In a hotly debated interview, mastering legend Bob Clearmountain has predicted the end of Dolby
Atmos. Eric Horstmann, however, unreservedly believes in the new format. In his "Immersive Lab",
which he shares with producer and songwriter Daniel Grunenberg of German pop band Glasperlenspiel,
he puts the atmospheric finishing touches on the music of clients such as Shirin David and Cro, Moderat
and Rodriguez Jr, Alice Merton and Paula Hartmann.
At first glance, the Immersive Lab may seem quite small and unspectacular. But behind the sober façade and the psychedelic, wavy absorber surfaces, hides state-of-the-art technology and a carefully thought-out concept. It is dominated by Genelec speakers - Horstmann works for the Finnish speaker manufacturer and its futuristic Experience Centre in Berlin - and modules by Danish manufacturer DAD.
Horstmann works primarily in the box and with headphones. The main advantage of this approach is that
it allows him to place and spread out the sound precisely across the room and process it down to the
smallest detail using visualisations and a variety of powerful tools. Binaural headphone mixes, too,
unfold their full, immersive potential here. Horstmann's productions accordingly sound refined and
surprising, but at the same time completely organic.
For our podcast, we visited Eric in his Lab and talked to him about the current Clearmountain criticism
of Atmos as well as the practical work in the studio. One thing's certain: the chances of Atmos becoming
the first surround format an appeal beyond the audiophile community have never been better.
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Probably many musicians feel the same way: What plug-ins do others like to use, what do they look for when producing their music, what's really important to them when making it, and how do they approach new songs? In the Beat Producer Podcast we talk about all these things and much more.
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