For many people starting out with Dolby Atmos mixing, any kind of immersive mixing is new territory. For others, it’s simply an extension of surround work they’ve already done. Either way, we’ve got you covered! In part 3 of 4 we take you through building a Dolby Atmos Mix In Pro Tools.
Panning In Dolby Atmos
In the first two articles in this series, you learned the basic logic behind Dolby Atmos, and then how to transform a simple stereo Pro Tools session into one ready for immersive Dolby Atmos mixing. At this point, we’re ready to start creating a sonic landscape, using Pro Tool’s panning controls.
Choose Your Adventure
For many people starting out with Dolby Atmos mixing, any kind of immersive mixing is new territory. For others, it’s simply an extension of surround work they’ve already done. Either way, we’ve got you covered!
If you’ve never mixed in surround…
If you’re one of the many Pro Tools users that are making the jump from stereo mixing directly into the deep waters of Dolby Atmos mixing, a quick look at surround panning in general is time well spent. Click HERE to view a rundown of basic surround pan controls in Pro Tools, which can be used in any surround format, including Dolby Atmos. If surround panning is new to you, it’s recommended that you take a look at this surround panning primer before proceeding with this article.
If you’ve mixed in surround before…
If you’ve mixed in surround formats like 5.1 before, you already know the basic mechanics of surround panning, and working in Dolby Atmos will build upon that foundation. Read on!
First Things First: Output Window
Though not strictly relating to panning, the top of the Output window can give you important information when working in Dolby Atmos:
When a track is assigned to a bed, the Output window will look just like any non-Dolby surround panner, with the output selector indicating the bed to which the track is assigned.
When a track is assigned to an object, you’ll see an additional button, indicating the object to which the track is assigned. When the track is toggled to output to that object, the Bus Output selector will be colored blue, as shown here.
When a track is assigned to an object, but toggled to the bus output, the Object selector will turn blue.
Object Control Mode
The arrow next to the Object selector indicates which mode the track is in. By default, the button is colored green, indicating that an object is assigned and that the track is sending metadata to the renderer. Clicking this button will turn the arrow grey, indicating that object data is not being sent to the renderer. In most cases, this is in its default green state (technically called "Master" mode). Other workflows that cover additional modes are offered by Promedia Training -” check them out here
The Pan Cursor will , in addition to indicating position, also let you know about your track’s status. When outputting to a bus (typically assigned to a bed), the cursor will be green. When the track is outputting to an object, the cursor will be orange, as shown here.
If the track’s automation mode is set to off, the color of the Pan Cursor will be yellow, regardless of its bus/object status.
"Look, Up In The Sky!"
Though height channels are by no means unique to Dolby Atmos mixing, Atmos is arguably the format that has popularized ceiling mounted speakers. You’ll see that with these channels come more controls:
In the panning field, you’ll see bulls-eye icons within the field that indicate the position of height channels. It’s worth noting that these icons have no additional function -” clicking them will not snap the Pan Cursor to their position as is the case with the speaker icons around the edges of the panning field.
If you’re experienced with Pro Tools surround mixing, you’re already familiar with the position knobs below the panning field. With simpler surround formats like 51, you have front, rear, and f/r to control your track’s position. When you add the power of overhead channels, you have another control -” height. This knob controls the altitude of the pan cursor in Dolby Atmos’ three-dimensional space.
Here again, Pro Tools gives you visual feedback: As you change the height parameter, the Pan Cursor will get bigger. This change can be pretty subtle though, so many professionals rely on another indicator: On the right side of the panning space, you’ll see an ascending line as you raise the height value (colored green if the track is set to bus output, or orange if it’s set to object output).
Panning For Height
You can think of your panning space as a room with four walls around you and a ceiling. With a height value of 0, you can drag the Pan Cursor within this virtual room, and the position will be determined by all speakers except the height channels (in other words, the speakers that are mounted on the "walls"). When you’re working this way, Dolby Atmos isn’t all that different from traditional surround panning like 5.1.
However, as you increase the height value, the height channels will begin to come into play, raising the perceived position of the track. There are a number of ways that you can create this crucial height pan information, which you can choose from just below the pan position grid:
- FreeForm Mode: With this mode chosen, height automation is not automaticaly created when you move your Pan Cursor toward the center of the panning space. All height automation must be written manually (for example, by using the height knob).
- Wedge Mode: With this mode, you can think of your panning space as having a triangular "ceiling." As you move your Pan Cursor from the front channels, the height value will linearly increase until the cursor is halfway to the back of the "room", and then will go back down again as the cursor reaches the bottom of the panning area (the back of your listening space). It’s worth noting that with this mode chosen, the height knob is greyed-out, indicating that height values are being created automatically based on the Pan Cursor’s position.
- Sphere Mode: Like Wedge mode, height values are automatically changed as you move the cursor around in the panning space. The difference between Wedge mode and Sphere mode is the shape of the "roof" -” when you choose Sphere mode, your mixing room has a circular domed ceiling.
- Ceiling Mode: Here’s another way to automatically create height, one which behaves slightly differently from the other modes. When Ceiling mode is chosen, any signal that is panned to the front of your listening space (where the screen would be in a post-production workflow), the height value is 0. As you pan toward the rear of the room, the height value quickly increases, reaching a value of 100 once you’ve moved 20% of the way down the panning field (moving from the front to the back of your listening area). This height value of 100 maintains throughout the bottom 80% of the panning space.
