Recording engineer/mixer Joe Zook, who has mixed and/or recorded albums totaling worldwide sales of more than 80 million in working with artists that include One Direction, Katy Perry, U2, Andy Grammer and many others, recently upgraded his Los Angeles studio with a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system utilizing Focusrite Red 8Pre and RedNet R1 interfaces.
“All of the clients that I’ve been working with began asking me if I’m interested in getting into Atmos and prepping me on how it’s ramping up and how the demands are going to start to increase for immersive mixes,” states Zook. “Initially I was very skeptical. So I started to do my own extensive research on the consumer side of it, as that is where the rubber meets the road. I began trying a few systems, as I felt I needed to get a true handle on what consumers were going to be hearing. I demo’ed several soundbars, and I started listening to Tidal and Apple Music streaming Atmos and comparing them to the stereo mixes of certain songs.
“And after about three weeks of checking that out, I knew it was something worth doing,” he continues. “What’s really exciting for me isn’t so much about digging up the past, but imagining how music could be made from scratch without the limitations of stereo.”
Zook’s Atmos format approach also incorporates a Mac Mini, 13 KRK monitors (seven V-Series V6 models surrounding him with four V4s mounted on the ceiling and two S12.4 subwoofers under his desk), a UAD 2 Octo Core Core PCIe DSP Accelerator, and an Avid Artist Control console. “My main focus is how it’s going to sound to people in the real world who have various sound bars or speaker systems,” he explains. “I’d always check the mixes in the living room consumer system (Samsung Q950) and headphones to make sure they are translating to the consumer world as expected.”
Zook concludes that the Red 8Pre and RedNet R1 play the key role: “I really love the RedNet products because they’re very simple to use and they work flawlessly. A lot of times with Atmos, I find myself needing to mute, end, or solo all the speakers. The Focusrite gear allows me to do that and does it so easily. They’re very easy to use, and I never have crashes. Plus they never have problems booting up. Because of the format, there are different sound sources. So I can switch back and forth between a stereo mix or the Atmos mix or streaming off of Apple music or another service easily and quickly. The whole system operates via Cat05 cable and Thunderbolt. It’s bulletproof. Additionally, the sound quality is really good. I never have noticed any degradation in the signal. Everything is smooth. It’s awesome.”
Focusrite
