[DTSCD][BR] Mando Diao - Aelita - 2014 (Synth-pop, Pop-Rock)

Mol, Belgium, August 8th 2014 – Mando Diao’s seventh album, Aelita, is the first ever popular music album to be released in Auro-3D® sound, alongside Stereo and 5.1 mixes. This revolutionary format is the next generation in audio, marking an exciting leap forward from standard Stereo and Surround sound by adding the missing “Height” dimension around the audience, surrounding the listener in a cocoon of sound and creating a natural 3D listening experience.

Mando DiaoThe extra mixes can be heard on the band’s Pure Audio disc, which can be played back via Blu-ray™, or via the Auro-HeadPhones™ mix of the album, available via the iTunes store for immersive playback over any standard headphones. Until recently, this innovative format had only been available in professional digital cinema, but now the Auro-3D® format has been used to natively mix new music to give the listener the most immersive, life-like sound possible, creating a higher emotional experience.

When given the Russian Synthesiser Aelita, Gustaf and Björn found inspiration with the endless possibilities the instrument provided, from pulsating bass, to delicate arpeggios. As song wirters the duo are always productive and they set about using the electronic sounds as parts to existing material and also creating new song ideas. Björn and Gustaf are known to have an interest in electronic, dance and Hip Hop music and with their experience as DJ’s and producers they brought a new dimension to the collaboration with Björn Olsson with whom they wrote the core of what would be the Aelita album. During sessions at their own Månses studio, the basic tracks were finished.

Following their collaboration for the first album from the artistic collective Caligola in 2012, they continued to work on this new album. In late 2012 Veronica Ferraro started the final stereo mixing of the record while the band explored the visual and audio expression the electronic and digital world could provide, continuing this work during the unprecedented success of Mando Diao’s last album, Infruset, during 2013.

The Auro-3D® format is the next generation in audio, and has already revolutionized cinema sound in cooperation with Auro Technologies’ partner Barco. The move from two-dimensional Stereo and Surround sound (5.1/7.1) formats to Auro-3D® is a break-through achieved by adding the missing dimension of “Height”, with an additional layer of speakers positioned 30° around the listener’s head, creating a vertical stereo field around the listener. This can be virtually reproduced as well thanks to the Auro-HeadPhones™ algorithm.

High-end home theatres are already being equipped to play-back 3D sound, with the Auro-3D® Auriga™ Integrated 3D Sound Processor at the heart of the system. The album can also be played back in immersive 3D sound via headphones, thanks to the innovative Auro-HeadPhones™ algorithm that creates a binaural 3D version of Aelita for a standard pair of headphones.

The Auro-3D® format will soon be available in many other consumer applications, with mobile, automotive, gaming etc. versions all bringing a new immersive and true 3D sound to the market very soon.

“None of our albums sound the same as the last one. We’re always looking for new dimensions and we found yet another one with Aelita. With Aelita we experimented with the exciting opportunities of different technologies. Auro-3D® was a natural step because we could take this record beyond what we had done before. Suddenly new technology makes everything else a compromise copy. This is the full experience!” stated Gustaf Norén.

“Mando Diao have always been musical trail-blazers, and we are proud to bring their stunning new album Aelita to life in an even more realistic way thanks to the Auro-3D® mix”, stated Wilfried Van Baelen, inventor of the Auro-3D® format and CEO of Auro Technologies. “We are getting used to immersive Auro-3D® mixes of blockbuster films like The Amazing Spiderman 2 and Transformers 4: Age of Extinction in the cinema, but this is the first time we have released a 3D mix of a new electronics rock music album. There are many more in the pipeline, and music-lovers will be able to experience amazingly immersive music and film of all kinds in the coming months, whether through cinema, home cinema, mobile, or Auro-Headphones™.”

The Auro-3D® mix was created by Ronald Prent at Wisseloord studios in the Netherlands and the album is mastered by Darcy Proper, 9 times Grammy Award Nominated and 3 times Award winner as well.