Have you ever wanted to try mixing a Dolby Atmos production but don’t have access to any content? If so, Netflix has made an Anime production - Sol Levante to help the industry better understand 4K HDR and immersive audio in anime. In addition, they have released the raw materials used in Sol Levante for download and experimentation and you can download the video and Pro Tools session assets, learn from the professionals and then try mixing it for yourself. We have all the details…

Netflix, are always exploring ways to make their content look and sound even better. To provide a common reference for prototyping bleeding-edge technologies within entertainment, technology and academic circles without compromising the security of their original and licensed programming, they chose to develop a number of test titles oriented around documentary, live action, and animation.

Their hope is this will encourage more experimentation, learning, and discovery that will benefit the whole industry. Many of these test productions are also streaming on Netflix, which are best enjoyed with any HDR configured device with a Premium subscription.

There are a number of productions available on their open-source page all available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. It is the most recent production Sol Levante that we are going to focus on because it has the widest range of assets available to download. These are the assets Netflix has made available…

• HDR10 2020 ST2084 UHD 24fps 1000nit

• DolbyVision PQ/P3 D65 UHD 24fps IMF

• Atmos ADM and DAMF files

• ProTools Final Mix Session and Mastered Session

• 4K HDR 16bit P3/PQ D65 Dolby Vision 2.9 XML + VDM

• Animatics, storyboard, selected After Effects projects, PSDs, and TGA in-betweens.

As you can see there are 2 Pro Tools sessions, the mix session and the mastering session as well as the Atmos ADM and DAMF files, all intended to help you learn how to mix and master in Dolby Atmos by learning from how the Sol Levante production team approached it.

In this Behind The Scenes video, Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer Will Files, Sound Designer Matt Yocum and Composer Emily Rice explain how they used immersive capture and Dolby Atmos to lift the emotional story of Sol Levante and introduce viewers to the world's first 4K HDR hand-drawn animation by Japanese animation studio, Production I.G.

Mixing in Dolby Atmos, sound mixer Will Files and sound designer Matt Yocum collaborated with director Akira to create the sound of her world. Getting involved early in the process while animations were still being completed, Haruka helped to translate Akira’s ideas from Japanese to English while maintaining the creative nuance and meaning.

In one instance, Matt added a raven sound behind the shot of hundreds of birds flying upward, and received feedback from Akira to try a sound from a bird native to Japan instead. Matt created something brand new from the native bird, developing an effect that wouldn’t have existed without this global collaboration.

Using Dolby Atmos inside Pro Tools, Will brought contrast to the sound mix and wove in composer Emily Rice’s original orchestral score which had been recorded on a Schoeps ORTF 3D microphone during the scoring session. By moving sounds around the room, to the ceiling and the floor and back again, the sound and music tell the drama of Sol Levante without dialog.

Immersive audio mixing is still a new concept for many mixers, including those in Japan where there aren’t yet enough updated rooms to support playback across many shows. However, mixing in Dolby Atmos allows the creative team to create one single mix that can be used to derive all others, from 7.1,5.1 to Stereo, which makes it an ideal archival format, and a great way to bring a new dimension to anime.