Abbey Road’s signature audio experience is available for cars, and perhaps for the next headphones

Perhaps what is most striking about the precious and impressive sound of Abbey Road Studios is that it is based to some extent on various pieces of home-made and one-of-a-kind equipment which to the untrained eye appear as if they could be more exquisite. The house is in a quiet corner of a group Doctor Who.

“The first thing I asked myself when Bowers & Wilkins approached us about Studio Mode was, ‘How do we make it authentic?’” Merrick Stiles, head of audio products at Abbey Road Studios, tells WIRED. “Abbey Road and its parent company EMI made their own compressors, silencers and the like, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, so how could we capture that sound?”

Which meant that not only did Bowers & Wilkins and Abbey Road Studios find themselves trying to capture the ‘sound signature’ of a physical room and import it into the digital realm, they also found themselves trying to replicate unique effects. From distributors, synthesizers and other Heath Robinson-esque studio equipment. This type of equipment at Abbey Road Studios is the stuff of professional recording legend – so much so that when one of these artefacts becomes available, interest runs deep, and Bidding is brutal.

Despite the obvious and significant challenges presented when bringing Abbey Road Studio Mode to market, Mirek seems happy with the results without any complications. “The cabin of a car is a small, unpromising environment. But I already had some tools that I thought might help — and what matters for an authentic sound is studio recording equipment and the techniques that recording engineers use. Once you map the sound of a studio in the physical sense, a lot of Experiments to a reliable formula.

I’ve heard Abbey Road Studio Mode in action, and quite frankly, there’s no disputing its effectiveness. A colorful and immersive user interface, almost reminiscent of a screen Garage bandallows the Volvo EX90 owner to communicate via a 180-degree horizontal plane between “vintage” and “modern” studio sound, while vertical adjustment between studio room and control room is also available. The user can select a position on either of these axes to get the sound that suits them and enjoy a visual display that surpasses any other in-car audio experience available.