Erik Foreman from Dolby gives us the insider perspective on immersive sound

DS = Doug Siebum
EF = Erik Foreman

DS: Hi, and thank you for being here. Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you got started in sound?

EF: Sure! I grew up as an audiophile and played guitar as a kid. I went on to study film in college and worked at the University of Maryland college radio station. When I graduated, my first job was for a small video production company who needed a location sound guy. I worked in the DC metro area and on capitol hill doing all types of video shoots and before too long I expanded into audio post for the company. I started with Pro Tools 3 around 1994.
 

DS: Today I wanted to talk about immersive sound. Can you give me a general definition of immersive
sound?

Immersive, or spatial audio, goes beyond surround sound by adding a 3rd dimension to fully surround the listener in an audio experience.

EF: Immersive, or spatial audio, goes beyond surround sound by adding a 3rd dimension to fully surround the listener in an audio experience.
 
 

DS: Can you talk a little about the history of immersive sound? How did we get from mono to where we are today?

EF: I can speak specifically about Dolby’s evolution starting with stereo through Dolby Atmos. From stereo with Dolby SR noise reduction, we saw the development of left, center, right and surround
channel (LCRS), the beginning of surround sound, in the 1976 film, A Star is Born. This then expanded
to 5.1 with the release of Batman Returns in 1992. In 2010 Toy Story 3 was released in 7.1. Dolby
Atmos first premiered in the theaters with the release of Pixar’s Brave in 2012 so it has now been
around in theaters for over 10 years.

In the past 6 or 7 years Dolby Atmos has been expanding into the home and mobile markets at a fast
pace. With the advancement of chip technology, the ability to process more data has allowed the growth
of more advanced audio tech and better experiences across the board. So not only can we experience
immersive sound in a theater full of speakers but also on smaller devices like TV’s, soundbars, tablets,
phones and headphones.
 

DS: How did you get started in immersive sound?

EF: Dolby Atmos was still somewhat new when I was at Skywalker so working at Dolby was the beginning of professional immersive sound work for me. That said, I have a personal fascination with immersive audio experiences. I have been a long-time fan of what companies like Polk Audio were doing in the 80’s acoustically with their SDA line of speakers to create very wide sound stage experiences from
stereo sources. I’m totally inspired by those products and work daily to make fun and enjoyable mixes
using Dolby Atmos with the goal of bringing the same level of enjoyment to the listeners of my work.
 

DS: Did you make the move from Skywalker Sound to Dolby Laboratories so that you could work on
immersive sound?

EF: Yes, I made the move to Dolby to get directly involved with the cutting-edge audio products that are defining the immersive industry. I enjoy being part of the process, talking about it and teaching it to others.
 

DS: Can you tell talk about Dolby Atmos? Maybe explain it and talk about mixing in it.

EF: Dolby Atmos is a combination of a traditional channel-based system and a more advanced object one. It is an intelligent format that is always aware of its playback medium, be it headphones, a mobile
device, a soundbar or a huge theater. Dolby Atmos will render the mix appropriately providing the best
performance possible for each situation. I like to compare it to video resolution. The more speakers you
feed it to the better your audio resolution will be no matter the original mix room size. Dolby Atmos
sees every individual speaker attached to the playback system so, for example, in a movie theater with
10 speakers down the side wall, Dolby Atmos can address each individual speaker independently. With
that same example, in a 7.1 system the entire wall would act as one speaker.

The more speakers you feed it to the better your audio resolution will be no matter the original mix room size.

It is very powerful to address each speaker independently! The system also incorporates mix-down metadata. This allows me to prevue all of the mix down varieties while in the studio giving me complete confidence that my mix will be consistent in every scenario it plays be it 7.1, 5.1 or stereo.

Mixing in Dolby Atmos is an incredibly fun and rewarding experience for me. Having a 3 dimensional
sound field to work with is liberating and allows much more creativity and detail. I spend much less
time carving out individual sounds and more time deciding where to put them and actually adding
more.
 

DS: Are there other formats that you are mixing in?

EF: I use Ambisonics to record raw sounds but my main mix platform is Dolby Atmos.
 

DS: How much of your time do you spend working on linear vs non-linear media?

EF: Most of what I do is linear. I focus on Dolby marketing pieces and demos that are used by the company and many of our partners. I also create a lot of music mixes and compose music pieces. Finally, I work on training and teaching.
 

DS: Do you see any innovations in immersive sound that are coming to us soon?

EF: Yes, the power of intelligent object-based audio will transform our experiences in the home and in public spaces. I believe immersive sound is about to be re-defined and we are going to see some really fun and powerful uses of audio.
 

DS: Can you talk about recording for immersive sound?

EF: I think the important part to understand is that you do not need multichannel recordings to make multichannel output. It’s great to have an Ambeo mic or similar for some sounds that you may want to have a fully combined sound like backgrounds, however, the trick to making something fully
immersive is with quantity and variation by being creative with any kind of sound. I use sources of all
types to make immersive soundtracks and use all kinds of tools to add depth, variation and bring clarity
to a track.
 

DS: What equipment do you need to get started in immersive sound?

Dolby Atmos can be created with as little as a laptop and one of the currently supported DAWs that include Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase and Logic and pair of headphones!

EF: Dolby Atmos can be created with as little as a laptop and one of the currently supported DAWs that include Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase and Logic and pair of headphones!
 

DS: Do you have any advice for someone looking to get into immersive sound?

EF: Immersive audio is like a breath of fresh air, especially for the music and podcast industries. We don’t need to slam our carefully curated tracks through 2 speakers anymore. Formats like Dolby Atmos allow for a more comfortable, creative and spatial experience in pre-recorded media and live sound. I would advise anyone in audio to start to dig in because once you get it, you won’t go back. It will take your creativity and music ideas to a whole new level. Don’t think about mixing to speakers, but rather mixing to a 3 dimensional space.
 

DS: Any final thoughts?

EF: Thank you, Doug, for taking the time to interview me. It was a real pleasure! I’m always open to helping folks out that are working with the Dolby tools and format. Please feel free to reach me on Twitter if you have any questions or need advice with Dolby Atmos related things!
 

Please share this: