In this article, first published on the Genelec blog, London-based songwriter, producer, mixer and programmer Emre Ramazanoglu, who has worked with artists like Noel Gallagher, Lily Allen, Steam Down, Paloma Faith and Carly Rae Jepsen recently decided to upgrade his mix and production room to Dolby Atmos. Over to you Emre…

I began to get intrigued with immersive audio around 5 years ago when I heard some Imogen Heap Atmos material at the Genelec Experience Centre in London. After I’d done a bit of reading on the subject, I started to understand the object/bed-based nature of the Dolby Atmos immersive mix workflow, which got me even more interested.

I could tell that Dolby Atmos was a format that the public could easily access and that the binaural fold downs can actually sound really good in their own right, and to me, it had the potential to be a new standard rather than just a premium service – so I started talking to the guys at Dolby, to work out how best to make the move into immersive.

Upgrading The Room

I have a small 4m x 3m mix/production room which was already full with my stereo rig, so where would all the extra kit needed for Dolby Atmos go? After consulting with Andy Bensley at Genelec we started to spec a sensible 7.2.4 rig with bass management and would actually fit in the space. I have great interfaces with a huge I/O count, so finding enough dedicated outputs wasn't going to be an issue and even better, I've been able to keep my Atmos and stereo rigs completely separate.

My immersive monitoring set-up consists of Genelec 8330s for surrounds, 7360 subs, plus 8320s for elevation. The GLM software has been vital – it made everything come together and work with zero issues, and the combination of small monitor footprints and significant power is especially valuable to me as I have such limited space.

Immersive Workflow

Working in Dolby Atmos and immersive audio has proved to be a completely different workflow for the majority of the jobs. The reality for a lot of the major label projects involves working from stems and matching the Atmos mix as closely as possible to the stereo master but in immersive space. This can be a challenge when stems are not created carefully or have been mixed in a top-down workflow, and then that part is just removed for mastering/stem creation.

2D To 3D

Technical difficulties aside, I’d describe stereo mixing as like painting a wall - while immersive mixing is more like painting the wall, the ceiling, all the other walls in the room and the empty space between them! You get huge benefits in dynamics, clarity and spaciousness, but it’s easy to make the mixes feel softer than the stereo versions and that's not acceptable for me. I spend a lot of time and effort keeping the impact and energy up, especially in the binaural render.

The New Standard

The immersive work I’m doing is mainly for major labels’ singles for both new and very-established artists, as well as some jazz and classical album projects and new UK artists such as Steam Down, Theon Cross. It really is an amazing time to be involved, and we're even discussing producing a new album project so it can take advantage of Atmos right from the early stages of production, which could be really interesting.

I also think that Apple Music’s decision to partner with Dolby is game-changing - they are pushing immersive as the new standard, and that is the most important step in creating a new normal. I'm very excited by it and feel very lucky to be working on so much immersive mixing already.

Getting Started?

My advice for anyone considering getting into immersive is to download the renderer, learn it backwards, start on headphones and make the leap to an in-room monitoring system as soon as you can. It's daunting – but when you're in it, there's nothing like the feeling of being properly surrounded by your mix!

For more help, we have lots of excellent content here on Production Expert. Start with our article Mixing Music In Dolby Atmos - Everything You Need To Know if you are looking to start mixing music in Dolby Atmos. If you are looking to mix content for Home Entertainment in Dolby Atmos then check out our article Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment - Everything You Need To Know.

About The Author

Emre Ramazanoglu is a London-based songwriter, producer, mixer, and programmer who describes his “Dysfunctional Pop” sound. He’s worked with Noel Gallagher, Lily Allen, Steam Down, Theon Cross, David Holmes, Paloma Faith, Carly Rae Jepsen and many more.