Dolby Atmos-encoded music is becoming more widely used, but it has yet to reach that point. The question of whether it is advantageous to mix music using Dolby Atmos arises, given that most people still listen to music through stereo headphones. Whether you write music in your spare bedroom or at a renowned professional studio, it would help to have a firm grasp of a few crucial concepts before making any decisions.
Problems With Dolby Atmos
Moving beyond binaural listening has always been challenging, but Dolby Atmos support is now being built into various audio equipment, including cell phones, soundbars, computers, and headphones. The recent push toward Dolby Atmos sound use at home has brought a fantastic new method for mixing immersive, three-dimensional music. Still, the music industry has yet to abandon support for stereo tracks anytime soon.
This change in the business will present some challenges for artists, producers, and engineers. Learning how to mix music with the Dolby Atmos plugin takes time, and buying the necessary gear and software costs a lot of money. Additionally, the consistency of the listening experience is a hot topic because it can vary based on the streaming service used and the sound quality of some recordings. This raises another issue, namely the consistency of the hearing experience.
Contrary to stereo, only some have a device that can playback material in this format, and not everyone subscribes to a streaming service that supports Dolby. Here are the most crucial things you should be aware of before diving into editing in Dolby Atmos because there are many things to consider.
1. Speakers
Eight speakers are positioned in a circle around a sofa and are pointed at a television in this computer-generated illustration.
A Dolby Atmos system can install up to 22 speakers, but this arrangement is unusual for most audio engineers. However, this setup must have the complete Dolby Atmos surround sound experience. On the other hand, Dolby recommends a 7.1.4 speaker minimum speaker layout for the best audio clarity. You will need only 11 speakers in this situation and one for the low-frequency amplification channel. (LFE).
It is not a purchase you should consider if you work from home or a small office because it is neither suitable nor affordable. The good news is that other Dolby Atmos combinations that require fewer speakers to be purchased can be used.(Main Types of Microphones & Their Application and Uses You Should Know)
2. Renderer for Dolby Atmos (Speakers Not Required)
Dolby Atmos allows you to mix music even if you don’t have a multi-speaker system available. To achieve this, you must use the Dolby Atmos plugin to render your music to headphones. Doing this will produce a binaural rendition of your three-dimensional mix.
The overwhelming majority of people do not listen to music in their homes using such a complex setup, so it is not an accurate representation of how your music will sound when played through a 7.1.4 speaker system. As a result, modern iterations of the iPhone and Android operating systems, as well as Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, all support Dolby Atmos audio.
When listening to the audio on services and equipment that support Dolby, headphones are likely being used. You have three options if you take this route, which will be covered in the following passage. You can read our article on spatial audio in Logic Pro. We compare the Apple renderer to the Dolby renderer and explore their differences if you want to learn more about renderers.
3. Workstations for digital audio and related hardware
Some workstations can integrate Dolby Atmos, but depending on your chosen solution, you may or may not need to purchase extra hardware. There are three methods you can use the Dolby Renderer, which allows you to combine without speakers, and you have access to all of them.
The program puts more strain on the CPU because it runs on the same machine as your digital audio workstation (DAW). You can use a free 30-day trial to see if your computer can operate the software and is compatible with your system.
Invest in the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite, which requires a particular machine (a Mac or PC) used only for the program. The software can only be purchased through registered Dolby resellers and comes pre-installed on hardware approved by the company. Your digital audio workstation must be installed on a separate computer, and you will also need an appropriate audio interface, such as MADI or Dante I/O. Budgeting for more than $900 is advised.
Use the Logic Pro Dolby Atmos component, which became a native module in 2021. If you already use Logic Pro, you can get a free upgrade to your program and try it out without paying anything extra. It would help if you were informed that the comprehensive features found in the complete software packages would not be available to you.
4. Listening Modes
Consider the various methods by which people might listen to your music. This is crucial. It is customary to test your mix on speakers, headphones, and potentially a laptop before rebounding a stereo track. This is done to make sure the recording sounds the way it should. Making accommodations on one side or the other is necessary to create a good mix of speakers and devices.
The mixing procedure gets trickier when you test your mix in Dolby Atmos. The audio you play will inevitably sound different if you have a complete 7.1.4 speaker system compared to how it would sound if it were rendered in Dolby for headphones. The Apple Renderer for Logic Pro, explicitly created for distributing music through the Apple Music platform, has also been made accessible, making two renderers now available.
When your audio gets to the listener, you must know they might use headphones, Dolby-compatible speakers, computers with built-in surround sound, or even a soundbar. Any one of these situations requires that you be ready.
Using a variety of listening modes to assess your mix is possible, but you should be conscious that doing so will take more time than usual. There is no guarantee that listening will be the same across various devices, even after going through a more detailed workflow.
5. Services That Support Streaming
You want other people to be able to enjoy a recording’s maximum potential after spending so much time and effort making it for Dolby Atmos. There needs to be a sizable gap in where to share your Dolby Atmos mixes because Spotify currently needs to support Dolby Atmos. The following streaming services now accept music encoded in Dolby Atmos, though more might choose to use the technology in the future:
6. Adoption in future
The more widely used the Dolby Atmos codec, the easier it should be to mix for it. The more streaming services and platforms that support your three-dimensional surround mix, the more people can hear it. Look at our roundup of the finest Dolby Atmos soundbars to catch up on which businesses are implementing Dolby Atmos for their products. You can then see which companies are topping the pack.
It is difficult to predict whether or not the Dolby Atmos sound format will be widely used in the present or shortly because the jury is still out on that. Similar technologies have come and gone without ever reaching the same level of popularity as stereo sound has led to an understandable lack of confidence among those working in the music industry regarding the viability of surround sound formats.
Although streaming services and cutting-edge spatial audio gear may be able to assist, ultimately changing that requires altering our approach to listening to sound, which is no small change at all!
7. Is Dolby Atmos Required?
For producers who are only working from their homes, the Dolby Renderer can offer a more affordable starting point. It is unreasonable to anticipate that speakers will be a common feature in the houses of bedroom producers. On the other hand, if you work at a professional studio, early Dolby Atmos mixing adoption may make you one of the few people prepared to create spatial recordings once the format gets going.
Now that you are aware of the main factors involved in the procedure, you can decide whether recording audio in Dolby Atmos is the best course of action.