Chris Lord-Alge moves to Dolby Atmos

The last time we talked about the Dolby Atmos it was to describe the technical guidelines released by Dolby Digital.

This time we would like you to be aware of an interview performed by Mitch Gallager from Sweetwater to Chris Lord-Alge (sound engineer who doesn’t need any introduction) where the man himself describes the last update that happened in the CLA Studio to support Dolby Atmos.

To get access to the relatively new format Chris switched from stereo monitoring via a couple of Yamaha NS10 + subwoofer to a 9.1.4 system based on Ocean Way Audio Systems prototypes.

The Ocean Way speaker replaced the stereo rig and implemented the Dolby Atmos monitoring facility (in the studio are then present a stereo rig and a 9.1.4 set).

Chris, thanks also to the Mitch questions, explains the details of the realization as well as the steps that he uses with the new workflow he needed to implement for immersive audio.

To get a satisfactory bass response, he needed to put as much as nine subwoofers in the game. This seems to be influenced also by the huge amount of hardware installed in the room.

Five subwoofers are below the console, the remaining four are placed on the back of the outboard racks.

As of the workflow, Chris starts from the stereo mix via his own SSL console and the outboards. From the stereo mix several stems are extracted to be sent to the Dolby Atmos workstation.

The goal is to create “stereo pairs” that will be objects for the Atmos mix.

Four stems are usually dedicated to the drums (one of them for the kick, another one for the snare).

The others are dependent on the particular situation. Vocals, for instance, can get up to four stems.

The sound is defined by the stereo mix (thanks to the SSL console and the outboards) that is thought as the foundation for the immersive one.

The Dolby Atmos mix is fully realized “in the box”.

You can find that and a lot more in the following video: