Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/908245
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y F A L L 2 0 1 7 53 rooms they 're installing in will fit within specification once those are available. What is the most common speaker configuration you're seeing? Most rooms are installing 7.1.4. We also have a number of rooms that are installing a 9.1.6. In our view, 7.1.4 is the right size for flexibility in that it gives you the best compromise. Considering that 9.1.6 is the easiest large configuration that someone could install in their home, 7.1.4 will translate up to that very well. Additionally, it will translate down to 7.1.2, 5.1.4, and 5.1.2. AFTER SPEAKING WITH DAVID, I wanted to get some insight from users and hear about their experience working with 12.8 and the Dolby Atmos features. TIM HOOGENAKKER CAS has a great deal of Dolby Atmos mixing experience—starting in 2014. He's mixed everything from theatrical releases, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Dolby Atmos remixes, streaming mixes for Dolby Atmos and anything in between. He did the Dolby Atmos remixes for Seasons 1-7 of Game of Thrones and was the Dolby Atmos re-recording mixer on Netflix's first Dolby Atmos release, Okja. He even did the initial Dolby Atmos remix for R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"—which helped convince the producers they should release the whole 25th Anniversary version of Automatic for the People in Dolby Atmos (producer Scott Litt and engineer Clif Norrell performed the Dolby Atmos mixes for the new release). Tim was kind enough to share some thoughts on mixing in Dolby Atmos and working with Pro Tools 12.8.2. What speaker configurations are you mixing in? In the main room I'm mixing in, Studio A, which is in Santa Monica (at Formosa Group), our setup is based on a 7.1.4 configuration because that's, generally, considered the standard for Home Dolby Atmos. Granted, we have more speakers in the room which we can expand to, but the default I work with is 7.1.4. If I'm doing a theatrical mix, I'll go to our Stage 1 in Hollywood, which is full Dolby Atmos. Do you feel limited when working in a Home Dolby Atmos room versus a theatrical room? Anything you need to be extra aware of? Well, I don't feel limited at all, actually, because I still have the same movement, it's just in a smaller space. However, let's say I have something panned front-left-height, for example. In a smaller room, it's more localized and pointed, whereas it becomes a little more spread out in a theatrical space due to room volume. So, sometimes, you have to be conscious of that so things don't sound like they 're really coming at you. But other than having front- side arrays theatrically, my workflow for both is nearly identical—I'm just mixing to a smaller footprint. Other than localization considerations, what else should you be aware of when mixing for Home Dolby Atmos delivery? When mixing for the home, the RMU has a technique called "spatial audio coding." So if I'm mixing for Home Dolby Atmos for Blu-ray or UHD, it's going to end up as a Dolby Atmos TrueHD encode. With that, the spatial coding takes into account information from objects and clusters the mix to be more efficient for encoding. The lower the spatial coding, the smaller the file, but you may hear some differences that you'll need to adjust for. For instance, I was remixing a film that had some dialogue pulled off the screen about five percent off to the side— and it sounded great in the theater. When we went to Home Dolby Atmos, we heard the dialogue shifting a little between the front and the sides. It was easy enough to adjust, but it's just an example of something we needed Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite Tim Hoogenakker CAS