Studio Update: 90% Atmos-phere Achieved!
Right, so here’s the news: my studio is now about 90% converted for recording and mixing in 7.1.4 Atmos. That’s seven speakers, one sub, and four overheads; if you stand in the middle and close your eyes, you’ll either have a transcendent audio experience or get vertigo. Either way, it’s progress
Some Juicy Lessons from the Atmos Trenches
Genelec Speaker Lineup:
After much trial and error, I settled on a bunch of Genelecs 8010A, 8020D, and the 7050C sub. The 8010As are surprisingly punchy for their size although a little light in the low end (I know obvious given their size), the 8020Ds deliver detail and power, and the 7050C ties it all together with a solid tummy vibrating low end.
Denon AVR Victory:
To keep costs sensible , I picked up a “good as new” Denon AVR. It’s been a reliable workhorse to someone before me, and now it's handling my Atmos duties without the wallet pain of buying brand new. One thought though.. if you are looking for a decoder that is specifically build for line live outputs and has no built in amp it costs more than a decoder that include line level out and amp power. Now does that sound a bit backwards to you? It does to me.
Focusrite Clarett8+ Master/ Clarett8 Slave Trick:
One of my favourite hacks was hooking up two Focusrite Claretts in a master and slave combo using ADAT. This setup now gives me enough outputs to feed all the speakers, inputs to accept the decoded channels from teh Denon, and it worked far more smoothly than I expected (after a few choice words, firmware updates and some serious sketches using pencil, a rubber and coloured highlight pens).
Routing Riddles and Workflow Wonders
Two Days of Routing Mayhem: It took a solid two days of head-scratching to get the routing sorted for both streaming Atmos from Tidal via Denon and the Macbook channel outputs from Cubase. There were more sketches, diagrams, YouTube tutorials, and more than a few cups of tea involved, and the occasional cider and marmite peanuts.
Snapshot Shuffle: Every time I swap between "music production" to just enjoying other people’s Atmos mixes, I have to reset the snapshot in each of the Claretts. It’s a bit of a faff swapping USB cables from each Clarett, but worth it for the flexibility ---- though I sometimes wonder if my audio interface is candlelighting me?
Mixing Mayhem
Drum Kits in Surround: Routing Superior Drummer 3 through Cubase’s labyrinthine audio paths means I can now put the kick drum in your chest, cymbals above your head, and toms swirling around like an over caffeinated octopus. Drum grooves have never been so… three-dimensional. But I think the novelty will wear off and a more considered approach will prevail (Hopefully).
VST Plugin Restraint: I am slowly learning (sometimes the hard way) that a touch of reverb on the Atmos master bus goes a long way. Too much room, and you’re mixing in a swimming pool. Less is more.
Object-Based Cocking About: There’s something deeply satisfying about sending a guitar riff floating over your head or having backing vocals whisper from behind. The “bed” keeps things grounded, but the “objects” are where the fun happens. But again spinning things around keeps the kids entertained, but I don't think it will be embedded too much into future track mixes.
Experiments and DIY Adventures Along the Way
Binaural Mixing Attempts: I tried to do a mix using binaural rendering in my Audio Technica headphones - no monitors, just headphones. But my ears couldn’t detect any real sense of 3D space; yes it sound open but it just doesn't translate sound placements like the speakers do. Yes it would be a cheaper more practical option, and I know headphone mixes will be part of the delivery process, but I think my pinnas are not calibrated that way.
I accept that most people will listen to mixes on headphones so I am going to have to trust in the magic of software to fold down my 7.1.4 mixes to simpler 5.1, binaural and stereo renderings. But I've only just started making music and Atmos mixes so lets see how the output opion develop.
DIY Cable Crafting: In a need to manage my budget, I learned how to solder and make my own XLR to TRS cables so they could reach around the room. That was fun… but took way too long and involved more burnt fingers than I’d like to admit. But it's a useful skill and cut costs by I calculate 70-80%
Miles of Cable: I bought a 100 drum of Van Damme starquad cable. There’s now over 90 metres of audio cable running around behind my wall panels. At this point, I’m convinced the cables are plotting to form their own band. I also have a few metres spare for ebay, or perhaps I might go into custom cable manufacturing. Handmade in the UK.
Atmos Mixes: The Good, the Bad, and the Glorious
It’s been eye-opening listening ( Ear Opening) to other people’s Atmos mixes and isolating the independent speakers in an attempt to reverse engineer tracks.
Elton John’s “Rocket Man” in Atmos is absolutely glorious, those acoustic guitar tickles, the backing vocals caressing your ears, the analog synth behind you and the room space you are invited into.... mmmmm. I had read about this track and its Atmos remix so this was the mix that made me think " Ahh now I get it"
Steven Wilson’s mixes are consistently inspirational, showing just how immersive and musically entertaining this format can be. You can hear how recording today can be approached by placing sounds in a space.
Is the tail wagging the dog?
In some respect yes. I do think part of this surround sound renaissance is led by some music industry players gatekeeping so they can charge an entry fee. This is a subject for a whole new discussion, but honestly, some Atmos mixes are just crap - overcooked, cluttered, and missing the immersive point. Or are they just doing what they need to do to get into the party?
Final Thoughts On Where I'm At (for now…)
Acoustic treatment is more important than ever - more speakers, more reflections, more opportunities for chaos. And as for that elusive “100% finished” mark? There’s always another microphone cable to move away from a power cable, another speaker to nudge, and at least three more cups of tea required before I can call it done. But I'm close so I think room correction is mainly going to be software based using something like SoundID reference.
My current wishlist also includes the official Dolby Atmos Renderer, but for now, I’m making do with the built-in Cubase version. Of course, just when you think you’re nearly there, the list grows: Cinematic Rooms Pro (that immersive reverb is looking very promising), a proper immersive reverb etc etc. Bugger.
What's Next?
I've tried to run before I walk. I started tracking one of my new songs (Don't Talk) in 7.1.4 and I got myself into a bit of a muddle. Therefore my plan is to take a step back and use some of my older track to practise the art of immersive mixing.
I found the hard drive from 2009 with all the tracks from my "Focal Point" album and I'm going to remix one of them. I'll take it all the way from archive to re-release, and along the way determine how my setup works. (Spot the old project manager in me).
I'm looking forward to this next bit; it's a trip down memory lane inspired by the future
Thanks for sticking with me on this journey. If you want to know what 90% success sounds like, watch this space. And if you’ve got Atmos questions or want to hear more behind-the-scenes chaos, drop a comment!