Is Dolby Atmos music the future? we have had several clients ask us recently.
Listening to music is hugely important to many of our clients, so as well as creating some of the world’s most best home cinema systems, we are often called on to create high-performance music listening options either as a stand-alone system or as an option within a home cinema.
Naturally, we are interested in any new technology that might come along that enhances the customer’s enjoyment. In recent years digital music delivery has come on in leaps and bounds with larger file sizes and more stable delivery systems meaning enthusiasts can access vast libraries of high-quality content. The ‘vinyl revival’ means that if analogue is your thing, then there are lots of options there too.
With all these advances what hasn’t really changed is the ‘way’ music only listening is delivered. Stereo has been the go-to format for decades, and why not, it works really well placing the listener in the heart of a mix. When set up correctly, stereo places all the musicians in front of the listener in the same way as they would experience the audio if they were witnessing the band live. Vocals in the middle, guitar to the right, bass off to the left and the drums bringing up the rear just behind the singer. It is a little more complex than that, but you get the general idea. When this is working well, it is called having good ‘staging’, all the sounds are where they ’should be’.
Dolby Atmos Music is a piece of technology that looks to expand that world by adding the ability to ‘surround’ the listener in the music, in a way that looks to mimic the real world more accurately. The real world is not in stereo, audio comes from all around building up a complex image in the mind of the listener and potentially providing a more immersive experience. More and more equipment is able to playback content of this kind and more artists and producers are mixing their creations in Dolby Atmos Music So is it any good? Will we be embracing it? Well yes and no.
We are big fans of anything that potentially enhances the enjoyment of our customers and gives us more ways to deliver impressive experiences for them. However, as with all new technology, some caution is needed. Every time a new type of technology arrives it takes time to bed in and be of real use. Many early mixes in Dolby Atmos Music got a little carried away with the ability to ‘surround’ the listener in music using speakers from all angles in a home cinema to add layers of sound. However, this type of approach leads to confusion for the audience.
When we listen to music, by far the most important parts are still the sounds that come from in front of us, this is what creates the most impact and drives emotional response. The most successful Dolby Atmos Music mixes recognise this and keep most of the information within the traditional stereo zones but offer atmospheric additions to ‘edges’ of the mix allowing the under to feel more immersed ‘inside the music’ whilst also still enjoying the full-fat front of house sound that our brains really enjoy.
Some argue that even now producers are only just starting to get really good consistently with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Music is much younger as a technology and so it is to be expected that not all attempts currently are successful.
So, in conclusion regarding Is Dolby Atmos Music the Future? It can be very good, and we will definitely be offering our customers the chance to try it out, but maybe for now, stereo will stay our go-to format.