I know Ross, and John and Bob and have read their Atmos comments with great interest. I feel it's always better to work with stems and create a totally new Atmos mx/experience than to try and 'match' a binaural surround mix to the original stereo version.
What's your favorite example of a great Atmos mix on Apple Music? I have several at this point - some are very musical, some are great for demoing the technology but may be considered gimmicky.
A-Ha's 'Take On Me' is a very good example of an Atmos re-mix of legacy content, while Kraftwerk's Nummern/Computerwelt from their live album 3-D: Der Katalog is a stellar presentation of the Atmos immersive experience, followed by Autobahn for a dose of nostalgia in surround.
Billie Eilish's 'Bad Guy' demos really well through speakers and in headphones, but excels best in 5.1/7.1 or 7.1.4 with decent speakers and a sub.
Yeah Ross. Haha. He's just not loving the format at all and nothing I can say would convince him either. But, Bruce Sugar actually chimed in one time and actually said that new artists like me might be able to make more out of the format because I can record and mix with the format in mind. I was honored that he even said that tbh. But, also, in some ways it's true that newer recordings have a few distinct advantages. There can be more tracks than albums recorded on a 24 track or less back in the day. They can have better signal to noise and bleed managed better for isolation. Parts can be overdubbed knowing they're going to be used in surround or height speakers and so on.
Some mixes of classic albums that didn't have a lot to work with in the first place can sound kind of gimmicky and even annoying with random panning to different speakers. The only thing I like about those is the novelty of hearing parts isolated. But, I too would prefer to listen to the stereo version for that cohesive listening experience (rather than being distracted by things being all over the place).
There really are a lot of things to explore when considering surround formats, especially Atmos 7.1.4 and up. Ambience is one thing that hasn't been fully explored yet but is certainly something that can be considered best for NEW recordings. I have several tools and ideas for doing that. I have a cool surround room ambient capture mic with DPA mics in the shape of a human head and things like that. Just haven't had a chance to really get into it just yet. My first priority is also stereo or has been. Although I like the philosophy of not worrying about matching the stereo mix and treating it like its own mix art-form. That could be the way to go, especially when venturing beyond 5.1.
As for my favorites, I haven't had enough time checking everything out on Apple Music. I bought Porcupine Tree's latest album and listened to it on a friend's home theater Atmos system and it was absolutely killer. I did check out tracks with another friend in LA who has an Atmos system (similar to mine but even more crazy huge because he has 2 15" subs). I was impressed by the way Billie Eilish's tracks were mixed with backing vocals in the ceilings and all sorts of adventurous things going on. I intend to sit down and check out more things and even bring them into ProTools to see what's going on more deeply. That all takes time and I finally have time to do that in between albums... sort of. Since my priority is writing and producing albums I do have a bunch I'm getting back to working on including a new solo album, a new In Continuum album, a possible new Mantra Vega album or EP, a possible SOC-related thing with Matt, tribute albums for Genesis, Rush and Pink Floyd... so, I just have to find time to dig into this other stuff. I do love it. I'm definitely interested and supportive of these surround formats. I've invested heavily into it. But, there's a big learning curve to really do a great job imo. I'll talk more about that in a separate post but I have some observations on what I think is important when doing a surround mix, especially one with 12 channels or more.
