Forbes Street Studios in Sydney’s Woolloomooloo has invested in a Dolby Atmos mixing environment in its main studio – complete with a 9.1.4 Genelec smart active monitoring system.
"The studio is owned by Universal Music, which worked with Dolby from the outset to create the Dolby Atmos Music format and was the earliest company to begin mixing music across all genres and catalogues in the format," explained studio manager Anthony Garvin.
"So it made sense for us to be kitted out as a go-to destination for Atmos music mixing in Australia."
To create the Dolby Atmos space, the Forbes Street team called in Sound Spaces as the acoustic consultant and Sounds Easy to supply the equipment, working with local Genelec distributor Studio Connections.
"We had many pairs of Genelecs in the studio already," said Garvin. "They’re one of the few brands that all our producers and engineers generally agree on, and of those, certainly the best for multichannel configurations."
With the brand chosen, it was the Atmos specifications that led to the selection of the 13 8351 three-way coaxial monitors and 7382 subwoofer that combine to form the 9.1.4 system.
"I knew the ‘sound’ of the 8351 monitors, and they were the smallest for our room that would meet Dolby’s SPL requirements," noted Garvin.
"Similarly, the 7382 was literally the smallest sub to meet Dolby’s SPL requirements for the room. And if you’ve seen the 7382, that’s an extremely crazy thought, it’s huge! But no regrets, it happily got us to where we wanted to go."