Q&A: Steven Schram on mixing Crowded House's Gravity Stairs in Dolby Atmos (IAA)

[sjcorne]

Just published today, my interview with producer and Atmos mixer Steven Schram:
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...crowded-houses-gravity-stairs-in-dolby-atmos/

 

[himey]

Just published today, my interview with producer and Atmos mixer Steven Schram:
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...crowded-houses-gravity-stairs-in-dolby-atmos/

I happened to be listening to Gravity Stairs when I saw your post and began reading your great interview. I had no idea who he was until you mentioned the album. Made listening to the album even more delightful.

 

[privateuniverse]

Just published today, my interview with producer and Atmos mixer Steven Schram:
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...crowded-houses-gravity-stairs-in-dolby-atmos/

Great interview as always. Glad Steven was able to change Neil's mind about Atmos. You have to wonder how many other artists have a bias against surround sound because they heard a bad mix.

Fingers crossed for Schram mixing the band's back catalog.

 

[sjcorne]

You gotta love this part:

It’s silly to say, but my philosophy for the mixing side is really “I've paid for all these speakers, so I'm going to use them all.” [laughs] I try not to let my brain get in the way of creating emotional content with music. I’ll move things around to where they feel immersive and right. For instance, it’s easy to pull backing vocals and other stuff out to the rears. The rears are there, and they're really effective in a 7.1.4 setup. So why not use them?

 

[steelydave]

You gotta love this part:

I actually copied that with the intent of pasting it here, because even though he's saying it jokingly there's a lot of truth to it, especially on the listening end - buying and installing surround and ceiling speakers can be an expensive, time consuming process that can often also require tons of compromises to the actual layout and arrangement of the listening space. I don't want to have to walk up to the speakers that aren't the front left and right speakers just to see if they're actually doing anything. So many of the streaming Atmos mixes (and a good number of physical releases too) and I worry that they're repeating many of the same mistakes of the SACD/DVD-A era as a result.

On another note, these interviews are just getting better and better - the level of depth and granularity in every regard is just phenomenal.

 

[LTW]

What a great interview, thanks Jonathan! So much insightful information. It kinda sheds a light on how little oversight there is on checking surround mixes after delivery.