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. When hiring a Dolby Atmos mix engineer, look for three things: training, which includes specific certifications and ongoing education, meeting requirements, which refers to the engineer's ability to meet the technical specifications of the Dolby Atmos system, and delivery standards, which ensures the engineer can deliver high-quality audio.

First and foremost, consider the training of the Dolby Atmos mix engineer. Dolby Atmos is a cutting-edge mixing platform with its unique set of challenges. Does the engineer have visible certificates of ongoing training? Are they equipped with a tailored plan for your music? Will they bring a fresh, unique approach or rely on a standard method?

Next is meeting requirements. A professional immersive audio engineer must meet Dolby’s strict loudness and equalization requirements. If these conditions are not met, a small speaker system may be unable to reproduce the mix clearly. Consumer gear is less robust than studio gear. 

There is also the Dolby curve, 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 has a minimum of 12 speakers. It will be deafening if 12 speakers fold back to 2 speakers. 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 when 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.