What Is Spatial Audio Mixing & Do You Need To Know It?
Sep 16, 2025
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Tero Potila
Spatial audio mixing allows you to place sound in three dimensions, rather than just the left and right channels of stereo. This helps create depth, movement, and space that make music, podcasts, or films feel more natural and immersive.
Instead of stacking everything in a flat stereo field, you can position voices, instruments, and effects around the listener in a way that mirrors real environments.
But is spatial audio relevant and important for a producer to know how to mix?
My take on it: It’s a new technology that is a useful skill to have. It’s not the primary format in which most music is delivered today, but it could become the standard in the future.
I definitely encourage you to explore the topic and experiment with at least some basic techniques.
You don’t need an expensive studio to start experimenting with spatial audio mixing. With tools like Dolby Atmos, Mach1, and plugins in your favorite Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), you can build mixes that translate on headphones and beyond.
I’ve found that even small changes, such as moving ambience behind or above, can transform a spatial mix from ordinary to engaging without overwhelming the main element.
Core Concepts of Spatial Audio Mixing
What Is Spatial Audio Mixing?
Spatial audio mixing is the process of arranging sounds so they appear to come from specific directions in a 3D environment. Instead of only panning left or right, you can move sounds along the horizontal plane, above the listener using height speakers, or behind them for added depth.
This approach is used across immersive formats, such as Dolby Atmos and ambisonics (and others, like Mach1, although less commonly used). Each format allows you to place individual objects in a virtual space, providing more flexibility than traditional stereo sound.
With spatial mixes, you aren’t bound to fixed channels. You treat each sound source as an object that can be positioned dynamically.
Even a simple mono voice track can come alive once positioned in a 3D field. That level of detail changes the way you think about building a mix.
How Spatial Audio Differs from Stereo and Surround
Stereo sound uses two channels—left and right—while surround adds more channels around the listener, such as 5.1 or 7.1 setups. Spatial audio takes it a step further by allowing sound to move freely in all directions, including above and below the listener.
Unlike channel-based mixing, spatial audio formats rely on metadata that instructs playback systems on where each object should be positioned in virtual space. This makes the mix more adaptable across devices.
With binaural sound for headphones, spatial mixes simulate how your ears naturally perceive direction. This creates a sense of immersion even without physical speakers.
Key Elements: Sound Sources, Objects, and Virtual Space
To work effectively, you need to understand three building blocks: sound sources, audio objects, and virtual space.
- Sound sources are the raw recordings: voices, instruments, and effects. These can be mono, stereo, binaural, or ambisonic.
- Audio objects are the individual elements you assign positions in 3D space. Each object can move, change size, or vary in loudness.
- Virtual space is the simulated environment where objects interact, often shaped by reverbs, reflections, and head-related transfer functions (HRTFs).
In practice, you might place a narrator’s voice as a fixed, head-locked object so it stays centered even with head tracking, while ambient sounds shift naturally around the listener. This balance between fixed and moving objects is what makes immersive sound convincing.
You also need to consider loudness and clarity. Spatial mixes often use a wider dynamic range than stereo, but careful control ensures one object doesn’t overpower another.
By layering different directions and distances, you create an immersive experience that feels real and engaging.
Techniques and Tools for Creating Immersive Mixes
Creating spatial audio mixes requires a structured workflow, the right digital tools, and accurate monitoring setups. Each step influences how audio elements are translated into three-dimensional space, from initial track placement to playback across various systems.
Mixing Process and Workflow
A spatial mix starts with organizing your audio tracks into beds and objects. Bed channels typically hold static elements, such as ambiance or music layers, while objects enable you to move specific sounds in real time.
This distinction is crucial in formats like Dolby Atmos, where you can combine fixed and dynamic elements for balance. Automation plays a central role.
By automating panning, elevation, and depth, you can move audio elements across the sound field. For example, a helicopter can sweep overhead while dialogue remains anchored at the center.
You also need to carefully manage frequency response and dynamic range. Too much low-end spread across multiple objects can muddy the mix, while over-compression can flatten the immersive effect.
One tip I have for spatial mixing: It’s helpful to keep a clean signal chain and only add processing where it directly improves clarity.
Popular DAWs and Plugins for Spatial Audio
Several DAWs support spatial mixing natively.
Apple Logic Pro includes built-in Dolby Atmos tools, while Pro Tools integrates with the Dolby Atmos Production Suite and Dolby Renderer for precise control.
Ableton Live can also be adapted for spatial workflows with third-party plugins.
With all the DAWs, you can use plugins to expand your options. Tools like Dolby Atmos Panner, Dear Reality dearVR, and the IEM Plug-in Suite enable you to position sounds with precision in 3D space. Some plugins also simulate room acoustics or add head tracking, which helps test how mixes respond to listener movement.
Choosing the right spatial audio plugin depends on your workflow. For headphone-focused projects, binaural renderers are essential.
For surround albums or home theater releases, object-based tools with advanced features, such as height control and real-time monitoring, are more effective.
Monitoring and Playback Setups
Monitoring really matters, since spatial mixes can sound wildly different depending on what you play them through. At the very least, you’ll want to check your mix on headphones with binaural rendering, and also on stereo speakers for downmix compatibility.
If you’re chasing accuracy, nothing beats overhead speakers in a 7.1.4 or larger setup. That’s the sort of thing you’ll find in pro studios or theaters, but most likely you won’t have that at home.
Consumer playback setups vary widely. The most basic systems use a soundbar to simulate spatial audio, while a full-on home theater system provides a more detailed sound experience.
Streaming apps also feature virtualized Atmos.
It’s, of course, best to test your mix on all these different setups if you have access to them. That’s how you can ensure your mixes actually hold up in the real world, not just in your studio bubble.
Head tracking is also really cool for headphone monitoring. It simulates how sounds shift as you move around, and when paired with something like the Apple Renderer, you get a much better sense of how things will actually feel outside the studio.
Spatial Audio in Music Production
For music producers, spatial audio is opening up a new way to think about creative expression.
Instead of delivering a normal mix that sits in traditional stereo, you can create immersive audio experiences where sound objects move around the listener in real-time.
Apple Music and Amazon Music already support Atmos mixes, allowing independent artists to release spatial versions of their favorite songs alongside industry-standard stereo masters.
With a pair of headphones or even consumer sound bars, fans can experience a specific version of your track that feels closer to what they might hear in movie theaters or advanced speaker setups.
How to Get Started with Spatial Audio Mixing
From a practical standpoint, the easiest way to start is by using binaural mixes within your DAW, such as the Dolby Atmos Renderer or similar tools.
This lets you experiment with different sounds—such as pushing the kick drum forward while layering ambiance above—without specialized equipment.
You’ll need a compatible speaker setup or, at the very least, headphones that can play a binaural render to monitor your spatial audio mix.
Once exported, those audio files are compatible across various platforms, whether the listener is on an Apple device with AirPods Max, an Apple TV connected to a sound system, or another streaming service that supports spatial audio production.
For me, the big question is not about replacing traditional stereo mixes, but rather about expanding my palette. Spatial audio pushes you to think like a sound designer: treating each audio element as a movable object in 3D space.
When done well, it can transform even a simple song into a polished final product that surprises listeners and keeps them coming back.
Conclusion
Spatial audio production isn’t just a trend; it has become increasingly standard in movies and TV, while in music, it remains an optional format rather than the norm alongside stereo releases.
I think it’s definitely a good idea to stay ahead of the curve by experimenting with binaural audio and exploring how different platforms handle immersive mixes.
Even if you’re working with traditional surround sound speaker setups or simply a pair of headphones, this new approach to mixing offers more creative control over sound objects, ultimately giving listeners a richer alternative mix to enjoy.
About the author
Tero Potila is a professional music composer and producer. His career combining knowledge and experience from music, TV, film, ad, and game industries gives him a unique perspective that he shares through posts on teropotila.com.
