At CES 2025, Dolby and Cadillac are transforming your favorite songs with spacial audio technology
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00:00In the world of automotive innovation, sometimes the most impactful changes
00:12aren't about what's under the hood, but rather what's hitting your ears.
00:17At this year's CES in Las Vegas, Dolby and Cadillac showcased a
00:26partnership that's transforming how we experience music on the road.
00:30Thanks to Dolby Atmos' spatial audio technology,
00:34the excitement of a live concert can now be experienced in your car.
00:38Dolby Atmos is an immersive sound experience and it's basically a way for artists to create
00:46a more emotional and immersive feel with their music or with their content.
00:52Dolby Atmos has gained significant traction in the music industry,
00:55with 90% of Billboard Top 100 artists now creating in Atmos.
01:00Unlike traditional recordings, Atmos requires a complete reimagining of how
01:05tracks are produced, giving artists new tools for creative expression.
01:09Atmos is a new mix, so you have to go to the original source materials, the original tracks,
01:14and you have to mix it for Atmos. Now, this can be done in a high-end studio,
01:19but if you're just starting, you can actually do this at home.
01:21If you have a Mac and you have Pro Tools, that will get you started.
01:24This democratization of production tools has helped drive adoption,
01:28but where Atmos truly shines is in the automotive space.
01:32Cadillac has partnered with Dolby to bring studio-quality sound
01:36to their new electric vehicle, the Optic.
01:38The integration required extensive collaboration between the engineering teams of both companies.
01:44About two years ago, Dolby did a demonstration for me with Dolby Atmos, and I was hooked.
01:49We worked with recording studios that Dolby set us up with to really learn about what's
01:55going on in the artist's mind and what's going on in the mixing engineer,
01:59and creating that studio experience in the vehicle.
02:02The result is a sophisticated 7-1-4 audio system,
02:06featuring 19 strategically placed speakers throughout the vehicle.
02:10We have three subs, we have two in the doors in the front,
02:13and then we have a ported sub in the rear.
02:15We've got three front here, and then we've got two on the sides at 90 degrees,
02:18we've got two more in the D-pillar, and then we've got our height speakers.
02:21The attention to detail also extends to the speaker materials themselves.
02:26The speaker grilles are all stainless steel, and we chose stainless steel speakers
02:30because of the sound transmissibility characteristics of stainless steel.
02:34During our demonstration, Coburn shared a personal moment with Elton John's
02:39Rocketman, one of the first tracks remixed for Atmos.
02:42I heard the backup vocals in the rear of the vehicle, and I heard, it gave me goosebumps.
02:47And I was like, this experience, we need to recreate this for every Cadillac customer.
02:51It just has that emotional touch. I mean, it's like,
02:54people who actually enjoyed Elton John, it's like, you're bringing Elton John back.
02:58It represents courage to me in terms of what Dolby did, or what the mixing engineers did,
03:04you know, to take an iconic song like this, and then try and apply these tools,
03:09these phenomenal tools, to enhance, literally enhance the music, not change it.
03:14Every optic will come standard with Dolby Atmos, at a starting price of $53,495.
03:20Meanwhile, Dolby continues to expand Atmos Beyond Music into other audio experiences.
03:26We've got audiobooks, we've got podcasts, and the audiobook space is really interesting,
03:31what's going on there, because they're creating this scripted podcast,
03:34so it's basically like a movie in audio, and we've got, you know,
03:38books like Harry Potter coming out in audiobook.
03:41Reporting from CES in Las Vegas, I'm Chris Castellino.