Immersive Music: 8 Dolby Atmos Mixing and Mastering Insights  

Where are you on your immersive music production learning curve?

Immersive music experts headlined at “Immersive Music Production” in NYC. L-R: Executive Director BerkleeNYC Stephen Webber, Ann Mincieil, Michael Romanowski, and George Massenburg (Photo Credit: Kallie Marie)

I had some interesting revelations when I attended a recent all-day event hosted by Mix Magazine at BerkleeNYC Powerstation. “Immersive Music Production” featured speakers and innovators in Dolby Atmos, spatial audio, and beyond, who all had thought provoking insights and advice.

I came to the event curious, but also mostly uninformed about Immersive Music Production, and like many thinking, “This is just going to be like 5.1, right?” While the jury is still out, and only time will tell, signs are pointing to:

No. This is not a drill, and this format may likely be here to stay. So what do you need to know?

Here are eight revelations on Immersive Music Production, in no particular order. This intel was gleaned during live interviews and audience Q&As with the event’s guest speakers, who included such experts as Ann Mincieli, Bob Clearmountain, Kevin Shirley, Darcy Proper, F. Reid Shippen, Rich Keller, George Massenburg, Michael Romanowski and many more.

One: Immersive Music Standardization Challenges

There are many challenges and changes in terms of standardization of delivery formats. There are also challenges with parallel delivery and future compatibility. Dolby and Sony have a difficult relationship, and do not have compatible metadata, with Dolby not wanting to give up its SDK. There is a lot yet to be developed, while the technology continues to evolve.

Two: Consumers Also Need a Spatial Audio Standard 

There is no standard for the consumer – yet. As of now there is no standard set for delivery to consumers, both in hardware that they may access and enjoy immersive music on, but also the codecs that are applied. For example, the companies that make sound bars at present (Sony, Amazon, and Sennheiser) all have different standards for delivery, and communicating or standardizing this between companies.  Better educating consumers about this new format, both in terms of what to expect, how to best enjoy the format, and how more changes may come,   is a critical point, and a bridge is needed. It also needs to be affordable to the consumer, with real PCM audio being distributed to end users.

Apple is driving much of the technology, and innovation – potentially a key indicator that this format will stick. However, Apple changes the current immersive format often, without warning. Presently, Apple has three billion installed users, and is driving the market. Since Apple is very much pushing with augmented reality, so music must keep up on that front too. Apple applies their own 7.1.4 render, and their spatial delivery is in their AirPod headphones — not the iOS device! That means that a firmware update could change the mix, making Apple a moving target. Tidal and Amazon are in there too, and Google is soon to follow with YouTube.

Three: The Perils of Revisionist Mixing! 

Many record labels are pushing for revisionist immersive mixes to be created and released. Some labels are saying that they want stereo and immersive to sound the same, but they are often not bringing in the original producer, mixer, or artist.

Some artists, like Alicia Keys, have been integral to really exploring the immersive format, and having the artist in early to weigh in on these immersive mixes can help make sure that the integrity of the song or album remains intact. As a result, many artists have become distrustful of the immersive conversions of their recordings, because they themselves, nor their original production teams are being included in the transformation of their catalogs. It has been hard to get all artists on board because of this.

For some artists this also feels hard because they must redo something they already worked so hard to complete. From the label’s perspective they are less concerned and are more interested in selling more copies. If you are a producer, it is very important to talk to your artists early about doing both types of mixes so they know if they are doing both – this can really help the artist be present for the process, and plan ahead for future versions. Many labels are rushing to get updated mixes, but the songs might not come out sounding very good. As the technology evolves these mixes will get replaced.

Four: “Re-Imagine the Mixes”

Immersive means a different way to think about the mix. (Photo credit: Kallie Marie)

Ann Mincieli (Alicia Keys, Jungle City Studios) has been integral in establishing the protocols for this format, creating templates and often rendering plugins in place [or freezing] to help resolve format issues. She had started with stereo mixes as guides, but in many cases really had to start from scratch.

