From the show floor at NAB 2017 Nugen Audio Technical Director Paull Tapper shows Synth Expert Editor Stephen Fortner the new Dolby Atmos Pro Tools Integrated version of their Halo Upmix plug-in and their new product just released at NAB 207 the Nugen Audio Halo Downmix which Mike reviewed earlier this week.

Nugen Audio Halo Upmix For Dolby Atmos

Although the Nugen Audio 7.1.2 version of Halo Upmix has actually been out for a while now. Currently, we still have to route the top two channels back in on a separate stereo track using an instance of the Nugen Audio Receive plugin. What Nugen Audio and Avid are showing at NAB 2017 is the new native implementation of the Halo Upmix, that won't need to use their Receive plugin to access the height channels, on the new native 7.1.2 and 7.0.2 tracks in Pro Tools HD due to be released by Avid in late June. Nugen Audio have told us that they will release the new version of Halo Upmix simultaneously with the Pro Tools release. 

Extra Matching Display For The Height Channels

With the overhead channels enabled the interface expands to show a vertical elevation below the standard top-down plane, again depicting the energy distribution and sound source origin by colour.

Control Direct and Indirect Sound Separately 

Two additional sliders are also enabled allowing on-phase (direct sound) and off-phase (indirect sound) to be raised independently. This allows for the creation of atmospheric fill/ambience effects through to the sense of lifting the entire sound. After user feedback, Nugen Audio have added Centre and LFE exclusion options so that the sound can be raised without affecting the front focus of dialog or lifting SFX energy if required. There is also an additional shelf filter for the overheads to allow brightening or dampening of the high frequencies and of course as with all Pro Tools plug-ins everything is fully automatable.  

A Variety Of Applications

Nugen Audio are also reporting that the ways that the Nugen Audio Halo Upmix is being used seem pretty varied. Examples include upmixing music to get a real 'room' effect, upmixing atmospheres and expanding existing 5.1 and 7.1 recordings to get a sense of vertical space. The real control freaks also break-out all ten outputs onto individual objects, at which point, the world's your oyster.

Nugen Audio Halo Downmix

Halo Downmix has been designed by the team at Nugen Audio for downmixing feature-film or 5.1 mixes to stereo, with controls for relative levels, timing, and direct vs. ambient sound balance allow fine-tuning, delivering downmixes that are no longer limited by typical in-the-box coefficients-based processes. We have an exclusive review of this brand new take on a downmix plug-in.

Halo Downmix Features

• 7.1 and 5.1 modes

• Advance and compact modes

• Quick select 'in-place' monitoring of stereo and surround

• Quick linked solo and mute at every stage

• Ambient vs direct sound balance

• Automatic rear channel delay detection

• Surround input width control

• Rear channel shelf filters

• Downmix Low-Frequency handling

• Highly customisable interface

• Full input and output level metering

• Direct numerical entry of all gain offsets

• Adjustable meter colour splits

• Surround energy distribution visualisation

For more on the Nugen Audio Halo Downmix plug-in check out Mike's review.