If you’re a fan of dramy, melodic, Burning Man-esque vibes, chances are Be Svendsen is a name you’re already familiar with. A tireless innovator and a man with many hats, the Danish producer has proved this once more thanks to his latest work, with his track, Scarecrow, given a whole new lease of life by the team at Polygon. Polygon, lest you be unaware, are specialists in 3D Audio. One listen to the embedded video below (be sure to listen in your headphones and not on a speaker now!) will bring you into a whole new world of sound — the likes of which you might not have known ever even existed. We caught up with Be Svendsen recently, chatting all things Denmark, 3D audio and more… 

WWD: Hey Lars, welcome back to When We Dip. Can you tell us a bit about the first time you encountered 3D production. What was your initial thought on it?

I met the Polygon team in Thailand at WonderFruit Festival in 2017, when they first brought out the first version of the 3D live system. I was impressed by their passion and drive and intrigued by their vision of bringing the immersive audio experience to the dancefloors. We have since worked together on spatializing my live set, routing in out on 64 (!) channels, on the 23 point “l’isa” surround system by L’Acoustics. Their engineer and I would meet up a month prior to the festival in London and work for days in a warehouse with an exact mini version of the big system, sitting in the center of it and prepping the routing of channels and spatialization of sounds. It opens up completely new possibilities for the experience of the receiver.  

WWD: Was it something you immediately wanted to become involved with? And how did the relationship with Polygon come about?

First time was in Thailand with Polygon, and yes I was interested in getting involved straight away. I never really thought about it before then, so when I met these guys I was like, ‘this system is bad-ass where do I sign?’  

WWD: Tell us a bit about the track Scarecrow. It came out on Rebellion originally, right?

I wrote Scarecrow in 2015 and it was released a couple of years later on Rebellion. Originally I wrote it with this very cinematic intro for it to use in my live set that year at Robot heart (Burning Man) and Fusion festival  But I chose not to use the intro on the official release of the track.. So actually I chose this track in particular because I wanted to hear the intro spatialized into binaural 3D. That’s my favourite part here, and I think it works well for being spatialized because of the amount of layers and orchestral instrument-parts I wrote for it. 

WWD: Did Polygon opt for this tune or did you opt for it to be made a 3D track. Why did you/Polygon choose for this particular one do you think?

First we considered my last single ‘Man On The Run’ but there weren’t enough elements to play with so I wrote another piece specifically for this binaural mix purpose, but then I had the idea to use Scarecrow instead, and Polygon agreed to it. If the feedback is positive and people are interested in more, we’ll still put out the other tune I wrote for this. 

WD: Have you listened to many other tracks on ED via your headphones? What do you think makes for a good 3d track?

Well, it is a tricky game because you don’t want it to be too much and too gimmicky – like, ‘check what my new plug in can do’ and go overboard with it by panning the whole track around for it to be obvious. At the same time, if you go too gentle with more detail to the placement and spatialization of the individual sounds, it might end up going a bit unnoticed for the untrained ear, and ‘just’ sounding like a really nice depthful stereo mix – resulting in losing  the wow factor. So it’s a balance. I have only heard a few examples so far, and my verdict is that none of us are experts yet. Once we start writing music specifically for this, with the technology available in the studio, then it will move to the next level. 

WWD: Do you think 3D is a fad? Or is it something that’s here to stay

Not sure. These mixes are specifically made for headphones only, which is great because it forces you to focus and listen to a piece of music with a different level of attention. On the other hand, music is often connected to social situations – so if you want to hear the same track with others, you will need another file to play for it to sound as intended. I can imagine that in the future, new releases would come in both a stereo mix and a binaural mix to give the option.

WWD: Can you tell us a bit about the production process? How was Scarecrow reimagined into a 3D track? What was the process like? 

I have not been involved hands on, in the binaural mixing process. I supplied all the sounds and effect tracks individually to the Polygon engineer and he did the work. We then ping ponged ideas back and forth in order to achieve the best result for this particular track. 

WWD: Do you think the ease of the process means other producers will soon opt for this? And is 3D audio something you see coming to clubs etc? 

If there are interested listeners, then I assume more producers will join, and we will probably see a quick rise in levels of quality and expertise. Taking immersive sound to the clubs and live experiences is a very different game than making a binaural headphone mix. In a live situation you can have as many speakers as you like surrounding you and sound coming from everywhere, whereas in headphones you are trying to create space within the limits of a left/right. It has been happening with classical concerts at selected venues for a while, and Polygon has gone all in in their quest of bringing it to the dancefloor. I believe we will see more of that in near future, … if Covid allows it. 

WWD: What else have you been up to recently that you’d like to shout about? 

I haven’t toured at all this year so there’s been plenty of time to experiment and be playful again. My next official release is out Sept 4th. It contains 2 remixes and a music video of my last single ‘Man On The Run’. One remix by myself and one by an old hero of mine, Richard Dorfmeister (Kruder & Dorfmeister). I am also working on a new album and preparing music and visuals for my (Covid postponed) tour – we moved it to the end of the year so far, so let’s see what happens.

WWD: And finally, what are your hopes and dreams for the next few months? 

I hope for all the people who are challenged in the world right now, to find the strength to go on and it is my dream that humans will unite and create for greater good, and strive to be the best versions of ourselves. It is needed. 

For more information on Polygon, visit their website HERE and their Facebook HERE.

Keep up with Be Svendsen on Soundcloud, Discogs, Facebook. Be Svendsen’s Scarecrow (3D Polygon version) (originally released via Rebellion) is out now.