Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/908245
52 F A L L 2 0 1 7 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y something that, shall we say, increased the frequency of phone calls. What's needed for an already existing 5.1 or 7.1 TV mixing room to be able to mix Dolby Atmos for the home using Pro Tools? There are a couple parts. Obviously, they 'll need version 12.8 of Pro Tools HD and also an audio interface with MADI connectivity (if they 're working with the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite). Then there are two products from Dolby Atmos: the Dolby Atmos Production Suite and the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite. The Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite is a hardware/software solution that provides the same workflow as the traditional hardware Dolby Atmos RMU (Rendering and Mastering Unit) does for cinematic mix rooms. The hardware is an approved fixed configuration server from Dell that is a fairly standard hardware platform, but something that we've tested and validated with our software. Along with the Mastering Suite software, it also contains a couple of RME MADI cards. Running the Mastering Suite on the server computer removes the processing from your main computer. From a workflow point of view, it makes it easier to deal with multiple sources or recorders if you're in a workflow with a couple source machines. It can also provide some of your B chain functionality. That is what we consider our mission critical Dolby Atmos mastering workflow for non-theatrical content. The Dolby Atmos Production Suite, which is our software- only solution, replicates some of that functionality, but sits directly aside Pro Tools. Instead of using the MADI connectivity, we use send and return plugins to get audio to and from the renderer software. We then use local networking to send the metadata to the rendering application. Now, the metadata is compatible across all these solutions and that's really where the Pro Tools integration comes in since their panner can output object and Dolby Atmos metadata. That can feed into a theatrical room running an RMU, it can feed into a mastering suite or it can feed into a production suite because the actual, underlying metadata and positional information is all the same. The Production Suite is designed for editorial and premix work rather than being a final mastering tool. What is the benefit of running both instead of solely the Production Suite? Running the separate Mastering Suite when you're ready to print will, obviously, reduce processor overhead, especially with higher track counts as there are a lot of disk I/O issues you can run into. But one of the other issues deals with how the delay compensation in Pro Tools is set up. Its delay compensation engine is located after the sending and receiving of information to the Production Suite. While this is fine for editorial or premix work, it's much better if you're using physical outputs when printing the final files. Aside from the hardware and software processing solutions, are there room specs? We are developing room specifications with clients around the world to see what the program is exactly going to look like. We're also working with a network of dealers who are selling the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite to ensure that Selecting an object output path for a mono audio track Pro Tools HD panner with Dolby Atmos height positioning