Dolby Atmos Music Discussion Thread

[Guest]

Not that one no - just on holiday at the moment so will give that one a whirl soon. Thanks 

[GaryT]

I'm expanding my stereo out to surround, I'm looking forward to trying some Atmos music.

I've been really impressed with some of the Steven Wilson surround mixes in the past, when the rears aren't just used for effects or ambiance.

 

It wont be a super advanced Atmos setup, just 4.0.2 but that does seem like the minimum to get the effect and is all i can easily fit into my listening room without compromising on the speakers themselves.

 

Going to be fun.

[staticmass]

Auro3D  and 3dl audio is the future . i think this will overtake Dolby Atmos.  and the thing is 3dl audio can be used with 4 speakers.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by staticmass

[Snoopy8]

29 minutes ago, staticmass said:

Auro3D  and 3dl audio is the future . i think this will overtake Dolby Atmos.  and the thing is 3dl audio can be used with 2 speakers.

 

How did you arrive at this conclusion?  Dolby Atmos has a dominant share of content, public mind share and mind set of equipment manufacturer.  Even Apple have conceded and are using them. 

 

Better technology ? Won't get a small company very far when there is a US$1.25B gorilla pushing Atmos.  And if the technology is that good, likely will be swallowed up... 

[cafe67]

Another classical album in various format including - atmos 

 

https://shop.2l.no/products/magnificat-nidarosdomen?variant=41635785343159

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by cafe67

[Tweaky]

On 15/12/2022 at 10:12 PM, Snoopy8 said:

How did you arrive at this conclusion?  Dolby Atmos has a dominant share of content, public mind share and mind set of equipment manufacturer.  Even Apple have conceded and are using them. 

 

Better technology ? Won't get a small company very far when there is a US$1.25B gorilla pushing Atmos.  And if the technology is that good, likely will be swallowed up... 

 

I tend to agree, if only from the many many articles in the Pro Music Magazine Sound on Sound.

They having been a lot of articles on Dolby Atmos in most issues over the last 18 months, from how to setup it up in a recording environment, and LOT on how to mix for Atmos.

How many people will, intend to, or have taken do doing ATMOS mixes though is another matter.

Setting up the need speakers in a recording studio seems to be the major factor on the taking up of making ATMOS encoded music, doing the actual mix with today's predominantly 'Ín the Box' computer based recording/mixing isn't.

 

It's a added expense for a record company to have a ATMOS mix done by a Pro Studio, equally so for movies, and a lot aren't prepared to fork out for it, hence the vast majority of ATMOS encoded movies being pretty bad, with little of the ATMOS effect for most of a movie, even when it does kick in you are sort of left with 'Was that it'.

 

Some music producers, like Bob Clearmountain, have said ATMOS is a new fad that will go the way of Quadraphonic sound, but I think he has underestimated just how easy it is for people at home to set up, and how many already have added it to the HT systems

 

I think with the pretty low cost of much studio gear now days, and if having enough space to fit the speakers in the studio, you will see a lot more ATMOS mixes coming in the next few years.

[cafe67]

Interesting the number of new albums coming out with an atmos mix , here’s  another via SDE

 

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/everything-but-the-girl-fuse/?fbclid=IwAR0rjoSp0Q3Q8LBrn1B6_V3XPhun_VMRZYegZyqMyzmybsFwNrGDGshK22Y

[Tweaky]

I'm reading the hot off the press, March 2023 edition of HiFi News.

Barry Fox , who writes a small opinion based column, mainly about Technology in the magazine, has Google V's Dolby as his topic this month......and it's really got me thinking about how this might ultimately play out.

 

He says Google has plans for a royalty free alternative to not just to Dolby ATMOS, but also Dolby Vision as well.

The main topic talks about how a royalty free alternative to Dolby Atmos, by Google, would appeal to hardware manufacturers, but that it would most likely start a lot of patent cases in the courts.

 

He also mentions that one of Dolby Atmos alternatives , AURO, who has AURO-3D, has filed for protective bankruptcy in Belgium.

 

While at a recent Futuresource Audio Collaborative conference, he talked to Rob France, Head of Global Content Engineering at Dolby, who was at the conference promoting Dolby Atmos for Music and in cars, when asked about Google's plan, he assured  "We  welcome the competition - it's a big industry, and competition can make it bigger"

 

He also spoke to a Audio engineer that has been working behind the scenes with Google on it's Atmos competitor. he confided that he fears that Dolby Patents may get in the way.

He then goes on to say that indeed Dolby has a lot of patents on Atmos, but that Google is one of the most patent prolific filer's in the world, and many are is Audio, one in specific and he considered significant, and that was granted in June 2020 covered "Fast and Memory Efficient Encoding of Sound Objects using Spherical Harmonic Symmetries".

