INSIDE THE DOLBY ATMOS MUSIC FACTORY

London’s legendary Dean St. Studios has had a Dolby Atmos mixing makeover, as interest in 3D music grows. Steve May dropped in for an early listen

- Steve May

'I THINK STEREO is going to become a thing of the past,' enthuses Jasmin (Jazz) Lee, owner of London’s iconic Dean St. Studios. 'I think, quite honestly, that Dolby Atmos is going to supersede it.'

The studio owner, and daughter of celebrated guitarist Alvin Lee, of Ten Years After fame, may ultimately be right, at least from a production point of view. Dean St. Studios has just installed a state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos mix room in its flagship Studio 1, and it sounds stupendous.

Based in Soho, the recording haven handles everything from music production and mixing, to TV and film audio postproduction and composition. Over the years, it’s been a haunt of some of the biggest names in the recording industry, including David Bowie, T- Rex, Paul Weller and Adele.

The notion that stereo will become outmoded may seem fanciful, but there’s a concerted push for immersive music, both from labels eager to add value to catalogues, and artists inspired by the possibilities it offers. And from a production point of view it makes sense, as a Dolby Atmos mix can fold down into other deliverables, including binaural stereo for headphone listening.

To learn more I was invited to tread the studio's hallowed ground. There’s something rather special about recording studios, an ambience you’ll not experience anywhere else. Needless to say I jumped at the chance.

Lockdown knockdown

Dean St. Studios' Dolby Atmos upgrade was part of refurbishments undertaken during lockdown this Summer. It’s arguably the biggest change the studio, once owned by Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti, has seen.