Erra’s Atmos Approach: Getting Started with Immersive Metal Mixes

Nail The Mix Staff

Dolby Atmos. You’ve heard the buzz. It’s popping up everywhere from cinemas to Apple Music, and let's be honest, it’s one of the most exciting developments in audio right now. For us metal mixers, always chasing that bigger, wider, more impactful sound, Atmos presents a whole new playground. But if you’re thinking it requires a NASA-level control room to even dip your toes in, think again. As Grant McFarland and Carson Slovak from Atrium Audio (the wizards behind this Erra mix) showed us, you can get seriously far with Dolby Atmos using gear you already own.

So, next time you fire up your DAW, maybe it's time to consider mixing in Atmos. Here's a look at how Grant approached mixing Erra in this new dimension, proving that the future of mixing might be more accessible than you think.

Getting Started with Dolby Atmos: You Don't Need a Full Rig (Yet!)

One of the biggest takeaways is that you can learn and execute a huge chunk of an Atmos mix – think around 85% – with just your trusty pair of studio headphones. Seriously. Grant emphasizes that this initial phase is where you can get fully competent with the spatial concepts and tools.

Think of it like tracking drums. You might not have a giant live room, so you book time at a pro studio for that. But you do all your pre-production, song-writing, and demoing in your own space so you’re ready to nail it when you get there. It's a similar vibe with Atmos. You can do the heavy lifting, the creative panning, and the foundational placements on your laptop and headphones. Then, if you need to, you can take your session to a dedicated Atmos room for that final 15% of tweaking and QC on a full speaker system.

The point is, the barrier to entry isn't some mythical multi-speaker setup. You can start exploring immersive mixing for your metal tracks with Erra right now.

Spreading Your Wings: Initial Atmos Placement with Erra

Grant’s approach to this Erra mix wasn't about completely reinventing the wheel from second one. It was about strategically using the expanded sound field to enhance what's already there, creating more space, clarity, and impact.

Upmixing Your Foundation: Drums in the Atmos Sphere

To get the drums into the Atmos environment, Grant turned to a nifty plugin: Newgen Audio’s Halo Upmix. This tool can take a stereo source (or mono, or other configurations) and intelligently spread it out to a larger format, in this case, a 7.1.2 configuration (that’s seven surround speakers, one LFE, and two height channels).

Grant took the stereo drum bus and ran it through Halo Upmix. After trying a few settings, he landed on the "Music 3D" preset, which he found sounded cool and had worked well for him in the past. The key here is that most of the drum's core sound and character still comes from the main left and right channels. The upmixer is used to subtly fill in the gaps, adding width and immersion by gently placing elements in the side and rear speakers. You're not losing the punch; you're just giving it more room to breathe.

Of course, you could get super granular and export individual drum shells (kick, snare, toms) and pan them as separate objects in Atmos for ultimate control. But for a quick, effective way to widen your drum image, an upmixer like Halo Upmix is a fantastic starting point.

Mastering the Low End: The LFE Channel Explained

Here’s where Atmos offers a distinct advantage over traditional stereo mixing, especially for heavy music: the LFE (Low-Frequency Extension) channel. In a stereo setup, your subwoofer typically gets fed anything below a set crossover point from your main mix. With Atmos, you have direct, surgical control over what specific elements, and even which frequencies of those elements, get sent to the LFE.

Grant demonstrated this by creating sends from the bass guitar and the drum bus to the LFE channel. This means he could decide exactly how much of the sub-shaking power from those instruments he wanted to allocate to the dedicated ".1" channel. He also mentioned planning to send the 808s there too. This is incredibly powerful for ensuring your low-end hits with maximum impact in cinematic contexts, and it translates surprisingly well to music, giving you a cleaner, more defined punch without muddying the entire mix. Good compression strategies on these LFE-bound tracks before sending can ensure they hit the sub with controlled power.

Placing the Core: Rhythm Guitars in the Atmos Field

When it comes to the meat and potatoes of a metal mix – drums, bass, and rhythm guitars – Grant cautioned against getting too gimmicky with Atmos. The perceived hi-fi loudness and extreme parts of rock and metal often still feel best anchored in front of you, in the familiar left and right speaker positions.

However, Atmos offers cool alternatives to old tricks. Instead of reaching for a stereo spreader plugin on the rhythm guitars, Grant panned them slightly outwards so they weren't just in the main left and right speakers, but also engaging the side speakers. This creates a "phantom center" for each guitar that sits somewhere between the front and side speaker locations. The effect is a wider, more immersive guitar wall without them sounding artificially processed or losing their directness. It’s about creating a sense of sound originating from a specific location in the room, not just a speaker.

Elevating Leads: Creating Depth and Separation with Height

This is where Atmos really starts to shine for creating separation. Grant took a lead guitar part and decided it didn't need to live solely in the traditional stereo field. He started playing with its position, eventually lifting an octave melody line (playing the chorus riff) all the way up to the "ceiling" height on the left.

By doing this, that lead guitar now occupies its own distinct space, well separated from the other lead, and both are clearly distinct from the foundational rhythm section. This ability to place elements in the Z-axis (height) is a game-changer for achieving clarity and headroom, especially in dense metal arrangements. Imagine how much easier your EQ decisions become when elements aren't fighting for the same sliver of stereo width! Grant showed how two leads that might sound somewhat cluttered in stereo can gain incredible separation when panned to different locations, including height, in Atmos.

The "Wild West" of Atmos: Embracing Creative Freedom

Grant mentioned that mixing in Atmos right now feels a bit like the "wild west." There aren't decades of established conventions like there are with stereo. This is a good thing! It means there’s incredible freedom to experiment and find what works for your music. Don’t be afraid to try unconventional panning or to use the height channels in creative ways.

Crucial Checks: Headphones, Speakers, and the Stereo Reference

Even with a full 7.1.4 speaker system at his disposal, Grant stressed the importance of regularly checking the Atmos mix on headphones using the binaural renderer. This binaural version is how many listeners will experience Atmos music, so it's vital that your spatial decisions translate well.

He also highlighted the need to A/B your Atmos mix with the original stereo mix. This helps you ensure you're enhancing the song, not just moving things around for the sake of it. And just like with any stereo mix, you’ll want to check your Atmos mix on various playback systems if possible. The principles of good translation still apply.

Dive Deeper into Atmos Mixing with Nail The Mix

Seeing Grant McFarland sculpt this Erra track in Dolby Atmos is a peek into the evolving landscape of music production. While the tools and techniques are new, the goal remains the same: to create powerful, immersive mixes that serve the song.

If you're itching to see exactly how pros like Grant make these decisions, from initial upmixing to nuanced spatial placement, and learn how to apply these concepts to your own heavy mixes, then you need to check out Nail The Mix. Every month, you get to sit in on live mixing sessions with the world's best rock and metal producers, working on real songs from massive artists like Erra. You get the multitracks, you see every plugin, every fader move, and every creative choice explained.

Ready to explore the third dimension in your metal mixes?

The future of mixing is unfolding, and Dolby Atmos is a huge part of it. Why not start exploring it today?