On this episode of Ask the Expert, we're going beyond the realm of stereophonia! Stephen Entwistle gives some pointers on how to get stuck into mixing in immersive formats.
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Actually, it's quite easy. I would say the first format to go to is Dolby. They make it really easy for you, and once you've figured out how to make it work with Dolby, you can try other immersive formats such as Sony 360, Auro 3D etc.
Dolby do a good job with their instructions and all their documentation and the support structure that's around that, and that's why I would say to start with Dolby. The first place you start is called the DART: the Dolby Atmos Room design Tool. it's an Excel spreadsheet, where you put the dimensions of your room in, and you can move the locations of the loudspeakers around, selecting different loudspeakers etc. You can also change the SPL that you want to monitor at.
Enter all the information and Dolby will tell you whether you're within the guidelines or not. And from there, it's quite simple really – just build it!
I would approach it by starting out on immersive, and then mixing down to stereo. Immersive audio offers you more space to mix into, and the way that this translates across devices is becoming much more seamless – immersive audio is available on most people's phones these days, and most headphones and playback systems have Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) built in so that they give a reasonable approximation of immersive audio over headphones, meaning that you don't need to have a fancy room.
I can also recommend working in tandem, i.e. spend a bit of time in the immersive realm, and then go back to stereo and maybe you'll find something when you go into stereo that you'll want to go back and to re-jig in your immersive mix. Never be afraid to go back and change stuff, and remember: everything's a learning process!