major production companies are still stuck in Stereo Mixing. This challenge is brought about by an inadequate ability to finance the creation process of sound. Film & TV production companies, Ad Agencies, and Industry Clients at large haven't yet fully realized the value of sound in picture projects. Studios therefore don't see the need to build a surround rig or an immersive rig because the industry doesn't demand it. It is about time that the Kenyan Film & TV industry started to embrace growth in Audio Mixing. This will increase the value of the industry and provide more opportunities for the audio world in Kenya. It is never too late to start experimenting with new ways of audio mixing. Giving grants to production companies to start embracing immersive post-production for Film & TV is a good start to increasing the standards of the film industry. I would also like to challenge Media schools that teach Film & TV to start educating their students about the process of Immersive Audio Mixing and assigning them projects to build their capacity. If we follow suit, we will see ourselves being recognized as one of the most valuable industries by the year 2030.
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