Episode 18

Since its inception in the heart of Dallas, Texas, Snarky Puppy has ignited the music world with their genre-defying creativity and masterful musicianship, garnering a list of awards that could fill a book.

In early 2022, four-time Award-Winning artists Snarky Puppy returned to the city where it all began to record the masterpiece "Empire Central." Since the band started releasing singles from the eight days of live performances recorded at Deep Elm Art Company in front of a live audience, the comments sections continue to flood with praise for the quality of the recordings and mixes.

At the helm of the production is Snarky Puppy veteran engineer, Nic Hard, assisted by Snarky Puppy's touring engineers, tasked with recording the nineteen-plus musicians in the one-room music venue with little to no isolation.

We joined the group to document the entire process, from load-in at the venue to the intimate live performances, the stereo mix, and finally, the Dolby Atmos mix with Fab Dupont.

In this pureMix.net exclusive, you'll join Snarky Puppy, Nic Hard, and his team of audio ninjas as they record the performances, travel to Spain for the stereo mixing sessions, and New York City for the Dolby Atmos mixing sessions.

In part three of this series, watch as Fab Dupont:

• Explains the goal for the atmos mix
• Breaks down his atmos mixing template, explaining his thought process and approach to the format as he goes through the mix
• Discusses the importance of the binaural version of the mix
• Ensures that the atmos mix does not exceed the -18LUFS rule for delivery
• Places all of the stems from the stereo mix in the atmos sound field
• Applies Nic Hard's Stereo Mix bus processing to the Atmos mix to keep the same aesthetic of the original mix
• Listens to the binaural render in headphones to check mix translation and adjust balances
• Adjusts for the difference in perceived level of height placement in the binaural version

This is your chance to see how Fab Dupont and Nic Hard mixed the iconic record "Empire Central" in Dolby Atmos from Start to Finish.