Setup for Dolby Atmos Mixes

For creating Dolby Atmos mixes, you need a renderer, and you must define audio tracks in your project as beds and objects.

Generally, we recommend that you start a new Dolby Atmos project by creating a group track as a bed. First of all, route the tracks you want to use as source tracks to this group track. This signal routing is automatically modified when you define beds and objects in the ADM Authoring for Dolby Atmos window.

All audio objects in your object structure – beds as well as objects – need a source track that sends an audio signal to it. Any audio track, group track, or instrument track in your project can act as a source track for audio objects. If a track is selected as a source track, its VST MultiPanner channel panner is switched to object mode, and its audio signal is automatically re-routed from the bed to the renderer.

As a renderer, you can either use the internal Renderer for Dolby Atmos plug-in or connect your system to the external Dolby Atmos Renderer.

Internal Renderer

If you use the internal Renderer for Dolby Atmos plug-in, selecting source tracks for beds and objects in the ADM Authoring for Dolby Atmos window automatically routes the audio through the renderer plug-in via side-chaining.

When using the Renderer for Dolby Atmos plug-in, the following applies:

  • The plug-in should generally be inserted in the Main Mix output channel. It supports the following output channel configurations: 2.0, 5.1, 5.1.4, 7.1, and 7.1.4.

    Note

    We recommend that you activate solo defeat in the Main Mix channel. This avoids unintentional muting of the main mix when soloing channels in your project.

    If you have activated the Control Room, as an alternative, you can use Renderer for Dolby Atmos as an insert plug-in in the Main section. In this case, however, you cannot use the Renderer for Dolby Atmos for exporting a channel-based downmix of your Dolby Atmos mix via the Export Audio Mixdown dialog.

  • Using the Renderer for Dolby Atmos plug-in requires a multi-channel output bus in your project. If you use a stereo main mix, you must add at least one additional multi-channel output bus to make VST MultiPanner available as a channel panner.

  • You can use only one instance of the plug-in in your project.

  • Your audio system must be set to an ASIO buffer size of 512 samples and to a sample rate of 48 kHz.

  • The plug-in supports the following bed channel configurations: 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 5.1, 7.0, 7.1, 7.0.2, and 7.1.2.

  • When defining beds and objects in the ADM Authoring for Dolby Atmos window, object IDs are assigned automatically.

Note

The Setup Assistant for Dolby Atmos dialog helps you to set up a project that is fully compliant with Dolby Atmos® specifications.

External Renderer

If you use an external Dolby Atmos Renderer, such as the Dolby Atmos Production Suite, the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite, or a Cinema RMU (Dolby Rendering and Mastering Unit), you must first create object busses. In Nuendo, an object bus is an output bus that is connected to a device port, which, in turn, is mapped to an object ID. The mapping is done in the External Dolby Atmos Renderer Setup dialog. We recommend that you use the Auto-Connect Object Busses option in the ADM Authoring for Dolby Atmos window when adding objects, which results in the automatic creation of object busses.