Dolby Atmos is an immersive, object-based sound format that allows you to place your music in three-dimensional space. With a much wider palette than stereo, you can now place and move sounds in three dimensions to fully capture the artist’s vision. Dolby Atmos can be easily added to your existing workflow and is supported by major music streaming services including Apple Music and Amazon Music.

What’s needed to get started with Dolby Atmos mixing?

 
There are three key parts to a Dolby Atmos mixing system

• A compatible Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
• The Dolby Atmos Renderer
• A compatible monitoring system

 

Compatible Digital Audio Workstations

For a DAW to be suitable for mixing Dolby Atmos Music it needs to either natively integrate, or be able to connect to, a Dolby Atmos Renderer.  In addition, the DAW needs to support 3D object panning.  While some DAWs now feature native immersive panners, which can be used for mixing music, the Dolby Atmos Music Panner is commonly used as this supports additional DAWs and also includes music-focused features such as a tempo-based object positioning sequencer.  There is a list of compatible DAWs below and while it may be possible to get other DAWs to work, these are ones that have been tested by Dolby either due to their integration of native rendering or as part of our development of the Dolby Atmos Renderer and/or Dolby Atmos Music Panner.
 

	Integrated Panning	Dolby Atmos Music Panner (macOS only)	Integrated renderer
Ableton Live	No	Yes	No
Apple Logic Pro	Yes	Yes	Yes
Avid Pro Tools Ultimate	Yes	Yes	Yes
Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio	Yes	No	Yes
Fiedler Audio Dolby Atmos Composer*	Yes	No	Yes
Harrison MixBus Pro	Yes	No	Yes
Merging Technologies Pyramix Premium	Yes	No	No
Fender Studio One	Yes	No	Yes
Steinberg Nuendo	Yes	Yes	Yes
Steinberg Cubase	Yes	No	Yes

 

*Fiedler Audio Dolby Atmos Composer is a plug-in based Panner and Renderer with Mac/PC support and compatibility with a number of DAWs not listed above.  

For more information on mixing Dolby Atmos with specific DAWs see Working with DAWs

 

Dolby Atmos Music Quick Start Video Series

We’ve put together a short series of videos featuring a few of the compatible DAWs to help you get up and running using your DAW with the Dolby Atmos Renderer.  To view this video series, select your DAW below:
 

• Avid Pro Tools Ultimate
• Apple Logic Pro Using the Integrated Dolby Atmos Workflow
• Apple Logic Pro Using the Dolby Atmos Music Panner
• Ableton Live
• Fiedler Audio Dolby Atmos Composer

Dolby Atmos Renderer

The Dolby Atmos Renderer is software that allows you to monitor your Dolby Atmos mix and create the Dolby Atmos Master Files which you need for delivery.

There are a few Dolby Atmos Renderer solutions to choose from.
 

• Dolby Atmos Renderer: macOS and PC software available from the Dolby Professional Store for $299 (local pricing may vary).  A 90-day free trial is available from the Dolby Customer site.   
  
  The Dolby Atmos Renderer application can run alongside your Mac DAW software with audio connected via Core Audio using the Dolby Audio Bridge. 
  
  Alternatively, the Dolby Atmos Renderer can be installed on a dedicated workstation with audio I/O via Dante or MADI.  PC's require the use of a dedicated workstation.
  
  A dedicated Dolby Atmos Renderer workstation is ideal for larger studios and more complex workflows, for example, if you have a lot of outboard equipment or work with multiple Audio Workstations in parallel.
  
  The 90-day trial is a great way to try out mixing Dolby Atmos and as it supports binaural rendering you can get going with your supported DAW and a pair of headphones.  

• Integrated rendering built-in to DAWs: Some DAWs including the latest versions of Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase, Logic Pro, Studio One, MixBus Pro and Resolve Studio have the Dolby Atmos Renderer built-in and require no additional software to create Dolby Atmos mixes. 

