Dolby Atmos is a relatively new format that is sweeping through the music industry one major studio at a time. Dolby Atmos is an immersive audio format that utilises an array of speakers upwards of 7.1.2. Audio is wrapped around the listener and over their head across the ceiling achieving a fully immersive audio experience.
We are very fortunate to have one of the UK’s best sounding Dolby Atmos rooms, in a 9.1.4 speaker configuration. Our state of the art PMC setup complete with a 16 channel Trinnov ensures the room is 100% perfect and sounds out of this world.
What makes Dolby Atmos so superior to mixing in stereo is it’s ability to use binaural processing to fold a mix created in atmos into a stereo file. What this means is that we can mix music in atmos on our 9.1.4 system and print a mix in stereo format for you to listen to on any stereo device. The difference is mind blowing. Mixes gain more depth, they gain more space and ultimately a sound is achieve that is quite simply impossible to achieve working in stereo. As a stereo mixing engineer for 20 years, believe me I have tried.
There is a misconception that in order to listen to Dolby Atmos you must have a £100,000 Dolby Atmos room. This just isn’t the case. For consumer playback of Dolby Atmos you can listen to streaming services like Apple Music using Apple airpods. This will allow you to play the ADM atmos files from Apple Music and experience immersive audio in all it’s glory. Once you start listening to atmos, stereo music just sounds flat and lifeless. You will not go back to stereo after, you have been warned.
Mixing in Dolby Atmos is far more fun than working in stereo. The mix comes to life and you become part of it’s world. You are inside the music working within a 3D sphere. As a mix engineer I can make audio move around the room so that the listener become immersed in the experience. I can make a live record feel and sound as though you are there at the performance. I can make raindrops feel like they are falling on your head. Dolby Atmos is a fully immersive step into the future of audio and we are excited to be one of pioneers of the Dolby Atmos scene adding one of the UK’s first purpose built Dolby Atmos rooms.
