Virtual sound sources and rendering techniques

An audio processing method, comprising:

• receiving, by a control system and via an interface system, audio data, the audio data including one or more audio signals;
• estimating, by the control system, a direct sound level of each loudspeaker of a set of loudspeakers of an audio environment, to produce an estimation of the direct sound level for each loudspeaker in a listening area, the set of loudspeakers including two or more loudspeakers;
• estimating, by the control system, a loudness of each loudspeaker in the set of loudspeakers, to produce an estimation of the loudness of each loudspeaker in the listening area;
• rendering, by the control system, each of the one or more audio signals included in the audio data for reproduction via the set of loudspeakers, to produce rendered audio signals, wherein:
• the rendering involves determining, for each audio signal, a relative gain of each loudspeaker based, at least in part, on the estimation of the direct sound level for each loudspeaker in the listening area, wherein the relative gains of the loudspeakers are normalized by the same amount by a normalization factor based, at least in part, on the estimation of the loudness of each loudspeaker in the listening area.