Montreal, Canada (September 26, 2023)—After receiving calls from record labels asking for Atmos mixes along with his stereo mixes, Grammy-winning engineer Bobby Campbell built Denver Atmos, a new 7.1.4 mix room in Colorado.
The new 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos studio features three of Focal’s Trio11 Be monitors, eight Solo6 ST6s and two Focal Sub12 subwoofers. Campbell has mixed several projects in the new mix room in stereo and Dolby Atmos, including Logic, John Legend, Lil Durk, Rod Wave, Wam SpinThaBin and DD Osama, and has a backlog of legacy albums set for remixing in Atmos format as well.
During the pandemic, Campbell was in the Denver area and found just the right building. “I had to react quickly to the Atmos mix requests,” Campbell recalls, “I didn’t want to send out my stems to another mixer, I wanted to be part of that process and have fun with Atmos mixing myself. I really wanted to just have a room devoted to Atmos and be able to come in and turn it up loud and feel the music—as well as make sure the mix is correct.”
Focal Trio6 ST6 Studio Monitors Launched
Having lots of experience mixing with Focal professional monitors starting with Twin6, then Trio6 with the hip-hop artist Logic, Campbell says of his new studio: “I have Trio11 for the LCR and Solo6s for the surrounds and height speakers, and two of the new Sub12 subwoofers in the studio too. The system translates very well. The Trio11s are amazing. I use the Focus Mode with a footswitch on the Trio11 so it’s almost like I have a pair of Shape 40 in here as well.”
Campbell is partners with engineer Gerry “The Gov” Brown in Mixed by Humanz. They received a Grammy for Best R&B Album in 2021 for mixing John Legend’s “Bigger Love.” They both used their own Focal Shape 40 monitors in separate studio locations for their mix collaborations during the pandemic and continue to use them on various projects.
“There are plenty of top models of monitors that I’ve mixed records on that came out great and translated, but I’ve just felt like Focal, for me, has had really nice transparency, the power distribution has been good, and the frequency response is really nice. I like the top-end crispiness and that low-mid punch, that is what has always driven me to stick with Focal,” Campbell says.
In addition, he’s able to mix a wide variety of musical styles on the Focals, “The versatility of being able to go from mixing a hip-hop album for Logic and pushing the monitors a bit more, and then switching to a jazz-fusion album by Stanley Clarke — those are big differences. But I feel like I’m still getting the same level of clarity and frequency response in all genres,” Campbell concludes.