Monitoring systems and speakers

Since Dolby Atmos is an immersive sound format that allows you to place audio all around the listener you will need a certain number of loudspeakers to monitor your mix.  While using binaural rendering and headphones is a great to get started, and monitoring on headphones should be part of your mixing process, we do recommend that at least at some point during your mixing process you monitor on a speaker system as it has been demonstrated that certain critical mix decisions are best made on speakers.
 
There are a range of speaker configurations that can be used for mixing Dolby Atmos Music.  While generally the more speakers you have the better your setup will be able to accurately represent your Dolby Atmos mix, the appropriate setup is usually defined by the room size and available budget.

To get started writing and producing music in Dolby Atmos we recommend using a 7.1.4 speaker layout - where 7.1.4 refers to

• 7 speakers around you (Left, Center, Right, Left Side Surround, Right Side Surround, Left Back Surround and Right Back Surround)
• 1 subwoofer
• 4 overhead speakers mounted on the ceiling of your studio

For smaller rooms you can use a 5.1.4 layout, where just a single pair of surround speakers is used.  However having the additional surround speakers will provide greater accuracy in monitoring bed and object audio as it is panned through the soundfield.  Some music streaming services and labels also require that mixes have been performed in a room that features at least 7.1.4 speakers.

For larger rooms, and particularly for commercial studios a 9.1.4 setup which includes front wide speakers is recommended.  Optionally a pair of middle overhead speakers can be added to create a 9.1.6 setup. 
 
For more information on speaker systems, room setup and configurations see How many speakers do I need to mix Dolby Atmos?

We also publish a list of studios that have indicated that they meet a set of recommendations that we have worked with our major label and streaming service providers to create.  These recommendations are covered in the Dolby Atmos Music Room - Best Practices for Music Room Configuration and are based on what our partners are often looking for in commercial studios and provide valuable guidance for other mixing facilities.

What else do you need?

Depending on your existing setup, a new audio interface that supports at least 10 or more physical outputs might be necessary – the number of outputs required being defined by your chosen speaker configuration.  Similarly, you may require a monitor controller or room-eq solution that supports 10 or more speakers.  There are several solutions available from many different manufacturers at various price-points.
 
You may also want to review your plugins to see if there are updated versions or alternatives that have additional features that will assist with your Dolby Atmos mixes.  While plugins designed for Dolby Atmos are quite new there are any increasing number, such as reverbs, compressors, and delays that have been redesigned to add 3D support.

Mixing and delivering Dolby Atmos:

Once your loudspeakers are in place and the Dolby Atmos Renderer is installed you´re all good to go. There is no license required to mix Dolby Atmos Music. 
There are an increasing number of digital music distribution services that support Dolby Atmos .  These services will require you to upload a Dolby Atmos ADM file in the .wav format (sometimes called the ADM broadcast wav format, or ADM BWF).  It’s also likely you’ll be required to provide an ADM file if you’re providing content to a label or distributor.

These ADM BWF files can be created with the Dolby Atmos Renderer or may even be exported directly out of your DAW.  This file is then encoded as part of the distribution chain into formats compatible with playback on soundbars, home theater systems, and of course headphones.
 
In addition to the ADM BWF file, you will also deliver the regular stereo mix of your music.  This stereo mix should be your regular stereo mix and not a binaural render.  Whenever consumers listen to your music on a non-Dolby Atmos device the streaming service will automatically deliver your regular stereo mix.  

Further Information

 

• There’s lots more information on this site in the Dolby Atmos Music & Post section or you can visit the Forums to ask a question.  For more in-depth training options see the Learning section

 

• For further tutorials and to hear from experts who are already mixing Dolby Atmos Music visit https://www.dolby.com/music/create

 

• There’s also a great series of in-depth webinars covering all aspects of Dolby Atmos Music mixing and delivery   

Getting in touch

And finally if you’d like to get in touch and tell us about your studio please complete the Dolby Atmos Music studio onboarding form