RTVE: inside the metaverse with Radio 3 concerts

Tomás Fernando Flores, Director of Radio 3; David Corral, head of innovation at Radiotelevisión Española, and Fernando Calatayud and Javier Palacios from Singulive, allow us to know how the first step of RTVE in the metaverse through 'Radio 3 concerts'.

He metaverso is full of unknowns. In a world where gurus come out from under the rocks and any flashy technology is destined to change the world (spoiler: no), the proposal to travel to a virtual world to be able to carry out all kinds of activities is, of course, attractive, but also worthy of skepticism.

RTVE, as an entity dedicated to public service, has the obligation to study each innovation that the market throws up. In this way, you can be one of the first to implement them or, at least, discern whether or not a trend deserves to be on everyone's lips. To this end, it dialogues with the entire industry, attends international forums to discover news and launches dozens of initiatives that explore the benefits of technology for production and the viewers themselves.

The metaverse of 'Radio 3 concerts' is compatible with the main models of virtual reality glasses, but also with tablets and mobile phones.

The penultimate of these projects is the implementation of the technology of the metaverso a Radio 3 concerts. Based on the station's programmatic criteria, and applying the know-how of the Spanish company Singulive, RTVE has been able to recreate a concert hall from which the user can share with friends the experience of seeing a relevant artist. In addition, to guarantee its accessibility, the development is available with virtual reality glasses or through a application for tablets and mobiles.

Tomás Fernando Flores, David Corral, Fernando Calatayud y Javier Palacios They provide the opportunity to learn how this project has been developed and what its technological keys are. Neither party is certain about the future popularity of the metaverso, but they are capable of throwing clues that allow us to better see the path through which the broadcast world.

The technological DNA of Radio 3

For some time now, the nature of Radio 3 has changed. What used to be a musical and cultural radio station has become a whole audiovisual factory ready to serve as a testing ground for the future of public broadcasting. This is how he moves it Fernando Flores: “In the DNA of Radio 3 is the desire to investigate new formats, new languages and new technologies”.

The director of Radio 3 acknowledges that in recent times the "profile" of the channel has changed, largely due to "how cultural content is now consumed." This modification of the field of play, marked by the expansion of social networks and the nature of digital natives, has "forced" the platform to generate audiovisual content through the platform Radio 3 Extra.

Thomas Fernando Flores: “The will to get ahead is part of our identity; being present in technological feats from which the rest of the community will surely benefit. audiovisual industry”.

Far from betting on conventionalism in the production methodology, the Radio 3 team accumulates pilot projects: “We have been pioneers in the use of 5G technology; in the making cloud and in MOJO workflows; in the multi-format options, to attend to the different readings of the same content in the different social networks; the broadcast in Dolby Atmos from the Prado Museum with María Arnal and Marcel Bagés…”. And it is that, for Fernando Flores, "vertigo should never occur": "The will to get ahead is part of our identity; being present in technological feats from which the rest of the audiovisual industry will surely benefit”.

the choice of Radio 3 concerts

Each of these precedents have pushed Radio 3 to test and investigate the “virtual reality of the metaverse”. The audiovisual nature of Radio 3 Concerts have converted the format into the ideal candidate for this test: "It is one of our most classic formats and we produce it from Casa de la Radio (Prado del Rey) in happy and fortunate synergy with Televisión Española", says Fernando Flores.

David Corral, part of the RTVE innovation team, highlights the transversality of the program as a key element for their choice: “It is a linear broadcast on radio and television, it is collected on the web and is now available in metaverse format. It is, in short, a global product that allows us to be on all platforms”.

In addition to the versatility referred to by the head of innovation, the proposal to carry Radio 3 concerts to the metaverse is ideal since it is addressed to a young public that Spanish public television is seeking to “recover”. In the same way, this initiative makes it possible to support "Spanish culture and companies that are developing national technology". Everything fits perfectly.

