How To Create Surround And Spacial Audio Tracks In Logic Pro

As technology evolves, art and entertainment offer more immersive experiences, and the music industry is no exception. From creating music to playing it through speakers and headphones, there are measures in each stage that help drag the listener into the atmosphere of the audio project. These techniques are used both in music and movie sound effects.

Dolby Atmos Surround Sound and Apple’s Spacial Audio are vastly popular these days. They offer a three-dimensional immersive form of experiencing and mixing music, giving the listener the impression of audio coming from different directions. From Triple-A movies to artists like The Weeknd, many have integrated these techniques into their craft.

Logic Pro comes stock with Dolby Atmos and Spacial Audio mixing abilities that allow producers to develop exciting dynamics. In this post, I will explain everything you need to know about creating Surround and Spacial Audio tracks in Logic.

Note: Spacial Audio mixing is available on Logic Pro version 10.7 or higher. If you’re not sure which version you’re using, click here to learn how to update Logic Pro. Moreover, your computer must be running MacOS Big Sur, Monterey, or Sierra. If you have an older Mac that doesn’t support these OS updates, you cannot use Logic’s Spacial Audio features.

Accessing Binaural Panner In Logic 

First, I want to show you how you can expand your panning options quickly. You don’t necessarily have to switch your project to the Dolby Atmos view to create multiple direction sources for your audio tracks.

Here’s how you do it:

•  Select a track and press “I” on your keyboard to open the Inspector window.
•  Control-click the track’s panning knob in the Inspector window and select “Binaural Panner.”
•  Double-click the panning knob to open the Surround Panner Control window.

The Surround Panner allows you to reposition the source of your track’s signal in a planar space. You can change that to spherical to adjust the height of the position as well. Click here to learn more If you’re interested in learning more about panning audio in Logic.

This method would create a 3D-like experience, but not as immersive as Dolby Atmos. Let’s see how we can turn it up a notch.

Getting Started With Dolby Atmos Audio

I suggest recording everything before you convert your project to Dolby Atmos. Creating a Surround Sound experience requires much more CPU power from your computer than regular stereo.

Therefore, you’d want to set your I/O buffer size to 512 or higher. Lower buffer sizes result in less latency but make audio processing a more demanding task for your computer’s processors. Click here to learn more about I/O buffer size and CPU management in Logic Pro.

For now, If you’re not done recording, don’t convert to Dolby Atmos just yet.

Once you’ve set the proper buffer size, go ahead and create a project alternative. Typically, you would want to maintain your regular stereo output. Creating an alternative allows you to have two copies of the same project saved on your drive. Here’s how you do it:

•  From the top-left corner of your screen, click “File.”
•  Hover your pointer on “Project Alternatives” and select “New Alternative…”

Once you’ve created a new version of your track, let’s convert it to Dolby Atmos:

•  Click “Mix” from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Select “Dolby Atmos…” from the list.
•  From the newly-opened window, change “Spacial Audio” to “Dolby Atmos.”

If you press “X” on your keyboard to open the Mixer window, you’ll notice that you no longer have a “Stereo Out” channel. Instead, you have a “Master” output with a plugin that says “Atmos.”

 If you click the Atmos plugin, a new window opens with a virtual room representation. You can click and drag to change the camera angle. The room shows the position of 3D objects, which I will get into later on in this post.

To the top, you can choose the monitoring device you want your project rendered for. If you have a dedicated 7.1.2 or 5.1 system hooked up to your computer to monitor audio, choose that. But realistically, you’re either using a pair of monitoring speakers or headphones. You can choose those from the list at the top of the Atmos plugin.

If you look at the Mixer window again, you’ll see some other changes. The output for all tracks has switched from “Stereo Out” to “Surround” (1). Moreover, all of your panning knobs are automatically converted to Binaural Panner. However, if you control-click on the panning knob now, you have a new option: “3D Object Panner” (2).

Turning tracks into 3D objects gives you more freedom to create virtual positions for sound sources. The results are most noticeable with speakers and headphones that support Spacial Audio.

Double-clicking the panning area in the Mixer area opens the 3D Object Panner window. The window is divided into two main parts: a planar map that allows you to move your sound source around the listener and another that allows you to adjust the height.

If you go back to the Atmos plugin on your Master output, you’ll see 3D objects pop up around the virtual room as you play back your tracks.

Moreover, the Binaural Panner window is also subject to some alterations. If you open the window on one of your tracks, you’ll see there are some blue and green speaker icons around the planar map.

Blue speaker icons represent the current surround format’s ear-level speakers, and green ones represent the height. You can click then to turn them on (solid) or off (outlined).

Exporting A Spacial Audio/Dolby Atmos Project

Once you’re done mixing the tracks, it’s time to export your project. However, before doing that, there are some things to consider before finalizing everything.

First and foremost, I highly recommend adding a loudness meter plugin at the end of your mastering chain and playing your song from start to finish. If your project gets louder than -18 LUFS at any part, it will clip during playback. So, make sure to address that before exporting.

•  Click the Audio FX slot on the Master output
•  Hover your pointer on “Metering” and select “Loudness Meter.”

Moreover, any plugins added to the Master output to affect the entire audio bed must be moved before the Atmos plugin in the effect’s chain. No processing done after Atmos will have any effects when exporting in the proper format.

It gets even trickier with 3D objects. The plugins added to the Master output will have no effects on them at all, even if they are before the Atmos plugins.

Now let’s see how we can export a Dolby Atmos/Spacial Audio project:

•  Click “File” from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Hover your pointer on “Export” and select “Project as ADM BWF…”

This format ensures your file carries the data from 3D objects so that when you upload your projects on Apple Music or other streaming platforms that support Spacial Audio, no information will be lost.

Final Thoughts On Creating Dolby Atmos Tracks in Logic Pro

Converting your project to Dolby Atmos can give it a captivating atmosphere, allowing the sound from multiple instruments to come from different areas around the listener’s ears. Listen to records that have the Spacial Audio feature on Apple Music to get a better understanding of how popular artists integrate this tool into their songs.

For more tutorials on production, mixing, mastering, and songwriting, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.