Mincieli described how she separates stems when she mixes to help with future mixes, creating pre-mix stems, noting that consistent deliverables for pre-mix prep are important. This would often include Inst, Acapella, mixes as template guidelines. She said that one must re-imagine the mixes, and there’s no true way to be exactly the same.

Five: How to Support the Song

When planning immersive music production, a key perspective to hold in mind is from elite mastering engineer Michael Romanowski, that any “movement should be supporting the song, like it does in stereo. It shouldn’t be movement for movement’s sake.”

In addition, Romanowski explained that mixers should look out for, “When you listen to a song, and you can hear if a part can work in space and tell a story.”

Six: Atmos is the Unknown

Audio engineers and artists went into the Atmos unknown at Power Station at BerkleeNYC. (photo credit: Kallie Marie)

From a recording perspective, the producer and the engineer also have some exploring to do. That’s because right now immersive recording is largely an unknown and presents unique challenges.

For a start, it’s difficult to incorporate experimental practices on a session with an artist. It is too hard to record quickly, and there are currently few immersive microphones on the market. While there are some placements and ambient room miking techniques, these are still in developmental stages.

Additionally, the session and artist can’t be held up to try to stop and experiment, and certain experimental practices could make it harder to punch in. Currently a lot of the available microphones are the market are mostly academic ambisonics. Bob Clearmountain (David Bowie, Rolling Stones) noted that “stereo ambient mics are very important”, and that “Decca tree can be your friend!”

Seven: Thinking in Objects and Beds

Mixes should be thought of in terms of Object-based and Channel Bed-based. In short, objects are elements that are moveable, while beds are non-moveable. Additionally, objects can be panned in 7.1.4 while beds are typically 7.1.2. Thinking about mixes in this way changes the workflow for music and its many genres. Whereas these formats were designed with film in mind, elements that are being dealt with in musics’ post, i.e. mixing and mastering, is still a huge creative component, and is not just about technical deliverables.

Listening is still, and always key. Many mixers who were speaking at “Immersive Music Production” advised the audience to keep a separate LFE (low frequency effects) bed. Objects tend to sound better than beds, according to several people speaking that day, including F.Reid Shippen (Kenny Chesney, Ingrid Michaelson). He also mentioned that labels don’t want too many object-based sessions, because it makes the files huge, so be mindful here. It is all about striking a balance, until Pro Tools has an object bed.

For now Shippen recommends thinking of beds as mainly for effects, keeping objects for parts as much as possible. He also noted that LFE in music should be the center channel, and that nothing below 40 Hz should be in, as it just makes “mud in music.”

He noted that loudness is also dealt with differently in immersive music, and to keep it just under -18 LUFS (loudness unit full scale), adding that it “sounds really good, until it really doesn’t,” making mastering so important to immersive music, as loudness is both experienced and perceived differently. He also warned that phase is a common issue in immersive music, noting that anything too wide will cause phase issues. Make mono choices carefully to avoid phase, and place a single point source in spatial.

Eight: Reduced Barriers to Entry

Barriers for entry into immersive music production are changing. Focusrite have helped with one of their interfaces, making it more accessible, costing much less than an Avid interface. The Focusrite 18i20 audio interface, for example, is retailing for approximately $549 new. Having a workflow like this can help with monitoring that is capable of 7.1.2.

Another approach to wading into immersive music production would be to do some work in binaural headphones, but you must check your mixes in a properly set up immersive speaker system and room. In other considerations for entering the immersive music production world, Audioshake are said to be developing some key cloud-based processing, but so far nothing is released yet. Word on the street says: keep an eye on them.

• Kallie Marie is a contributor to SonicScoop.com. She is the author of “Conversations with Women in Music Production“, available now from Backbeat Books.

Please note: When you buy products through links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.