A lot of those coming to mix in Dolby Atmos for the first time are struggling with the basic setup of their DAW sessions, so, with the kind support of LiquidSonics, we asked three familiar faces (Steve Genewick, Eli Krantzberg and Tom Lowe, who are all users of the company’s reverb plugins) to share their own Atmos templates and advice.

Please be aware that these templates are designed to help you get started. They aren’t necessarily fully set up templates, as the final setup will depend on what you use.

Logic Pro - Eli Krantzberg

When working with spatial audio inside Logic Pro 10.7 or later, all channel strips fall into either one of two broad categories. They are either part of the surround bed or are atmos-based object tracks.

I've set this template up with sixteen mono audio tracks and sixteen stereo audio tracks routed to the surround bed. There are an additional eight audio tracks preset with surround input if multi-channel audio is used. There are also 32 empty instrument tracks in place routed to the surround bed. Additional audio or instrument tracks are easily added using the New Tracks menu item under the Tracks menu or in any of the other usual ways. The positioning of each surround bed track is easily controlled by double clicking in the panning field on each channel strip to access Logic's built-in surround panner.

Also included are bypassed Channel EQ and compressor plug-ins on each of the 48 audio channel strips, each in the appropriate format. Mono, stereo, or multi-mono in the case of the audio channel strips set to multi-channel input. To adjust the multi-metering readout on the individual channel strips set to the surround bed, go to the Display tab in Logic's Settings (Preferences).

In the Mixer panel of this tab, the channel order can be customized to one of four display options in the Channel Order drop-down menu. Since this template is set up with the Dolby Atmos project setting enabled, Logic's built-in Atmos plug-in is present on the Master channel strip. All audio in the signal flow coming from the surround-based channel strips in the project arrives at the Master channel strip before this Atmos plug-in. Therefore, I have inserted a multi-mono Channel EQ and compressor here if you want to process the surround bed before they are upmixed to Atmos through Logic's Atmos plug-in. I have then put Logic's 7.1.2 format multi-channel metering and gain plug-ins in place for final surround bed monitoring and global level adjustments.

Plug-ins placed after the Atmos plug-in are for monitoring purposes only and have no audible effect on the playback. Here, I have placed the 7.1.4 version of the Level Meter plug-in to monitor the final upmixed signal.

Now, let's talk about the Spatial Audio/ Atmos component of this template. I've added 8 mono audio and 8 instrument channel strips to the template, set to use Logic's 3D object panner. I have named and colour-coded these tracks uniquely so they are easily recognized. You will also notice that the panner icon on these channel strips is square rather than circular. So it is easy to quickly identify them at a glance. These channels are easily set to stereo format if necessary at the input field of the audio tracks or by choosing the desired format software instrument on the instrument tracks.

Any of the existing channel strips in the project are easily converted to an object track (as opposed to a surround bed track) by clicking in the output field, and choosing the 3D Object Panner option.

I've put two post-pan sends in place on each of the surround-based channel strips. The first are all routed to Bus 1. The returns are at the end of the mixer. The first is labelled Surround Reverb. Here, I have instantiated the 7.1.2 version of LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven Professional. If you don't own Seventh Heaven, you can replace this with the 7.1.2 version of Logic's native Space Designer. The second send is routed to a return labelled Surround Delay. This channel strip hosts the multi-mono version of Logic's Tape Delay plug-in. Processing on the object-based channel strips should be done individually since they are not part of the surround bed.

Take note that in the "Main" section of each track's automation view, you will find either surround or object-based positioning parameters available (depending on the track type). The panning, positioning, and automation data are all part of the metadata stored in the exported Atmos file.

The Atmos plug-in itself is used primarily to set the monitoring format. Use its Monitoring Format drop-down menu to choose the configuration that best matches your hardware monitoring. If using headphones, simply choose the 2.0 option. You can also enable head tracking and personalized spatial audio preferences if you are working with the latest generation Mac OS and iOS devices.

When you are ready to export, use the File / Export / Project As ADM/BWF option to render your Atmos mix. This rendered file will contain the surround bed, all of the individual object tracks, and the metadata necessary to position them based on the available Atmos hardware used.

Steinberg Nuendo - Tom Lowe

I have produced two templates for Nuendo. These are designed to be used as a starting point, hopefully, to give some pointers. Things like M&E aren’t included because people can create those as they see fit.

Template One is the simpler of the two. It uses three groups – Dialogue, Effects, and Music. Each of these is a 9.1.6 track for future-proofing, despite the Nuendo renderer currently only going up to 7.1.4.

All the tracks and reverbs are routed to the relevant group, which in turn is a Dolby Atmos Object – so there are only 3 objects being used. The reverbs are on 7.1.6 tracks – the maximum supported by LiquidSonics plugins.

The groups are only routed to the Atmos Renderer – but a send could be created from each, which, in theory, could go to a 5.1 track or a stereo track as a way to create downmixes.

Because you need a bed to access the LFE channel, I’ve created a dedicated group for this. This feeds a 7.1.2 Bed in the Atmos Renderer, as well as the FX stem going to the renderer – this means it’s in the Atmos Renderer, as well as any downmixes that may be created directly using Sends.

It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t use the LFE send in the Multipanner, rather each FX track has a dedicated send to this LFE group.

Template 2 is very similar in terms of the Reverb setup and handling of the LFE. The difference is that in Template 2, each track feeds an Object in the Dolby Atmos renderer directly. To save Objects, the Dialogue, Effects, and Music reverbs are sent to their own Groups, which in turn are 7.0.6 Objects in the Renderer. This means that instead of having to use an Object for every reverb channel, they go to one of three (one for Dial, one for Effects, one for Music) reverb objects.

Steve Genewick - Pro Tools

The template I am sharing is the 39th or 40th version of my Atmos template. With the release of Pro Tools version 2023.6, with the new track widths up to 9.1.6, my routing changed quite a bit.

When I first came up with the concept of the ‘object bed’, I had to build it myself with an array of paired, static objects. With the new Pro Tools release, I am now able to use an Avid object bed track preset. This new track preset allows me to use a 9.1.6 input that can output to individual objects.

This gives me a better option for some buss processing if I need it. The buss processing is still not exactly what I’d like because it doesn’t apply to all objects, but it’s better than it was.

I’ve also included an instance of one of my ‘homemade’ reverbs, which is a bunch of stereo and one mono aux channels being fed by one input and outputting to the object bed. Each instance also has a timed predelay to decorrelate the outputs, so I don’t end up with one big mono reverb.

I do use some of the new multichannel reverbs, but my original setups still work really well, so I tend to lean on those quite a bit.

I’ve also included what I call my vocal buss. This is just a 7.1.6 buss, but you’ll notice that the side channels are routed to the wide channels, and the rear channels are routed to the side channels. This allows me to push whatever I send to this buss (usually the lead vocal) a bit forward and have control over how much I send to the wide channels.

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