As one of the earliest adopters of immersive music mixes, Alex Solano is the mixing engineer behind Dolby Atmos projects for labels like Atlantic Records, Photo Finish, NinjaTune, EMPIRE, Position Music, and many others. Solano’s company, AlexProMix, assists labels and distributors in leveraging revenue generation opportunities provided by Dolby Atmos formats.
The following recaps an interview of Alex Solano — Immersive Audio Specialist — with Music Business Insider. Solano’s AlexProMix is a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.
When Solano entered the Dolby Atmos world in 2021, the tech was expensive and complicated. Now, even though the tech has shifted and immersive audio is accessible to anyone with headphones, Solano points out that there’s still a financial cost and investment to ‘doing Dolby right.’
Speaking about the future of audio mixing, Alex Solano revealed the learning curve that led him to become a certified Dolby Atmos engineer. Solano also highlighted the incredible opportunities in store for striving immersive mixes’ engineers.
Because Solano was one of the early adopters of immersive audio in 2021, he faced challenges finding learning resources for Dolby Atmos. By creating educational videos on YouTube, Solano believes he’s paving an easier path for aspiring Dolby mixing engineers.
According to Solano, to do Atmos ‘right’ and experience it correctly requires a room with specialized equipment. “That’s what differentiates a bedroom producer working on headphones, making beats, and publishing their music from somebody experienced in the field and mixing in an immersive room of 12 speakers.”
It was Dolby Atmos that connected Solano to major labels to be certified. “I’m on the approved Dolby Atmos mixer list, which means that any producer, artist, or engineer who wants to convert their music into Atmos can do so. I’m already certified with Universal Music and Warner Music.”
Solano insists that artists and producers need to be aware of the fast-paced segue into Dolby Atmos. “When you look at the history of recorded technology and the switch from mono to stereo, engineers who could only work in mono became irrelevant.”
With a clientele that includes labels, publishers, and distributors, Solano says he’s experiencing a drive toward spatial audio. “My clients pitch their song to Apple, and Apple says, where’s the spatial audio? They’re like, what spatial audio? Apple says go find an engineer.”
“Based on feedback from professionals, music industry events, and the majors, all music formats supported in Dolby Atmos will soon be the standard for converting new music and back catalog music. Otherwise, music streaming services will not support it.”
“To get editorial playlisting, you must have that Dolby Atmos Master,” says Solano.
But what about AI-converted Dolby Atmos mixes? Solano reveals Apple is only accepting immersive mixes if they have the original stamps from a mixing engineer. “From a creative standpoint, no artist that invested in making their music sound great in stereo wants to run it through an AI algorithm. They want it to be remastered correctly.”
Now that Dolby Atmos technology is available to music mixers, creators, and producers via Apple, Tidal, and Amazon, Solano believes it unlocks a world of opportunities to reimagine music arrangements and mix music in a way that immerses the audience and the listener.
With widespread adaptation of gaming, immersive audio has ended up becoming a normal, everyday-experience for this generation. Solano believes artists can ‘future-proof ‘their music by adopting immersive formats.
Solano believes that once the music industry catches up and adapts to immersive audio, the tech will be ‘very common.’ “The fact that you can experience spatial audio on earbuds makes it accessible to anyone.”