A technological development of more than 30 months

The metaverse of Radio 3 concerts (RTVE) is powered by the technological base of Singulive, a Spanish company that during the last three years has undertaken a R&D work to be able to create a workflow that unites the peculiarities of live music with the necessary technological platform to bring this artistic manifestation to the digital world.

David Corral: "This experience It has allowed us to take a firm first step. the second will be a lot easier”.

This is how he moves it Javier Palacios, content director of Singulive: "We have developed the entire process so that the musician could live an experience as close as possible to performing his songs normally, and the audience could feel that they are in front of the artist and enjoy it."

RTVE - Singulive - Metaverso - Radio 3 concerts Recreation studio

Singulive has recreated the studio for 'Los Conciertos de Radio 3' by Prado del Rey so that it can be explored through its application.

For this project together with RTVE, the Singulive platform (accessible through the homonymous application in the main application stores) recreates the scenario of the Radio 3 concerts. The user can join this sala virtual and chat with other friends moving freely through the space. Once the show starts, from a fixed position, but with freedom of point of view movement, the user will be able to share the concert with your friends of one of the four artists that RTVE has chosen for this pilot test: Carolina Durante, Tanxugueiras, Sôber and Tremendous Jauría. Everything, in an environment where three dimensions created under the graphics engine Unreal Engine 4 with elements such as dynamic lighting, so that you can see how the set is illuminated at times with small flashes of light.

An operator defines the viewing angle for the master camera that will allow Tanxugueiras's concert to be taken to the metaverse.

Simple production, complex post production

He set-up of Radio 3 concerts in the metaverse stands out for its simplicity. To recreate this interactive experience, the Singulive team only needed one front camera shot with a limited space marked so that no one crosses within the shot. This master shot, together with the recording from the sound desk, are mixed to create the signal that viewers can access through the app Singulive.

Only a single master shot is needed for this type of production, although the real work is in post-production.

Although capturing is simple, the process to insert this video in the concert hall recreated in three dimensions is not so simple. Francisco Calatayud, production director of the platform, provides more details: “We have a much more laborious post-production process than it may seem at first glance. For this, we have several internal developments that allow us to introduce video in our virtual concert halls. In fact, we are working with a modified version of Unreal Engine 4 to which we have made specific modifications for this project.

The project of 'Los Conciertos de Radio 3' in the metaverse can also be accessed through a smartphone.

The first Radio 3 concerts in the metaverse have been recorded in HD quality, although the Singulive team is committed to the 4K whenever possible. Not so much for its current use, since Calatayud indicates that "the resolutions of the current glasses force you to rescale them to certain resolutions", but for their future preservation.

Facing future improvements for the platform, the Singulive team is already thinking about the integration of volumetric video, a technology that is still in a "very experimental" phase, but when it is "mature" it will be the perfect complement to your proposal.

RTVE - Singulive - Metaverso - Radio 3 concerts Recreation studio Carolina Durante

Once the concert starts, users can watch the concert from a still shot accompanied by their friends on the Singulive app. On screen, the Carolina Durante concert.

The social value of the metaverse

The proposal created by Singulive for RTVE and Radio 3 concerts is an approach to the possible future developments of the metaverse, which will allow viewers to access entertainment plans from home with the use of their virtual reality glasses and associated peripherals. Until then, the initiative serves as a first contact for this method of social consumption, which allows you to interact in real time with friends with extra immersiveness.

Tomás Fernando Flores, director of Radio 3, testing the experience of live concerts through virtual reality.

Fernando Flores considers that the future of the metaverse on RTVE will possibly be linked to the decisions that are taken based on the result of this “experiment”. Corral, for his part, trusts that this first test will "like" the public and allow help discover “qualities and possibilities” of this window: “At some point we will have to consider what we can offer within the metaverse as the main audiovisual medium in our country, one of the most important in Europe and in the whole world in Spanish. This experience has allowed us to take a firm first step. The second will be much easier.

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez