Let's give a warm QQ welcome to Steve Genewick!

[Fourplay]

The buzz in my world on surround sound is huge, but it's not 5.1. I've spent a good part of the last year or so mixing music only in Dolby Atmos. No visuals, just music. None of what I've been doing is commercially available yet, but I'm hoping it will be soon. Dolby Atmos is surround taken to the next level. Hopefully, you'll all be able to experience it soon.
Steve G

This is great news! I am guessing you cannot mention the Atmos projects you have worked on, but if I am wrong, please do let us know what you have been mixing... Or even what style of music.

 

[Steve G]

This is great news! I am guessing you cannot mention the Atmos projects you have worked on, but if I am wrong, please do let us know what you have been mixing... Or even what style of music.

The label has released one album, REM "Automatic for the People", but I didn't mix that title. I can't really mention the songs I've been doing, but it's a lot of different styles.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I can't wait for all the Atmos mixing I've been doing to hit the streets

I've been waiting to update my audio gear to handle Atmos...so it is encouraging to see that you have been working on that material...the real question I had..without putting you on the spot...is about "modern" mastering...which is what I call recordings that crush the dynamic range.... which record companies seem to want to please customers with low rez devices...it's a shame to see what has been done with some of these vintage recordings that had impressive dynamic range to be cut in half in some instances...do you see this "attitude" coming to an end...I love hearing your desire to not go this route....with the disc format being in danger of becoming extinct...I fear that streaming and downloads will be the only format left standing...like I said...I don't want to place you in an awkward postion...and your opinions are your own...not those of Capitol..

 

[sjcorne]

Surround, or immersive as we call it now days with Atmos, is so much easier to mix in than stereo (at least in my opinion). If I'm having trouble making something fit, I just move it somewhere else where it can live in it's own place. I use much less EQ and compression also. With all the space and dynamic range, you don't need as much.

Steve,

How exactly do you approach placing instruments in an immersive/atmos mix?

One of the aspects I really love about those old 5.1 mixes you did is that they have a clear front/rear difference: some instrumentation is totally isolated in the rear channels (backing vocals, some brass and guitar parts), vocals are through the center channel, etc. Do you still keep to that sort of style?

Unfortunately, there are too many 5.1 or quad mixes out there that sound like "double stereo" with instruments or vocals appearing in all channels simultaneously at the same volume.

 

[beerking]

The biggest change that I've noticed is in budgets. Even for the biggest artist, album budgets have shrunk to next to nothing. Good news is that someone has to record music.

The arrival of affordable, high quality, DAW's has allowed many producers, engineers & artist to move some if not most of their productions to home studios, so a lot of the big studios have taken a hit or simply closed down (not the case at Capitol, we're as busy as ever).

The buzz in my world on surround sound is huge, but it's not 5.1. I've spent a good part of the last year or so mixing music only in Dolby Atmos. No visuals, just music. None of what I've been doing is commercially available yet, but I'm hoping it will be soon. Dolby Atmos is surround taken to the next level. Hopefully, you'll all be able to experience it soon. The discussion about how it will be delivered and the playback options for the consumer are endless at this stage, and I don't think we need to get into that here. I'm sure there's already a discussion somewhere on this site.

Steve G

This is fantastic news Steve. I've recently set up my home audio system to playback in Dolby Atmos and I have already bought various titles to listen to. The experience of this new wall of sound is breath taking imo. To get the ultimate 360 degrees of music is something to be heard. It took me quite awhile to get on board but now I am, whoa just whoa. It's like taking surround to a whole new universal level. I cant wait for these new releases, as there are too few examples to purchase at the moment.

One new convert is chomping at the bit ...

Sgt Pepper in Atmos? Do we dare dream!!

 

[edisonbaggins]

This thread is making me happy that I just upgraded to Atmos at home!

 

[edisonbaggins]

Even for the biggest artist, album budgets have shrunk to next to nothing...

The arrival of affordable, high quality, DAW's has allowed many producers, engineers & artist to move some if not most of their productions to home studios...

The buzz in my world on surround sound is huge, but it's not 5.1. I've spent a good part of the last year or so mixing music only in Dolby Atmos... ...Dolby Atmos is surround taken to the next level.

Steve G

Steve, I'm an inde (unsigned) artist. Over the last couple of years, I had the quite unlikely fortune to have an album's worth of my music from over the years mixed in to 2.0, 4.0. 4.1 & 5.1, with help from members here at QQ. For an album discussion thread click here. I released it last year through a small online store (SM1 - FLAC and blu-ray ISO downloads) and distributed a commercially manufactured CD/Blu-ray package myself, from my home. The album and the mixes have received a wonderful response, well beyond my highest hopes.

As I write and prepare for the recording of the next album, I have done some googling on the feasibility of creating an Atmos or Auro-3D mix of the album.
I am building a new home studio space for the project, which includes 5.1 reference monitoring capability. As far as I've been able to gather, monitoring in Atmos or Auro is beyond my means. I'm not even sure that either can be licensed for home mixing.

So, my two questions are:

Is it feasible, through some means I haven't discovered yet, for an inde artist to produce Atmos mixes?

-or-

Can you give some recommendations for the recording stage, such that tracks could be sent to a partner studio, for mixing in Atmos?

Thank you for any advice and for taking the time to answer our questions!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I can't wait for all the Atmos mixing I've been doing to hit the streets

So I suppose being at Capitol Hollywood Studios , you must work with a variety of big name artists in surround regardless of which of the big three labels they are signed to.

Oh one day in the future I hope to upgrade to Atmos , but it's primarily 4ch & 5ch for me now.

Was hoping you might be able to disclose some of your past 5ch projects that need to be released . Who knows maybe we at this forum can light a fire in the way of trying to get em issued .
Well at the very least we can beg for you.

One title I had you in mind perhaps completing was The Beach Boys - Surf's up 5ch title and unbeknownst to some in the industry The Beach Boys likely had a QUAD mix of a Best of/Good Vibrations which unfortunately caught the last minute cancelation bug when they were part of Warner.
It's too bad there were " shelved " surround releases from top notch artists in both the quad era and today's 5ch listening era .

I'm also wondering if you had the opportunity to mix any surround by Capitol Records Icon's from the past such as "The Band " ? or maybe perhaps "George Harrison " " or "Bob Seger " or......"Steve Miller " ?

 

[sjcorne]

One title I had you in mind perhaps completing was The Beach Boys - Surf's up 5ch title and unbeknownst to some in the industry The Beach Boys likely had a QUAD mix of a Best of/Good Vibrations which unfortunately caught the last minute cancelation bug when they were part of Warner.
It's too bad there were " shelved " surround releases from top notch artists in both the quad era and today's 5ch listening era .

I already asked Steve about the canned Surf's Up and Dreamboat Annie 5.1's, unfortunately he has no knowledge of/involvement with either project.

 

[holland123]

a very hearty welcome to you Steve, and a special thank you goes out to Jonathan as well for the invite. I too enjoyed the crowded house dvda.

Atmos music on a big scale sounds very enticing indeed. I think if it's persued correctly it will be a winner, especially with us for sure. I have had the pleasure of an Atmos demo and it is indeed surround to the next level. I think though I will be hoping for a stronger commitment from the industry than what was given to DVD A, and mainstream SACD. But Dark side of the moon in Atmos would certainly be bad ass!

 

[M-D-Z]

Steve,

No worries. This is just a passtime for us, you have a real job to do. You can post or read or whatever whenever you have time. Surround fans are very passionate and also appreciative of the work it takes to get things done. Please do not feel obligated to do anything here.

Again, thanks for stopping by.

I hope Steve G pops in here as his precious and elusive free time permits - but I can imagine that it wouldn’t be so enjoyable for him to arrive here only to be inundated with a litany of questions from us which he wished he had the time to address and answer thoroughly. Let’s not make his visits here feel like another unpaid job responsibility.

I remember watching this YouTube interview (see link) on the Internet last year, if you want to learn more about him, this might be a really good place to start.

 

[JonUrban]

Good point, M-D-Z. Let's not overwhelm him.

 

[M-D-Z]

Good point, M-D-Z. Let's not overwhelm him.

