Mixing in Dolby Atmos with Headphones Explained
In this extensive mixing video course, you'll join veteran Groove3 instructor Gary Hiebner on a journey through the world of Dolby Atmos as he details for you how to create unforgettable audio experiences with headphones that surround your listeners and engage their senses like never before. Whether you're creating gaming, audio, or video content (or all of the above), the world of Dolby Atmos opens the doors to immersive surround sound, placing your listeners in the heart of the action. These Dolby Amos mixing videos are designed for new Dolby Atmos users.
Videos
• What Is Dolby Atmos & Binaural Mixing? (04:27) - The video series starts off by Gary first explaining what's going to be covered in the series. He then explains what Dolby Atmos is and how we can use binaural psychoacoustics technology to get an immersive 3D audio experience with the set of headphones. You also get an understanding on what the Dolby Renderer, the bed, and objects are.
• Explaining the Renderer & Setup (09:32) - In this video, we dive deeper into the Renderer and its setup, including the different bed formats and speaker location. You also see the difference between an object and bed channels.
• Getting a Mix Ready for Atmos Mixing (03:19) - Learn how to take a stereo mix and get it ready for a Dolby Atmos mix. Also see how these are exported out as audio stems that can be added to a new Dolby Atmos Mix project.
• Renderer Setup: Logic (05:31) - Here, we show you how to setup the Dolby Renderer in Logic using the binaural mode so you can use your headphones for Dolby Atmos mixing. Also see how to downmix to Stereo from Binaural. Plus, Gary shows you the Surround Panners and how to change a track that's being sent to the bed to an object instead.
• Renderer Setup: Pro Tools (08:39) - Next, discover how to setup the Dolby Renderer in Pro Tools, including hardware routing and assignment of Binaural mode. Then you see how to assign tracks to the bed or objects, as well as how to view your Surround and Object Panners.
• Renderer Setup: Studio One (06:39) - See how to setup the Renderer in Studio One and the changes needed to the Song Outputs so that you can use your Binaural mode. We also take a look at the Surround Panner and see how to change a track to an object.
• Renderer Setup: Cubase (08:13) - You see the same steps on how to get the Renderer up and running in Cubase. You also see how to set up the Renderer in the Audio Connections to hear the binaural headphone mix correctly. Plus, we take a look at the Surround Panners and see how to change channels to objects. Finally, you see how to downmix from 7.1.2 to stereo.
• Creating a Bed & Panning the Sounds Pt. 1: Drums (09:05) - We start the Atmos mix now, beginning with the drums in the mix and creating a 3D Audio space for them. We then place the drums within the bed to match location of the drummer but take advantage of the seven speaker placements and the height speakers.
• Creating a Bed & Panning the Sounds Pt. 2: Strings & Brass (07:59) - We now take a look at the orchestra section in the song and decide where to place these within our 3D audio space. We use an orchestra seating plan as a guide on where to place our players and then enhance their placement by taking advantage of the 3D room and the elevation we have available.
• Near, Mid, & Far Binaural Modes with Drums (07:50) - Explore how to use the different binaural modes with headphones and how you can use these to push objects and the bed further away or closer. We use the drums as an example, and you can hear how different drums sound when placed around the bed. We also give recommendations on what binaural mode options you can start with for the bed.
• Near, Mid, & Far Binaural Modes with Orchestra (04:35) - Here, we test out the different binaural modes in the bed on the orchestra instruments. Plus, we break some of the orchestra instruments out of the bed as objects and use different binaural modes.
• Difference Between the Bed & Objects with Movement (04:02) - In this video, we cover the difference between a track going to the bed and a track assigned as an object, including why you would want to use one over the other.
• Automating Objects (09:13) - Learn about automating the position of the objects in the panner window. You first see how you can write in the automation for the movement of the object around the room, including the height as well. We go through a few tracks, moving them around in different positions to create some interest in the audio.
• Using Objects & Surround Panners with the Bed (10:41) - See how you can automate the position of tracks in the bed by using the Surround Panners on each track and writing in the automation. We experiment with other types of fly-over panned sounds in the video to create further interest in the mix.
• Exporting Out Your Dolby Atmos Mix (11:58) - See how to export out your Atmos mix as an ADM WAV file, which contains all the metadata relating to the inner positions, object positions, and the binaural modes. Atmos also has a loudness standard, so we see how to use the loudness meters to make sure our mix isn't too loud. Gary also imports an ADM file into a new project to show how it interprets the metadata and creates the correct track count with all the correct panning positions. We finish off the video by showing how to export out ADM files in the other DAWs.
• Explaining the Trim & Downmix Options (11:17) - In this video, we get into more detail on the trim and downmix options you have in the renderer. You can choose for specific speakers to be trimmed in level to specific amounts when you downmix to other speaker configuration options. Depending on your mix, you might want to manually set these levels. In this video, you see how these levels are changed when you switch to other downmix options. Gary also shows you where you see these options in the other DAWs.
• Using the LFE Channel (07:48) - In some DAWs, on the Panners, you can send a level amount to the LFE channel. But to have more control, you can create your own LFE Bus and send your tracks to this bus. In this video, you see how you can create this LFE bus and the corresponding signal chain.
• Using Reverbs (08:58) - Explore how you can use reverbs with your tracks going to the bed and objects. Plus, you see how you can create multiple reverb sends, which use different speaker configurations to create a more immersive reverb effect.
• Sound Effects & Video Pt. 1 (09:48) - In the following videos, we take a look at how to work with video, add sound effects, and make use of Dolby Atmos and the immersive environment. In this video, you see how to add some sound effects for characters in a video and how to automate the pan of these characters and their associated sound effects. You also see how we can use effects on our tracks to match with the visuals.
• Sound Effects & Video Pt. 2 (03:54) - We continue on from the last video and see how to create some sound effects to matchup with a space hovercraft. We automate the panner and create an LFE for the low sounds.
• Sound Effects & Video Pt. 3 (06:05) - Here, we create some fly-by sound effects for the planes that are moving across in the video. We use a combination of surround and height speakers to create the movement of the planes around the 3D space.