My name is Justin Gray. I am a mix/mastering engineer and producer from Toronto, Canada. This video explores mastering music in Dolby Atmos.

Please visit my website for more about my studio, and work. I look forward to connecting.

www.immersivemastering.com - Mastering
www.synthesissound.com - Mixing and Production

Playlists: Please visit my website to find links to Tidal, Amazon, and Apple playlists, which feature highlights of my work in Sony 360RA, Atmos, and Stereo.

Instagram/Facebook:
@synthesissound
@immersivemastering

*Amendment to Dolby Atmos Assembler information. I was just at Namm 2023, and Dolby confirmed for me that the Album Assembler is Millisecond-Based (Not Frame-Based). I apologize for that misunderstanding. More importantly, under the hood, the assembler is actually able to render sample accurate files, which means that my concern expressed in this video about final master assets is not valid. Even though it appears millisecond based, if you select the start and end of a file (let's say the stereo master), and export, it will render a sample-accurate ADM BWF.

**If for any reason it was not made absolutely clear in the video, -18LKFS must be adhered to with the final ADM BWF Atmos Master files delivery. The true peak must also not exceed -1.0 dbtp. These numbers are based on the final dial norm, which can be accessed by measuring loudness in the renderer. The LKFS and True Peak Decibal measurement (dbtp) can, however, be lower than this limit, which as I have argued in the video, is often appropriate (especially where albums are concerned).

.......

Justin Gray is endorsed by Radial Engineering, Audeze Headphones, D'Addario Canada, Source Audio, Markbass & Godfrey Guitars.

00:00 Introduction
02:02 Presentation Overview
02:56 What is Dolby Atmos
09:02 Objects vs. Beds
18:46 Spatial Coding
28:27 Mix Approaches in Atmos
34:53 Atmos Loudness
44:05 Dialnorm
50:43 DD+ JOC
57:51 Apple Spatial Audio
1:05:30 AC-4 IMS
1:23:30 Dolby True HD
1:26:55 Atmos Mastering Aesthetics
1:35:27 What To Deliver for Atmos Mastering
1:39:52 Getting Started
1:47:30 Approaches to Atmos Mastering
2:04:59 Immersive Object-Based Stem Mastering
2:07:18 The Mastering Studio
2:16:44 Tonal Balancing
2:30:08 Sonic Averaging
2:35:14 Dynamic Range Control
2:51:13 Dolby Atmos Assembler *SEE AMENDMENT BELOW
2:59:49 My Loudness Philosophy **SEE NOTE BELOW
3:04:30 LFE Tuning
3:07:06 Bass Management
3:07:20 Trim and Downmix Management
3:08:10 Supervised Stereo Fold Down
3:09:44 Sequencing
3:11:16 QC
3:11:49 Atmos Master File Deliverables & Archiving
3:13:34 Listening and Referencing
3:13:12 Communication
3:14:29 Current Challenges
3:17:36 Is Atmos Mastering Necessary?
3:23:28 Gratitude and Conclusion

*Amendment to Dolby Atmos Assembler information. I was just at Namm 2023, and Dolby confirmed for me that the Album Assembler is Millisecond-Based (Not Frame Based). I apologize for that misunderstanding. More importantly, under the hood, the assembler is actually able to render sample accurate files, which means that my concern about final master assets is not valid. Even though it appears millisecond based, if you select the start and end of a file (let's say the stereo master), and export, it will render a sample-accurate ADM BWF.

**If for any reason it was not made absolutely clear in the video, -18LKFS must be adhered to with the final ADM BWF Atmos Master files delivery. The true peak must also not exceed -1.0 dbtp. These numbers are based on the final dial norm, which can be accessed by measuring loudness in the renderer. The LKFS and True Peak Decibal measurement (dbtp) can, however, be lower than this limit, which as I have argued in the video, is often appropriate (especially where albums are concerned).