Thanks Jon. I’ve been following him a while - been getting Tape Op from the beginning and listen to podcasts featuring Steve G and other leaders in the field, especially since the world went digital & to ProTools leaving this old crusty anachronistic geezer in the weeds.
One good thing for me, I purchased 8 channels of Dolby 363 SR unit’s for $300 after the industry abandoned iron oxide!

I just re-listened to this interview (linked below), I recommend anyone asking him questions to do their own research first to find out where he has already made clear many things. He is incredibly forthcoming and accessible, but how many times can someone as busy as he is, working at the top of the music recording food-chain, answer the same questions over again.

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...tra+Podcast+Interview+With+Steve+Genewick.mp3

 

[JonUrban]

Here's a question for Steve that he may or may not answer, but what the heck:

Dolby Atmos - when you are creating an audio mix of an existing album, say something that's pretty much a classic but could be just an old standard, are you shooting for a 7.1 mix? What I mean is, how many channels are you targeting for a release to be "Dolby Atmos"? There seem to be a lot of variations under that banner.

Do they all start out as 7.1 and get manipulated from there, or do you actually have a digital file with 12 or so channels that you create?

 

[HomerJAU]

When I’ve looked at Atmos audio releases in MediaInfo (codec information software) it says it’s they’re all 16 channels.

I suspect this maybe a ‘standard’ (possibly an HDMI bandwidth limitation) for home AVRs, or it’s MediaInfo giving incorrect data, I’m only guessing though.

 

[Steve G]

So I suppose being at Capitol Hollywood Studios , you must work with a variety of big name artists in surround regardless of which of the big three labels they are signed to.

Oh one day in the future I hope to upgrade to Atmos , but it's primarily 4ch & 5ch for me now.

Was hoping you might be able to disclose some of your past 5ch projects that need to be released . Who knows maybe we at this forum can light a fire in the way of trying to get em issued .
Well at the very least we can beg for you.

One title I had you in mind perhaps completing was The Beach Boys - Surf's up 5ch title and unbeknownst to some in the industry The Beach Boys likely had a QUAD mix of a Best of/Good Vibrations which unfortunately caught the last minute cancelation bug when they were part of Warner.
It's too bad there were " shelved " surround releases from top notch artists in both the quad era and today's 5ch listening era .

I'm also wondering if you had the opportunity to mix any surround by Capitol Records Icon's from the past such as "The Band " ? or maybe perhaps "George Harrison " " or "Bob Seger " or......"Steve Miller " ?

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve been here.

I can’t say that there are any projects that I, or anyone else I know, have done that have not been released. Some of the titles you all are asking about never made it past the planning stage as far as I know. They never got to the mixing stage.

 

[Steve G]

Steve,

How exactly do you approach placing instruments in an immersive/atmos mix?

One of the aspects I really love about those old 5.1 mixes you did is that they have a clear front/rear difference: some instrumentation is totally isolated in the rear channels (backing vocals, some brass and guitar parts), vocals are through the center channel, etc. Do you still keep to that sort of style?

Unfortunately, there are too many 5.1 or quad mixes out there that sound like "double stereo" with instruments or vocals appearing in all channels simultaneously at the same volume.

Thanks for the kind words.

The decisions about where to put stuff in the mix is completely based the source material. I just put things where the song tells me to put it. I know that’s a corney line, but it’s kinda true. The one thing I do always keep in mind is that I’m mixing music, and I have to serve the song.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve been here.

I can’t say that there are any projects that I, or anyone else I know, have done that have not been released. Some of the titles you all are asking about never made it past the planning stage as far as I know. They never got to the mixing stage.

Ok , thanks for the clarification-Steve.

 

[Fourplay]

Hey Steve,

It has been suggested we not pepper you with too many questions. Do you have any questions you would like to ask the surround sound buying public that we could answer for you here?

 

[Philip Spinner]

Thanks for the kind words.

The decisions about where to put stuff in the mix is completely based the source material. I just put things where the song tells me to put it. I know that’s a corney line, but it’s kinda true. The one thing I do always keep in mind is that I’m mixing music, and I have to serve the song.

Sounds logical to me. That's the way I would do it.