Immersive Talk with METHOD x MADNESS

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I own a studio called METHOD x MADNESS alongside two partners. I started playing piano at age seven and later went on to learn drums and guitar. I became a touring musician, which is something I still do now, but the studio bug inevitably bit me, and I've been in love with recording ever since.

What type of temporary space/s are you setting up mobile rigs in?

Our studio is currently in a room that, like most studio rooms, is not 100% ideal for the purpose. It is, however, working well enough for us while we build our permanent space. As a studio we do occasional pop-up events, either for artists or brand experiences, which have taken us into even less ideal spaces for setting up Dolby Atmos systems. Those have been very successful!

What key equipment do you use?

Firstly, we have a 7.1.4 Genelec SAM Monitoring layout made up of three 8331s, eight 8330s, a 7380 sub and a 9301B multichannel interface. The 9301B goes into an Audient Oria which connects to a Mac. Our other Genelec setup is similar, but made up of three 8341s, four 8340s, four 8330s, a 7380 sub and a 9301B.

What type of work do you do in the studio?

In the studio we mostly do Dolby Atmos mixing. We work with a lot of Amapiano and other Afro genres, but also lots of HipHop and top40 pop vibes as well. We specialise in Dolby Atmos because it’s the one that makes the most sense for the music industry, since the adoption is by far the biggest from a consumer standpoint.

What made you finally equip for immersive, and can you describe how you did the upgrade?

Like many people, I heard Rocket Man and was like, "I guess I’m buying a bunch of Genelecs!"

I love technology, and having the opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation in recorded music was very exciting to me. Because immersive is still so new, there are no “rules”. And almost no one has it all figured out yet. It made me feel like I did when I first picked up an instrument – just pure joy! It’s the most emotional music has ever been to me, and that’s hard to unhear and just move on from without getting invested.

Now that you are working in immersive, can you describe how you approach it?

We have two main approaches. One if there’s an existing stereo master that we should honour, and then another if there's not and we are getting to the stereo master via the Atmos fold-down. There’s often a lot more bus/master-bus processing needed if there's an existing stereo master compared to when there's not. So, my Pro Tools template allows me to really have more of a traditional stereo workflow by way of lots of 9.1.6 object beds, which allows for doing all the bus/master-bus processing like you would in stereo. I can also break free from that and do more individual object based stuff if I need to as well.

The biggest challenge for me is to make sure to create a really great immersive mix that folds down to 2.0 properly, with a great headphone experience as well. There’s a lot of consideration that should go into what a sound will do in 2.0 after I’ve made it fly around the room, and whether that will work on the fold down, or if it will be super distracting.

Did you use GLM (Genelec Loudspeaker Manager) to calibrate your system?

Yes definitely, and it has been tremendously useful. Because we’re operating in less-than-ideal spaces, having a tool that automatically calibrates the system and provides control is extremely valuable. Timelines for the pop-up events are normally very tight, so having it be so fast is really lifesaving. It also really sounds amazing. GLM does a great job of time aligning and EQ. It makes light work of something that can be super complicated.

Can you tell about some of the immersive projects you have worked on recently?

We’ve mixed a lot of music for artists, and they've all been very happy with the outcome. We also spend a lot of time educating artists, managers and labels on what Atmos is and how they can make the most of it.

We also have our pop-up events. We've done three to date. The first two were artist album listening sessions, which went really well. The audiences really loved those. The other one was a collaboration with artists and Nike for this year’s Air Max Day. They took over five venues in a city block and threw a huge party.

The artists all performed at the event and, as part of the campaign, each artist had new music released alongside the event. We mixed all these tracks in Dolby Atmos and then also hosted a listening experience. Everyone had such a great time, after two busy hours I checked the door and there was still a big queue of people waiting for their turn, which felt really great.

How do you see the future of immersive audio over the next few years?

I think the consumer experience and access to immersive will continue to grow, with more and more wanting an elevated listening experience. I also think immersive audio will go beyond just music, and there are a lot of interesting possibilities in other sectors as well.

To find out more about the METHOD x MADNESS, click here.

Do you want to be featured in our ‘Immersive Talk’ series? If so, just post some pictures of your setup on Instagram using the #GenelecImmersive hashtag. We’ll be keeping a look out for the most interesting setups, so who knows? We may be in touch with you!