If you go to the US patent search website and search for patent number 10674301 it will show up, it's a 14 page PDF file.....I would attach but the forum will no longer allow PDF's to be inserted into posts.

https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/static/pages/ppubsbasic.html

 

This is where Multiple monophonic sound inputs are encoded as sound objects, each with a position and orientation information, the coding a higher order ambisonic [HOA] soundfield, with azimuth and elevation angles

Decoding the soundfield generates a set of loudspeaker signals.

 

This whole situation seems different to anything that has come before it, as  I think of Dolby differently than I do Google.

To date, it's mainly been the PRO sector, that creates and provides the content, that in turn calls the shots on what technology is used, for both Sound and Vision creation and playback in the cinema, but also in the home.

 

Google on the other hand, is less tangible than Dolby, it's more of a service once you break it right down.

Billions are familiar with this service, and use Google in one form or another every day.

 

My thinking is that Google, with that already huge user base, in one way or another, is a huge but easy ship to steer in a different direction than any rapid change of course attempted by Dolby.

 

Being basically only software, built by a software based company, it is a Lot different than a sole Hardware manufacturer, take Samsung for instance, that made the free to use HDR-, then HDR-+ rival to Dolby Vision, which hasn't really been taken up despite being free to use.

 

I think Google plans might gain traction, if only because of the huge user base of their products, and how easy it is to have them work together without being made by any particular manufacturer.

Sony use Google for their TV's interface when streaming, which would have to be the main way people get content these days, and it's so easy to use, it's a joy.

 

It might be that this time around, maybe it won't be the Pro sector , like DOLBY, calling the shots, which ultimately results in the user base adjusting accordingly with new equipment eventually need to be bought to being able to use.

 

Google could do it with a simple software download.

 

Interesting times ahead that's for sure.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Tweaky

[staticmass]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/music/3d-acoustic-hologram-generator-speakers/

[cafe67]

TFF in atmos 

 

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/tears-for-fears-the-hurting-on-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio/

[powerav]

1 hour ago, cafe67 said:

TFF in atmos 

 

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/tears-for-fears-the-hurting-on-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio/

This should be great as all their other multichannel releases are.

[cafe67]

https://www.thesdeshop.com/collections/mike-oldfield/products/mike-oldfield-tubular-bells-50th-anniversary-limited-edition-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio?fbclid=IwAR2RR2f3xKjZmauZ8HVwwkXuQ8vyE5siM8JPmQAW9loTc6YzX580DCE2kdo

[cafe67]

This could be good, if the music is your cup of tea 

 

https://shop.2l.no/products/an-old-hall-ladymass-trio-mediaeval?variant=41783844012215

 

 

[Tweaky]

Well it seems that those who want to make their own music in ATMOS using computer based recording have a couple of new products that will make things a lot easier.

 

Neither seem expensive for what they do, you could pay a lot more for software that did a LOT less.

 

First is Dolby Atmos Composer from Fiedler Audio [ €149 reduced from €249 until May 5th]  this software allows users of any DAW to create immersive audio content in the Dolby Atmos format, even those that do not natively offer multi-channel support.

Officially approved by Dolby Labs, the plug-in facilitates the routing, rendering and 3D panning of DAW signals and allows the results to be exported as standard ADM/BWF files.

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/dolby-atmos-composer-fiedler-audio.

If you can use the same software to drag across already completed projects, and then use it to make ATMOS mixes I don't know, I haven't read enough about it TBH.

 

The second is called Skydust 3D, which is the worlds first 3D synth that allows you to pre-select what surround format and channel count you want, and according to the ad copy " SkyDust 3D is the first spatial synthesizer plugin in the world, which allows you to play a note and get instant 3D sound in any immersive format. It’s fantastic for stereo and exceptional in 3D "

There is a demo you can listen to in the link below......seems interesting since the launch price is US$300

  https://soundparticles.com/products/skydust/overview?utm_campaign=skydust-release&utm_source=sos-eblast&utm_medium=paid-media&utm_content=cta

[Snoopy8]

18 minutes ago, Tweaky said:

Well it seems that those who want to make their own music in ATMOS using computer based recording have a couple of new products that will make things a lot easier.

 

Neither seem expensive for what they do, you could pay a lot more for software that did a LOT less.

 

First is Dolby Atmos Composer from Fiedler Audio [ €149 reduced from €249 until May 5th]  this software allows users of any DAW to create immersive audio content in the Dolby Atmos format, even those that do not natively offer multi-channel support.

Officially approved by Dolby Labs, the plug-in facilitates the routing, rendering and 3D panning of DAW signals and allows the results to be exported as standard ADM/BWF files.

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/dolby-atmos-composer-fiedler-audio.

If you can use the same software to drag across already completed projects, and then use it to make ATMOS mixes I don't know, I haven't read enough about it TBH.

