Share on FacebookTweet thisShareDespite the advent of streaming music services, which have utterly changed the landscape when it comes to accessing music, there haven’t been many changes to how songs are produced. Whether you listen to music through terrestrial FM, digital satellite, MP3, CD, DVD-Audio, or even files like FLAC, or DSD, the original recording was probably created in stereo, that familiar, two-channel mix of sound that has been with us for decades.That may soon be about to change: is slowly making its way into the mainstream music business and it makes good ol’ stereo sound like mono AM radio. You may already be aware of Dolby Atmos for movies and TV shows — if not, we have and guide — but Dolby Atmos Music is its own beast.

• Dolby Atmos For Headphones Software

An entirely new way of recording and listening to music, Atmos Music could become a big part of recorded music’s next big leap forward. Here’s everything you need to know. What is Dolby Atmos Music?Dolby Atmos Music is music that has been recorded and produced using Dolby’s Atmos 3D audio format. That’s what we call it, but Dolby prefers the term “immersive” over “3D,” and describes Atmos not so much as a format than as an “experience.” Semantics aside, Atmos Music is different from traditional stereo music in a few key respects. Keep the channels openModern day music producers have access to some very sophisticated digital recording equipment, that lets them mix music from dozens of separate channels (also called tracks). However, no matter how many channels they start with, if they’re creating a stereo recording, these multiple channels must be combined eventually into just two channels: A left and a right, which corresponds to the two speakers in a stereo environment.

Dolby Atmos For Headphones Software

Dolby Atmos Music, on the other hand, is a native surround sound technology, with support for up to 128 channels, and up to 34 separate speakers in a home theater, including speakers that can direct sound down toward the listener from the ceiling.That sounds like the kind of thing you’d get in a commercial movie theater, and it is — Dolby Atmos is used for creating highly immersive soundtracks for movies, with sound that feels like it’s coming from in front of you, behind you, both sides, and above. But that same recording technique can be used with music for a similar result: Total sonic immersion.It would be easy to dismiss Dolby Atmos Music as simply a way to play normal tracks over a surround sound setup. After all, every home theater receiver can take an audio source like vinyl, CD, or streaming media, and run it through circuits and software that optimize it for a surround system, like a 7.1 speaker setup. But Atmos Music isn’t a conversion of stereo into multichannel surround — it’s a scratch-made recording that utilizes these extra channels in a whole new way.One of the defining characteristics of both Dolby Atmos for movies and Dolby Atmos Music is that an object (or in the case of music, an instrument or vocal track) can be manipulated in 3D space by the producer independently. For example, when listening to Atmos Music on an Atmos-compatible sound system, you might hear the violins from the front of the room as a symphony begins, but as the music continues over time, those instruments could be gradually shifted in space to feel as though they are coming from all around you. It’s an unprecedented degree of control for producers, and much like the 3D effect in movies, it might feel jarring or even cheesy if it were executed in a ham-fisted way. But by the same token, it can also feel sublime when the spatial options are manipulated by a deft and experienced hand.

Where can I experience Dolby Atmos Music?As with its cinematic counterpart, there are two main ways to experience Dolby Atmos Music. Some clubs are beginning to install Dolby Atmos Music systems that give performing DJs the ability to control their music in 3D space around the club. These include in London, in Chicago, and in San Francisco.If you have a at home, and a source of Dolby Atmos music, you’ll also be able to experience Atmos music from the comfort of your own home. What do I need to listen to Dolby Atmos Music at home?Because Dolby Atmos is unlike stereo audio, or even traditional multichannel surround audio, you can’t buy Atmos Music on typical physical media like a compact disc, SACD, or DVD-audio. Nor will you be able to use typical digital music file formats like MP3, AAC, FLAC, or even DSD to transfer or listen to it. The only physical medium that currently supports Atmos Music is Blu-ray disc.If you were determined to transfer the Atmos Music content by ripping the Blu-ray disc (and you were willing to to do so), you would have to use a video file format.

We understand that it can be done successfully using the.MKV container, but it’s also doable with the.mp4 format. Either way, you end up with a massive file size, which poses problems for use on portable devices that have limited storage.While awkward from a storage point of view, that file size is what makes Dolby Atmos Music scalable: A single music track recorded in Dolby Atmos can be played back on a wide variety of devices and speakers configurations, from a massive 32-speaker private cinema to a pair of earbuds on your phone. However, there are big differences between these scenarios.As a true surround sound format, the only way to get a full, authentic Atmos Music experience is with at least a 5.1.2 speaker configuration, in conjunction with an or that is Dolby Atmos-compatible. The more surround channels your system can support, the better your Atmos Music will sound.

The same is true in reverse: As you move down to a simplified speaker arrangement — say a 5.1, or 3.1 system — as long as your audio device is capable of processing a Dolby Atmos signal, you’ll still hear the music, but its spatial immersion will gradually become less apparent.Eventually, once you get down to a two-channel set of stereo speakers, it may be hard to tell the difference between Atmos Music and traditional stereo mixes, because there’s no longer a way for the Atmos system to move the sound around your listening space. What about Dolby Atmos Music in headphones?Headphones (with a few notable exceptions like the ) are effectively 2-channel stereo speakers for your head. However, the fact that each ear can only hear one of those channels at a time means that a technique known as can be used to simulate 360-degree sound (our brains are remarkably easy to fool). Dolby Atmos takes full advantage of binaural audio and is pretty headphone-friendly.