Dolby Atmos is surely a complex design to present sound elements to the audience. Its detailing is layered and consists of several technical aspects that most listeners never know. Not to be surprised, the Dolby Atmos audio is also out of the league for some industry-level people.
Previously, we have discussed how you can create a sound in Dolby Atmos.
Click here to read the step-by-step process of creating Dolby Atmos music.
In this article, we will discuss how to set Dolby Atmos speakers in a studio to get the best results under your sleeve.
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Dolby Atmos- The New Age of Sound Technology:
Dolby Atmos works on object-based sound technology. It means each object has been treated separately and as the prime object. The speaker set-up makes the audience feel the objects or sound sources while enjoying their screen.
The prime motive of Dolby Atmos is to offer a real-life immersive audio experience to the audience. With Dolby, people can not only watch or hear the screen audio but feel like they are in the environment.
The immersive audio created by the Dolby Atmos technology uses many speakers to use distance effects. The audience surrounded by the speakers feels each object around them as the speakers mimic the location of an object shown on the screen.
( Read More – How Dolby Atmos is Evolving the Music & Home Entertainment )
How Does Dolby Atmos Mimic the Real-Life Effects?
The Dolby Atmos sound technology translates the real-world sound to the screen. The audience feels the environment better and can listen to all the things that the character is listening to.
For example-
If your character sees a plane coming directly from the horizon and passes him/her over his head and falls on the opposite side.
Think about this in the real world. You would listen to the sound of a falling plane from the front moving in a straight line to your opposite direction.
A normal speaker set will produce the sound of a falling plane, but Dolby Atmos creates the sense of direction with many speakers. This effect also is created by two different methods. You will listen to the plane sound moving from one corner to another.
The first one is the Atmospheric effect where you listen to moving objects. The second way is with the point source sound method.
Atmospheric sound goes with many speakers filling the gap of a moving sound. On the other hand, the point source sound method targets the local sound effects like water dripping from the roof.
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How Do Dolby Atmos Theatrical and Near-Field Mix Differ?
Dolby Atmos sound is of two types. First is the classic theatrical and the second is near-field which is for home entertainment. Any budget project goes with the theatrical mix first and then if the budget allows, a near-field mix comes into the play.
The theatre Dolby Atmos system typically goes with the 9.1.6 system whereas the home version goes with 7.1.4 or 5.1.4.
Bigger and more complicated speakers can mimic the real-life sound better. This is because of more numbers of speakers present in the system. More speakers mean more fillers for the moving path of a sound effect.
On the other hand, if a near-field edit is played in a theatre, it will have no improvements as the edit is not made for those many speakers. It means more than one speaker will use the data at the same time, lowering the effectiveness.
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How to Set Speakers for Dolby Atmos?
The home theatre Dolby Setup comes with two variations- 5.1 and 7.1. Both these are good for rooms but 5.1 are basic ones which are not capable of replicating the real-life sound in a studio. The gold standard is 7.1 which you will find most being in use in most studios.
Placing a Dolby Atmos in a room isn’t hard but it surely has its challenges. The total gameplay relies only on the speaker placements. Most people don’t consider the room orientation and fall into the trap of buying the best in the market. The ‘Best’ here shows the maximum number of speakers. Surely the maximum available speakers is 11 or more for the home experience but they will surely give a severe headache to the audience present.
Therefore, you need not chase the best but your requirements. If your room is wider, the 7.1 system may not suit your room well. Choose 5.1 system. If your room has more length, choose the 7.1 gold standard.
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Setting up the 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos Speaker:
5- This number refers to the classic surround speaker setup.
1- This number is for the sub-woofers.
4- It shows the number of overhead speakers.
—–Add a reference image of the speaker setup from the official website——–
- The 5 surround speakers must be at the ear level of the audience. Now the question is for the placements. You will need to set the first speaker at the front of the audience where the screen is.
- Next place the 2 speakers at some distance from the screen making a 60° angle to it. They must diagonally face the audience.
- Place the rest 2 surround speakers behind the audience at the corners of the room making a 30° angle to a parallel line to the screen.
- Place the 2 overhead speakers on the ceiling on each side of the audience seating space. Draw an imaginary straight line from the 2 surround speakers placed beside the screen and place overhead speakers accordingly.
- Place the subwoofer beside the screen.
Setting up the 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos Speaker:
7- This number refers to the classic surround speaker setup.
1- This number is for the sub-woofers.
4- It shows the number of overhead speakers.
—–Add a reference image of the speaker setup from the official website——–
- Place 1 main speaker at the front of the audience.
- Place 2 speakers beside the screen making a 60° angle to the screen.
- Next, set 2 surround speakers perpendicular to the audience on the side walls.
- Set 2 other surround speakers behind the audience making 30° angles to the audience seating.
- Set the 2 overhead speakers on each side. Make sure the speakers which are perpendicular to the audience seating must be between the 2 overhead speakers.
- Place the subwoofer beside the screen.
( Read More – Dolby Atmos VS Spatial Audio- How the Audio Industry Is Going to Change Forever? )
Conclusion:
Setting up Dolby Atmos at home can be challenging. However, according to the professionals, you only need to mind the speaker placements. That’s all you require to create an immersive experience for the audience.
Your room construction also holds importance. It will decide whether you should go for a 5.1.4 or 7.1.4 speaker system. One advice for all of you is not to fall into the trap of getting the best available system setup.
Enjoy Dolby.
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