Wisseloord has now an official Dolby Atmos enabled studio.
Since Apple has chosen Dolby Atmos as its new standard, the industry is taking note of this amazing way to experience music.
The team at Wisseloord is convinced about the impact of this new format and has setup one of the studios to the upcoming standard. The room has been tuned by the Dolby team itself.
Since July 2021, the whole Wisseloord team has been working closely with Dolby in order to gain knowledge and experience to pull the best results out of the projects that we produce and mix on a daily basis.
In this article, we discuss the developments of spatial audio, the impact on the production process and how you can use Dolby Atmos to elevate your production to literally the next level.
‘Spatial audio’ has been a hot topic at Wisseloord for years. Our team has worked with various formats and standards, but this technology never went mainstream. Until now. With the Dolby Atmos technology recently being adopted by Apple Music – Apple intends to offer its entire 75 million song catalogue in the Dolby Atmos format – the industry has started moving at a rapid pace. Now, labels, artists and publishers are looking to release new music according to the standard as well as up-mixing parts of their existing catalogue.
At the same time, more and more people can experience content in Dolby Atmos. Apple is now offering Dolby Atmos in their phones, headphones and laptops while car manufacturers are implementing this technology into the speaker setup of in their new designs. Not talking about cinemas, Soundbars and many more items entering the consumer’s homes. Dolby Atmos is looking to be the new music standard, similar to when stereo replaced mono a while back.
Wisseloord has been working at the cutting edge of this development.
“Dolby Atmos can take your music to a whole new level,” says Malik Berrabah, CEO- Co-Owner of Wisseloord Studios. “Instead of working in the two-dimensional stereo format you can put every single stem or instrument in space. You can make different creative choices with the increase in space. The listeners can experience your music differently and this offers a new artistic challenge on its own.
Right now, everybody in the industry is talking about Dolby Atmos. But this is an experience that people can understand only when they hear and feel it. That is also why Dolby is working closely with us, many great artists come here to work on their music and are now able to experience it in our studios.”
“The amazing opportunities that Dolby Atmos offer can be applied to all music genres. For one project, our team at Wisseloord was working on string versions of so-called evergreen songs from various artists. This was happening at the same time that our soon-to-be ATMOS studio was being tuned by the Dolby team. So it made a lot of sense to connect the two opportunities. We recorded the individual instruments and created new, unique spatial compositions. It’s really as if you’re sitting in the middle of the music.”
“It applies just as well, maybe even better, to electronic music. You don’t want an instrument to move around the room but that’s different with an electronic sound. And how about depth and complexity? With this technology, you have more space to place instruments and sounds without overwhelming the listener. I’m really excited to hear what artists and producers are going to come up with.”
For people looking to learn how Dolby Atmos works, Wisseloord is offering several opportunities :
Our team of engineers is available to instruct you and help you work in this format. We have the knowhow and experience that will help you kickstart your productions or mixes and get the most out of your working time. Additionally, we can offer up ideas for the creative application of this technology in close collaboration with performers themselves.
Wisseloord Academy, the educational center that is interconnected with the Wisseloord Studios, is offering courses and workshops for those interested in learning to work in Dolby Atmos. For this format, a fully equipped studio is a luxury, not a necessity, and you can utilize it from your own small(er) studio at home or anywhere in the world by using headphones.