Learn how to create an immersive Dolby Atmos experience by understanding binaural mixing for spatial audio. Join Alex Solano as he guides you through his workflow, explains the binaural settings in Pro Tools, and discover from Alex when to use objects to break bed binaural modes. Over to you, Alex…

0:00 Introduction

0:44 Dolby Binaural Settings Overview

1:13 Introduction to Immersive Mixing

1:43 Song Playthrough

2:45 Pro Tools-Dolby Atmos Renderer Communication

3:20 My Role as an Immersive Mixer

5:10 Configuring Binaural Settings for Spatial Audio

7:08 Listening to the Effect of Binaural Modes

9:10 Using Objects to Break Bed Binaural Modes

11:30 Explanation of Binaural Settings

12:30 Immersive Mixing Workflow

There are two schools of thought when mixing music in Dolby Atmos. One is to make the best immersive mix on speakers and ignore the headphone settings. The other one is to make the best headphone mix and ignore the speaker settings. In this video, I'm going to show you how they're both equally important.

I'm going to explain how the binaural settings work when mixing music in Dolby Atmos.

First of all, what are the binaural settings, and how do they work? Immersive mixing or spatial mixing is the process of mixing a song where you place instruments in a 3D environment. The aim is to replicate that experience when you switch over to headphones, and that's why the Dolby Atmos binaural settings are important to give the user the headphone experience that a mixer experiences in the room.

You should listen to the video on headphones to get the most out of what I am showing you. Please note that the vocals are muted, so I can talk over the music. In the first example, you will hear the stereo mix as my binaural settings are off.

How do the binaural settings work, and when do they come into play? There is a Dolby Atmos Binaural Settings plugin, which is basically a remote control for this standalone application if you're working in Pro Tools.

With Pro Tools, you have the standalone DAW and the standalone Dolby Atmos render application. They communicate with each other, and as part of that communication, this plugin allows me to remote control the Renderer Binaural settings for the purpose of creating a binaural audio mix that translates on headphones.

I want to preserve the creative ideas of the music mixer and the mastering engineer. I want to preserve that tonality that they worked so hard to achieve and that the client is super satisfied with, whether it's the label or whether it's the artist. So, the number one rule for mixing Atmos is don't reinvent the mix. Preserve the tonality that they already approved.

Secondly, as more technologies come on board with smart speakers, sound bars and in-car audio, I want to future-proof the Dolby Atmos mixes. And yet, I also want to be able to give everyone else who can't experience the Atmos mix on speakers, I want to give them that same experience listening on headphones as I experience listening on speakers.

At this point, it is going to be best to watch and listen to the video so you can see and hear what I am doing.

I hope it helps you with your Dolby Atmos mixes.