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Mixmag

Inside Mix LA: Immersive Music Production, Part 2

today03/04/2025 3

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In early March, just two months and a day after wildfires raged through the Greater Los Angeles Area, more than 200 audio and music professionals gathered at Universal Music Group’s 21fifteen Studios in Santa Monica for Mix LA: Immersive Music Production II, an all-day event that featured expert panels and cutting-edge immersive audio technology demonstrations throughout the Host Partner’s multi-studio complex. Here’s just some of what attendees saw that day. Don’t pass up Part One!

Producer/songwriter Greg Wells, left, and producer/engineer Bob Clearmountain set the perfect tone for the event by kicking it off with a special Keynote Conversation titled “Rebuilding the Mix.” Both lived in Pacific Palisades, both lost their homes and personal studios, and both spoke openly and candidly about their experiences. In a nutshell, they each shared that the work has never stopped. It’s what they do, they told the audience, and it has to be done. At the end of January, Bob spent three 18-hour days on the live streaming mix of FireAid, then a few weeks later started in on the construction of a new studio in the same building where he is temporarily living, through the alley behind Apogee headquarters. He plans to call it Mix This! FTA—short for From The Ashes. Greg, meanwhile, has set up a temporary space in Santa Barbara, moving the family and diving right in to producing the music for Wicked II. Photos by Dajuana Jones
Producer/songwriter Greg Wells, left, and producer/engineer Bob Clearmountain set the perfect tone for the event by kicking it off with a special Keynote Conversation titled “Rebuilding the Mix.” Both lived in Pacific Palisades, both lost their homes and personal studios, and both spoke openly and candidly about their experiences. In a nutshell, they each shared that the work has never stopped. It’s what they do, they told the audience, and it has to be done. At the end of January, Bob spent three 18-hour days on the live streaming mix of FireAid, then a few weeks later started in on the construction of a new studio in the same building where he is temporarily living, through the alley behind Apogee headquarters. He plans to call it Mix This! FTA—short for From The Ashes. Greg, meanwhile, has set up a temporary space in Santa Barbara, moving the family and diving right in to producing the music for Wicked II. Photo: Dajuana Jones.

 

Up-and-coming mix engineer Jennifer Ortiz wowed the audience with the Atmos playback of her mix on “3:AM” by Rapsody feat. Erykah Badu, this year’s Grammy winner for Best Melodic Rap Performance. She likes parallel compression, she told the audience, and she likes big low end, noting the different ways in which immersive audio can be used creatively across a variety of genres. She also spoke eloquently about the need for more hands-on, small-group, techniques-based immersive mix training, noting, “YouTube can only get you so far.” Photo: Dajuana Jones.
Up-and-coming mix engineer Jennifer Ortiz wowed the audience with the Atmos playback of her mix on “3:AM” by Rapsody feat. Erykah Badu, this year’s Grammy winner for Best Melodic Rap Performance. She likes parallel compression, she told the audience, and she likes big low end, noting the different ways in which immersive audio can be used creatively across a variety of genres. She also spoke eloquently about the need for more hands-on, small-group, techniques-based immersive mix training, noting, “YouTube can only get you so far.” Photo: Dajuana Jones.

 

Sony, a longtime supporter of Mix events, set up in the 7.1.4 Studio 4 and offered attendees free 360VME measurement for individual hearing profiles, allowing each to walk away with the results on a USB drive, which will let them play back immersive audio through headphones as if they were sitting in Studio 4. Here, a member of the Sony team starts the 15-minute process by placing miniature mics in each ear and then shooting pink noise through each speaker channel. It is groundbreaking technology. Photo: Dajuana Jones.
Sony, a longtime supporter of Mix events, set up in the 7.1.4 Studio 4 for Mix LA and offered attendees free 360VME measurement for individual hearing profiles, allowing each to walk away with the results on a USB drive, which will let them play back immersive audio through headphones as if they were sitting in Studio 4. Here, a member of the Sony team starts the 15-minute process by placing miniature mics in each ear and then shooting pink noise through each speaker channel. It is groundbreaking technology. Photo: Dajuana Jones.

 

Mix engineer Dennis “ROC.am” Jones, right, spoke with moderator Dave Rideau about his work on the Atmos mixes for the full New Edition catalog, including the 1988 hit, “Can You Stand the Rain?” produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. At one point, after Roc mentioned receiving stems, Rideau, who worked with Jam and Lewis regularly at the time, jumped in and said, “But wait, those were the dinosaur days. We didn’t make stems back then.” Roc laughed, and said, “You’re right! They were multis! Those are a lot harder to work with!” A great moment between generations. Photo: Dajuana Jones.
Mix engineer Dennis “ROC.am” Jones, right, spoke with moderator Dave Rideau about his work on the Atmos mixes for the full New Edition catalog, including the 1988 hit, “Can You Stand the Rain?” produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. At one point, after Roc mentioned receiving stems, Rideau, who worked with Jam and Lewis regularly at the time, jumped in and said, “But wait, those were the dinosaur days. We didn’t make stems back then.” Roc laughed, and said, “You’re right! They were multis! Those are a lot harder to work with!” A great moment between generations. Photo: Dajuana Jones.

 

Producer/engineers Eric Schilling, right, and Herbert Waltl, center, spoke of their desire to “honor the original” and mostly stay out of the way in their work on the Atmos mix of the 2004 Ray Charles masterpiece Genius Loves Company, which received a Grammy nomination this year for Best Immersive Audio Album. It’s quite a legacy to live up to, as the original hauled in nine Grammys back in 2005, including Best Engineered, Non-Classical and the inaugural Best Surround Sound Album award, both accepted by legendary engineer Al Schmitt—whose assistant on the original mix, Steve Genewick, moderated the Mix LA session and is pictured at left. Photo: Dajuana Jones.
Producer/engineers Eric Schilling, right, and Herbert Waltl, center, spoke of their desire to “honor the original” and mostly stay out of the way in their work on the Atmos mix of the 2004 Ray Charles masterpiece Genius Loves Company, which received a Grammy nomination this year for Best Immersive Audio Album. It’s quite a legacy to live up to, as the original hauled in nine Grammys back in 2005, including Best Engineered, Non-Classical and the inaugural Best Surround Sound Album award, both accepted by legendary engineer Al Schmitt—whose assistant on the original mix, Steve Genewick, moderated the Mix LA session and is pictured at left. Photo: Dajuana Jones.

 

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR MUCH MORE FROM THE EVENT!

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