Inside 'Mix Nashville: Immersive Music Production'

waiting for the day to begin. — Waiting for the day to begin. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Even the morning-long rains didn’t stop more than 300 audio professionals from coming down to Music Row on Saturday, May 20, for Mix Nashville: Immersive Music Production, an all-day event held in conjunction with Host Partner Curb Studios, along with the facilities at the historic Columbia Studio A, Black River Entertainment’s Front Stage and Sony 360RA immersive studio, and Starstruck Studios’ new SSL/ATC-based 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos mix room.

The day kicked off in Columbia Studio A with a Keynote Conversation titled ‘Immersive Music—Art Meets Commerce,’ featuring, from left: producer/engineer David Leonard, producer/engineer (and moderator) F. Reid Shippen, and producer/artis Dann Huff. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

The day kicked off in Columbia Studio A with a Keynote Conversation titled “Immersive Music—Art Meets Commerce,” moderated by engineer/producer F. Reid Shippen and featuring two of Nashville’s most talented audio professionals: producer/engineer David Leonard and producer/artist Dann Huff.

The Mix panel ‘Separate But Equal: The Stereo and immersive Mixes’ featured, from left, Mix co-editor Tom Kenny (moderator), engineer Jeff Balding, producer/engineer Chuck Ainlay, engineer Shani Gandhi and producer/engineer Matt McClure. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

The Mix panel titled ‘Monitoring the Mix: Speakers and Headphones,’ featured, from left, Mix co-editor Clive Young (moderator), producer/engineer Vance Powell, producer/engineer Mills Logan; mastering engineer Pete Lyman and engineer Will Kienzle. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

That was followed by a Mix Panel Series featuring discussions on “Separate But Equal: The Stereo and Immersive Mix” and “Monitoring the Mix: Speakers and Headphones.”

Focusrite Pro and sister company ADAM Audio hosted a series of panels throughout the day at the newly renovated Curb Studios. Pictured, from left: Focusrite Pro’s Dave Rieley, and mastering engineers Pete Lyman, Daniel Bacigalupi, Michael Romanowski and J Clark. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

SSL’s Phil Scholes, far right, points out mix features on the SSL System T for Music, at Starstruck Studios’s new ATC 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos mix room. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Across Music Square East, Focusrite Pro and ADAM Audio presented a series of expert panels (including mastering) focused on real-world, engineer-to-engineer conversations. SSL and ATC took over Starstruck Studios’ immersive mix room to show off the SSL System T for Music and ATC 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos monitor system.

Sony’s Hiroyuki Komuro discusses the 360RA setup at Black River Entertainment’s new immersive mix room. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Chuck Ainlay sits amid the Sennheiser/Neumann KH Series 7.1.4 setup at Front Stage Studios to discuss his mixes, in a playback series curated by Michael Romanowski of Coast Mastering. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Across Music Circle South, at Black River Entertainment, Sony took over the main lobby and the 360RA immersive mix room to showcase its new Virtual Mixing Environment, 360RA mixing tools and new MDR-MV1 Studio Monitor Headphones. Further down the hall, Sennheiser/ Neumann set up a complete 7.1.4 KH Series monitor system, with curated playback sessions by Coast Mastering’s Michael Romanowski, featuring Nashville engineers.

Westlake Pro and Avid hosted a panel titled ‘Creating immersive Mixes,’ featuring, from left: Chad Evans of Westlake Pro, Jeff Huskins of BMG, producer/engineer Mills Logan, and engineer Dustin Richardson. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Back at Columbia Studio A, Avid and Westlake Pro hosted two panel sessions, the first breaking down a few Avid tools for creating immersive mixes, and the second titled “Creating immersive Mixes.”

Kurt Howell of NTP Technology (DAD, Penta) talks with attendees at Columbia Studio A. PHOTO: Beth Gwinn.

Mix Nashville Tabletop Sponsors included NTP Technology, Grace Design, DPA Microphones, Genelec, Wholegrain Digital Systems, Coast Mastering, Symphonic Acoustics and Vintage King.

At night, the Mix Nashville event shifted to Berry Hill for a party at Host Partner Blackbird Studio, coinciding with a Studio Crawl and Listening Sessions at Imogen Sound, ADAM Audio’s showroom, Westlake Pro, Addiction Sound and Sputnik Sound, with a multi-facility scavenger hunt sponsored by Vintage King and Avid.