Apple has opened Apple Music Hall at Battersea Power Station in London, combining a 600-capacity live venue with spatial audio, multitrack recording and broadcast production facilities.
The new space is designed to host intimate performances while providing production infrastructure more commonly associated with larger touring environments. A 11.6m-wide stage can be configured for traditional front-facing performances or more in-the-round layouts.
Audio is delivered through a
48-speaker spatial sound system positioned around the audience, enabling artists to perform in an immersive audio environment.
Behind the performance space, Apple Music Hall incorporates two recording and mix studios built to professional production standards. Performances can be captured as
multitrack recordings and mixed in Spatial Audio either live or after the event.
The venue is also hardwired to accommodate 16 or more cameras feeding a purpose-built broadcast control room. Infrastructure supports conventional broadcast cameras alongside iPhone video capture running
in parallel.
The setup means a single live performance can produce a finished Spatial Audio recording, broadcast-ready audio mix and multicamera video. Apple also plans to livestream performances from the venue globally.
Apple Music Hall has been designed within Battersea
Power Station with architectural elements including heritage brickwork, fluted arches, bronze balconies and a large glass wall overlooking the building’s concourse and the River Thames.
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and International Content, said: “Apple’s deep love
for music dates all the way back to the very beginning, from the launch of the iPod to the long-running iTunes Music Festival to the debut of Apple Music.
“Today, with the opening of Apple Music Hall, we are once
again taking an unprecedented step further in our commitment to artists and fans by supporting live music in ways only Apple can do.”
Apple has also opened new Apple Music Radio studios at Battersea Power Station. The company’s London-based radio
hosts and programmes will now broadcast from the site.
Zane Lowe, Apple Music’s global creative director and lead anchor for Apple Music 1, said: “We’re always looking for new opportunities to connect the artists and the fans because we are
fans.
“What better way to celebrate this relationship than a new music venue where we get to experience amazing music in an amazing space and share it with the world. Great music and memories will be made at Apple Music Hall.”
