Welcome to Logic Pro 10.7, now with Dolby Atmos. That sounds like a lot for most of us music makers who have likely never even touched Logic's surround functions to digest.  It is, and it isn't. The new integrated native Dolby Atmos functionality focuses on music production for Apple Music and streaming. There are default settings under the hood in the Dolby Atmos Master file (ADM BWF file) that Logic Pro creates and exports that take care of many things for us behind the scenes. So, this truly is Dolby Atmos for the rest of us. No sound engineering degrees are required!

Of course, there are many other small, and not so small, improvements in this update. But let's look at the headline feature first. Dolby Atmos.

Let's get the first question going through everyone's mind right now out of the way.  Yes, you can start with headphones only, and no, you don't need a full surround enhanced monitoring set up in your studio.  The Apple version of the Dolby Atmos plug-in on the Master Channel provides monitoring options from binaural up to a dedicated 7.1.4 monitoring setup. 

That said, Dolby strongly recommends that that should not mix a track in Dolby Atmos only using headphones. You should check your mixes on a 7.1.4 speaker system before releasing the tracks. But this integration does mean a lot of people will be able to start experimenting with Dolby’s immersive format at no additional cost if you already have Logic Pro X.

The great thing about Dolby Atmos is that the ADM master file contains all the panning and positioning metadata separate from the audio used in your mix. The playback device is where the rendering to the available speaker or headphone setup takes place. So, you can use the same ADM master file for playback in a theatre with forty speakers, in a studio with 7.1.4 monitoring in place, or through Apple Music on your iPhone to a pair of AirPod Pro earbuds. Thanks to the magic of the psychoacoustic phenomenon in binaural audio, the latter is possible, making it possible to experience full 3D audio via headphones. 

Once you enable the new project setting that enables spatial audio, your existing channel strips change from stereo output to 7.1.2 surround format.

The Dolby Atmos plug-in is automatically instantiated on the newly generated Master Channel, which replaces the conventional stereo outputs.  All channels set to "Surround," using the discrete Surround Panner, are automatically part of the "Surround Bed." This signal arrives at the Master Channel before the Atmos plug-in. 

Any mono or stereo channel in a project is easily transformed to a Dolby Atmos 3D Object track by switching to the new3D Object Panner. Now the output stream of this channel (post-fader) will be routed directly to the Dolby Atmos plug-in. The Dolby Atmos plug-in receives the metadata (static positioning or automation data) of the 3D Object Pan of these channels. It renders the stream accordingly and is visualized in the 3D view of the Dolby Atmos plug-in.

All plug-ins inserted on the Master Channel before the Dolby Atmos plug-in will process the "Bed" channels. I like placing the new multi-channel version of the gain plug-in for discreet level control of the 7.1.2 surround bed channels at this point. 

The Dolby Atmos plug-in mixes/renders the bed channels and the individual mono and stereo streams of the "Object" channels with their specific metadata. The surround format of the output of the Dolby Atmos plug-in is 7.1.4. 

Plug-ins after the Dolby Atmos plug-in are for monitoring only. You can, for example, insert a second Level Meter and a Loudness Meter right after the Dolby Atmos plug-in. Use this to watch for the recommended -18 dB LUFS  Dolby Atmos target level.

This update also includes 13 plug-ins (so far) that are expanded to support 7.1.4 channel configurations.  A fantastic update to Space Designer includes new B format impulses, designed to work with Dolby Atmos. It allows for balancing the canopy of immersive reverb between front/rear and top/bottom.

Step Sequencer has also received a lot of love in this update. Now we can record notes, plug-in parameter changes, or channel strip control values live to the step sequencer grid in real-time or use step input. There is a new key/scale pitch quantize function, monophonic input, and much more. And there is also a long-requested feature when using Drum Machine Designer in Step Sequencer. Note mode editing will now change the pitches of a single row or individual kit piece. So you can, for example, transpose each step of a sustained 808 kick to create a bass line. The transposed pitches will even follow the new pattern key and scale quantize settings!

There are, as always, a host of other significant enhancements. After many decades of requests, Logic now has independent MIDI port and channel input assignments for each track. You can, for example, use multiple MIDI input devices (e.g. 2 Keyboards) and assign them to dedicated tracks. As a result, the "Auto demix by channel if multitrack recording "project setting is gone. There is now no more need for this. MIDI 2.0 is now supported. The interface has an updated, Big Sur-friendly look. The advanced preferences are consolidated and easily enabled/disabled from a single checkbox. Pedalboard finally has some mono to stereo routing enhancements. Pitch detection is improved, resulting in more accurate flex pitch results. We have the option to toggle Record Automation with Regions now for audio tracks as well. 

And, as always, this update does not disappoint in terms of new content. There are over 2800 new loops in various genres and from some of the world's top producers, including Boys Noize, Mark Lettieri, Mark Ronson, Oak Felder, Soulection, Take A Daytrip, Tom Misch, and TRAKGIRL. There are 120 new instrument patches and 50 vintage and modern drum kits, including a collection of 808 samples. 

To take a detailed look at all the new features, including the new step sequencer and Dolby Atmos workflow functions, check out Logic Pro 10.7 Update Explained at groove3. There are two hours of video covering everything new. Plus, there is a surround sound primer for those starting from scratch with multi-channel audio in Logic Pro.

Dolby Release Free Tutorial Video

In this video the team at Dolby show how to get up and running mixing Dolby Atmos Music using Logic Pro and the new Dolby Atmos tools within Logic and yes you won’t need any additional software, the Dolby Atmos Renderer is built into Logic Pro 10.7.

For more information on mixing in Dolby Atmos using Logic Pro, you can also visit the Logic Pro section of the Knowledge Base.