How Does 9D Music Work? (Explained)

9D music works like 8D as it’s formatted in binaural effect. The sound moves left to right and vice versa but the vocal and instrumental are separated. The format allows you to experience like you’re listening to live music but in a relaxing way.

What is 9D music?

9D music is edited music that aims to provide a similar experience to 8D music. In 8D music, the music along with the vocal pans from left to right and vice versa. The 9D music has the same movement and you can appreciate it if you have headphones.

The editing technique in 9D is effective for music because it gives a relaxing feeling when you listen to it. When you listen to 9D, it feels like the singer is just strolling and enjoying the moment. The movement and switching of the vocal and instrumental have no abrupt moment. The movement of the instrumental and vocal is flowing.

How does 9D music work?

As I mentioned earlier, 9D follows the concept of 8D music where the edited music must move in different directions. It must not stay in one direction. But that’s not the only effect you want to achieve in 8D, you want to get the sensation that you’re hearing sounds near your head. To achieve it, editing software is used.

During the editing stage, the two main components added to an existing recording are the reverb and stereo panning. These components are prominent as you listen to 8D music. The reverb is responsible for making the music sound like it’s transmitted across a large area. On the other hand, the stereo panning is responsible for the movement of the sound from left to right. These components are present in 9D music as well.

But the editing doesn’t end there. It has other effects added to create layers in the music you hear. One of the effects is the increase and decrease of the volume. It may sound simple but when it’s combined with stereo panning, you can hear that the sound goes near or far from you. The added layer makes the music interesting and natural sounding.

In 9D, you have all those components but it has an additional effect, which is distinct from this type of music. It’s the separation of the vocals and the instrumental. When the music goes to the left, the vocal goes to the right. It can also be that the vocal stays in one position while the music moves from left to right or vice versa. Yes, they sometimes overlap, but most of the time, you can hear the vocal and instrumental parts separately.

However, when editing 9D music, you must make the transition of effects in a coherent manner. You don’t want the music to sound abrupt, which is distinctive in 8D. In my experience, I feel dizzy when listening to 8D music because the shift of sound moves fast. Even if the original tempo of the music is slow, it sounds fast when it’s in 8D. That’s why I like 9D better.

What is the difference between 8D, 9D, and 16D?

The difference between 8D, 9D, and 16D is the output of the editing. In 8D, you’ll hear the music moves from left to right and vice versa. In 9D, the music still moves from left to right but the vocal doesn’t follow where the instrumental goes. In 16D, the sounds also pan but you can hear more on the beat and vocal, which moves separately.

Even though they have different styles, the formats are based on the binaural effect. This effect works in a two-channel format where you can hear sounds on either left or right side of the ear. It’s created to mimic the way humans hear a sound especially when it’s close to the ear. So, it’s important when listening to this music, you wear headphones.

If you’ll use earphones, I suggest that you wear both. You may not get the same effect when you wear it only on one side of your ear.

Now, let’s dive in on each format. But in this case, I’ll talk about the experience when you hear these formats. I won’t be giving technical inputs in comparing them.

In 8D, the music and vocals move together in one direction. You can distinguish right away that there are no more sounds on the other side when the sound moves to the other direction. Then the sound moves back again to the other side where it once left. The movement is consistently creating a ping-ponged sound. Imagine watching ping pong players playing. Your eye moves fast in the direction where the ping pong ball goes. It’s the same experience in 8D music. Your brain follows the sound where it goes. And the sound is fast that it’s hard to digest if you’re not prepared to listen to it.

8D makes me dizzy. But I guess the dizzy feeling varies. It still depends on the listeners on how they react to the music. YouTube channels offering 8D music, still have a million followers and views.

Let’s talk about 9D. Yes, I like it better than 8D. It’s because the 9D music has a smooth transition even though the sound is moving – the instrumental and vocal are separated. Such separation is an advantage at this point.

The reason why I said that 9D is better than 8D is that you won’t experience the ping-ponged sound in 9D. Even though the instrumental is moving because the vocal stays in one place, the balance of sound for both sides of the ears is maintained.

In 9D, you won’t experience the fast movement of the sound. Even if the vocal is left on the other side as the instrumental moves back and forth, the vocal creates a balance as the music plays. So, when you hear the music, it felt that the instrumental moves slow as it moves from one point to the other. Even though you’re listening to an upbeat song, the movement is gradual that your brain has enough time to process the switching.

But here’s the tricky part, the 16D. Instead of separating the vocal and instrumental, it’s the beat and vocal that get separated. The beat and vocal sound are more forward that you can hear both sounds. But similar to 9D, the transition is smooth. In my observation, the difference between 9D and 16D is hard to determine unless you listen closely.

16D has a more coherent sound than 9D although you can still hear the movement of the music. But it sounds like a crossover between surround sound and 9D. You can hear the separation of elements but they tend to come together like a surround sound. When it comes to experiencing the music, 16D is more relaxing than 9D as it sounds more natural because of the surround sound effect.

To understand the difference between the three formats, you can listen to Coldplay’s Viva La Vida via Youtube. Aviion Music has the 8D version, music but different has the 9D version and Dirk Top has the 16D version. In case you want to hear the original recording, you can visit Coldplay’s YouTube channel.

Conclusion

8D, 9D, and 16D is a better alternative to the music format we’re used to listening especially now that we can’t watch concerts and live events. The sound these formats produce is more natural and it doesn’t sound like it’s recorded in a studio. On the other hand, these formats are not limited to music. It can be used in virtual reality games and role-playing games set up in a war zone. It’s a lot easier to determine where your opponent is coming from if the audio of the games has any of these formats.