- Height Enable: When working in FreeForm mode, clicking this control will activate/deactivate height controls (when green, height is active)
When using Wedge, Sphere, or Ceiling mode, no height automation will be written, and any preexisting height automation will be ignored.
Speaker Zones
Here’s another feature that’s not specifically limited to Dolby Atmos mixing, but has been popularized with the introduction of this format: With some tracks, you might want to specifically not use all of the channels available to you. For example, you might want an object to move utilizing the front and rear channels, but not the sides. That’s where Speaker Zones can help:
Just click and hold on the Speaker Zones selector -” a drop-down menu will appear. From there, choose the speaker layout that you want (Alternatively, clicking on the selector will cycle through the different zone options).
Theater View
In the Dolby Atmos Renderer window (which you learned about in the second article in this series) you can see a 3-D box indicating your immersive listening space. This is a great way to view the positions of your objects (beds aren’t shown), and the ability for this box to be dragged and rotated enables you to get different perspectives on your panning.
You have a similar view option in each track’s output window, called Theater view. This is available in any Output window that includes overhead channels, whether the track is routed to a bed, an object, or not mixing in Dolby Atmos at all.
There are a couple ways to get to this view:
- Click and hold on the Panning Mode selector -” a drop-down menu will appear. From there, choose Theater.
- Click on the Panning Mode selector to cycle through the various pan mode options.
Theater mode is indicated by a cube-shaped icon, and the display in the panning field will change as shown here.
This view is particularly good at showing height. The height of your track is indicated by a green pane that will rise or fall in your room depending on your height setting. The Pan Cursor will always be attached to this plane. In the image shown here, the height value is set to 50, and you can see the pane is raised from the "floor" of the cube accordingly.
Here are a few tips when working in this view:
- The speaker icons around the edges of the panning field don’t really indicate channel positon when working in this mode, but they still can be clicked on to snap your signal to a specific channel position. Lateral panning can be tricky in this view, and you’ll find that the snap-to function of these speaker icons can come in handy!
- You have the ability to rotate this view in a limited way. You can do this by moving your cursor into the panning area and scrolling up or down with your mouse.
Scrolling all the way down will give you a view from the back of your room…
…and here’s what it looks like when you’ve scrolled upll the way up. This rotation, being similar to a non-theatric view, is an easy way to precicely pan laterally in your sound field.
Size And Side %
To finish our tour of panning in Dolby Atmos, let’s take a quick look at two more features: Size and Side %. Both of these features, like many others we’ve explored in this article, aren’t exclusive to Dolby Atmos mixing (they are available whenever overhead channels are involved), but they are commonly called upon when mixing in this format.
Size %
When mixing, we generally think of track positions as being specific localized points (and from there, we sometimes go through complicated steps to give an illusion of greater width to a signal). With the Size control, we have the ability to control this point-source localization in an efficient and direct way.
Let’s take a look at this in a real-world scenario: Here we have a mono audio track assigned to a 7.1.4 output, with the signal panned to the front left channel with a height value of zero. As you might expect, the meter on that output’s Master Fader shows only one channel with a level. So far, so good.
Changing the size value (in the lower right-hand corner of the Output window) will make a significant change: Even though the positon of the panning hasn’t changed, more channels are getting into the act (all of them, in fact, except the LFE channel). This gives a greater sense of size to the listener.
Size Shortcut: In addition to using the size knob to change the value, you can do so by holding down the Shift key and scrolling up or down with your mouse.
Size is visually represented in a few different ways:
In an Output window in Theater view, it’s represented as a box around the Pan Cursor
In non-Theater views (like XY panning mode), size is represented by a square around the Pan Cursor
An object’s size is also displayed in the Dolby Atmos Renderer window, as a halo around the object.
Side %
Last on our list of pan controls is Side %. This control is similar to the Center % parameter, which controls the involvement of the center channel for signals that are panned in various locations in the front of the listening space. With Side %, you can control how involved the side channels will be when positioning your track -” by default, the value is 100%, but can be decreased all the way down to 0% (in which the side channels will not contribute to the positioning of the sound, only the front, rear, and overhead channels).
Next Steps
When it comes to panning in an immersive format like Dolby Atmos, there are many ways to control your tracks. You won’t need all of the features you’ve learned here all the time, but as any experienced mixer will tell you, even little-used features can really save the day when the need arises.
In these first three articles, you’ve learned how to set up a Dolby Atmos session, and how to begin mixing in earnest. In the final installment, we’ll cover the last phases of production, including mixdown. See you then!
Part 1: Click Here
Part 2: Click Here
Author: Andy Hagerman
Avid Master Pro Tools Instructor
Andrew Hagerman has been a professional musician and teacher for the majority of his nearly 60 years. Beginning his musical life at the early age of eight as a tubist and bassist, Andy continued his studies at the prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. During his time there, MIDI and computer music were in their infancy, and Andy recognized the usefulness of these new technologies in aiding the creative process. He had the unique opportunity to learn these tools as they were being created and refined, and his quest for the best in audio and music technology ultimately led him to use and teach Avid’s Pro Tools