Professional Immersive Audio Engineer | Hire A Dolby Atmos Mixing Studio
Are you looking to hire a Professional Immersive Audio Engineer? What do you look for? We will break down the essential elements of hiring an immersive audio mix studio. There are three things to look for to hire a Dolby Atmos mix engineer: training, meeting requirements, and delivery standard.
First is training. Dolby Atmos is a new mixing platform with its challenges. Does the mixing engineer have certificates on the wall showing ongoing training? Do they have a plan for your specific music? Will they create something unique or use a cookie-cutter approach?
Next is meeting requirements. A professional immersive audio engineer must meet Dolby’s strict loudness and equalization requirements. The conditions mean that if they are not met, a small speaker system may be unable to reproduce the mix clearly. Consumer gear is smaller than studio gear.
There is also the Dolby curve. It is an equalization standard for this platform. A professional mix studio must apply this to every speaker in the Atmos environment. The studio must have a speaker management system that can make these adjustments. It must meet the loudness and equalization curve or face rejection. Can an audio mix studio get away with not meeting these requirements? Maybe. A professional Dolby Atmos mixing engineer will be able to meet these requirements.
Lastly, and most importantly, is delivery standards. A professional Dolby Atmos immersive audio mix must be no louder than -18 LUFS. This standard is non-negotiable. This standard is in place due to folding back to a stereo mix. A Dolby Atmos environment is a minimum of 12 speakers. 12 speakers folding back to 2 speakers will be extremely loud. Hence, the -18 LUFS. There is a second delivery standard of -1dB True Peak or lower. A mixing engineer who needs to learn about, understand, or meet these delivery standards is not a professional.
You must recognize these essential elements of hiring an immersive audio engineer. When shopping with price as the most important factor, some or all of these elements will be ignored. They cannot.