 

The second is called Skydust 3D, which is the worlds first 3D synth that allows you to pre-select what surround format and channel count you want, and according to the ad copy " SkyDust 3D is the first spatial synthesizer plugin in the world, which allows you to play a note and get instant 3D sound in any immersive format. It’s fantastic for stereo and exceptional in 3D "

There is a demo you can listen to in the link below......seems interesting since the launch price is US$300

  https://soundparticles.com/products/skydust/overview?utm_campaign=skydust-release&utm_source=sos-eblast&utm_medium=paid-media&utm_content=cta

Thank you, but I cannot help but wonder whether these will be better than any of the previous tools. Yes, it can create "spaciousness and 3D", but, for me, good Atmos and multi channel music is about discrete objects (instruments, voices) appearing in specific channels. Ideally, recorded as multi channel, but there are superb examples of mixing from multi track recordings.

 

Perhaps I have too unrealistic expectations?

 

[Tweaky]

6 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said:

Thank you, but I cannot help but wonder whether these will be better than any of the previous tools. Yes, it can create "spaciousness and 3D", but, for me, good Atmos and multi channel music is about discrete objects (instruments, voices) appearing in specific channels. Ideally, recorded as multi channel, but there are superb examples of mixing from multi track recordings.

 

Perhaps I have too unrealistic expectations?

 

 

No, I agree with you.

The software above are just two new options available to composers, I think the Dolby Atmos Composer from Fiedler Audio is the more useful [if it works with your DAW], as quite a few DAW's don't have the ability to record/mix ATMOS, and the software company might not even have it on the cards as a future update/expansion option.

 

Or if they had added ATMOS recording/mixing as a feature with a recent update, you can find it's implementation is either found missing what you think is a needed component, or is clunky...or even unstable...or just horrible to use.

 

The only other option I'm aware of that is similar is if you purchased Dolby ATMOS Render, but that has several limitations, mainly being MAC centric, designed to work with Pro TOOLS and it's WAY more expensive.

https://professional.dolby.com/product/dolby-atmos-content-creation/dolby-atmos-renderer/#gref

 

I've been waiting for Studio One Pro to get native ATMOS support, but TBH I think Fender [that owns Studio One] don't really see Studio One users as the type that would use the feature, after all, it's the most recent of the DAW software, and was built to be light and fast to use, and have a clean easy to use UI, which it does.

 

I think Studio One are prepared to save themselves the $$ writing the code to make to implement ATMOS natively into the Pro 6 version [plus the inevitable bugs/glitch fixing that would come with such a update] and leave that ATMOS sector to users of Steinberg Nuendo/CUBASE or Apple Logic Pro, which TBH have both been around for such a long time, and have such a huge install base, many of them well known composers, it's not really a surprising decision.

 

 

[powerav]

How dumb are are Apple. This is the best presentation of Atmos music I have heard yet on streaming or even physical media and it’s hidden on tracks 7 and 8 and labeled as stereo. 

[cafe67]

https://superdeluxeedition.com/video/tears-for-fears-the-hurting-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio-unboxed/

[Snoopy8]

On 01/04/2023 at 4:01 PM, cafe67 said:

https://www.thesdeshop.com/collections/mike-oldfield/products/mike-oldfield-tubular-bells-50th-anniversary-limited-edition-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio?fbclid=IwAR2RR2f3xKjZmauZ8HVwwkXuQ8vyE5siM8JPmQAW9loTc6YzX580DCE2kdo

Just received my copy and the Atmos mix is excellent!  

[cafe67]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

Just received my copy and the Atmos mix is excellent!  

Happy up and get the TFF album and let us know how that one is

[Snoopy8]

1 hour ago, cafe67 said:

Happy up and get the TFF album and let us know how that one is

I have the  Pure Audio stereo version, not sure I want to double up on Atmos?

[Lil Caesar]

Ummm… I can’t believe I’m the first person to raise this. Dark side of the moon. 50th anniversary edition,  dropped in atmos.  Epic.  I mean… omg.   The perfect album for this format.   Ok it’s been reworked.  But still…. Do you ears a flavour…..

[powerav]

3 minutes ago, Lil Caesar said:

Ummm… I can’t believe I’m the first person to raise this. Dark side of the moon. 50th anniversary edition,  dropped in atmos.  Epic.  I mean… omg.   The perfect album for this format.   Ok it’s been reworked.  But still…. Do you ears a flavour…..

Yeah I agree it’s awesome, even great on Apple Music 

[muriwai]

8 minutes ago, Lil Caesar said:

Ummm… I can’t believe I’m the first person to raise this. Dark side of the moon. 50th anniversary edition,  dropped in atmos.  Epic.  I mean… omg.   The perfect album for this format.   Ok it’s been reworked.  But still…. Do you ears a flavour…..

Available on disc?

[Lil Caesar]

I doubt it.  Streaming only I suspect.