ORIA “The Perfect Solution” Says Dolby Atmos Mixing and Mastering Studio

Essex, UK; August 2024 – The moment Dolby Atmos mixing & mastering studio, Present Day Production installed Audient ORIA immersive audio interface and monitor controller in their Essex studio, things changed beyond recognition. “Now we can listen to commercially released Atmos mixes in anything up to a 7.1.4 configuration without the need for complicated third party software, Dante, or an Apple TV connected to a consumer Atmos decoder,” says technical director, James Nugent.

James and Present Day Production co-founder, mastering engineer Mark Ashfield know all the advantages, pain points, complications and expense of building a Dolby Atmos studio, having done exactly that over the last couple of years. “We could have gone for one of the ‘Dolby Atmos compatible’ interfaces on the market. They are all costly however, and generally compromised afterthoughts added to existing products rather than a bespoke standalone solution,” says Mark.

He had a very specific list of requirements for his ideal audio interface, and both he and James are “genuinely excited” about ORIA. “Audient has done a fantastic job of creating an interface that just works for immersive audio. It not only ticks all the boxes but sounds fantastic. They’ve given us the perfect solution.” Today almost 100% of their output leaves with an Atmos mix.

“The fact that we can have a full 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos speaker playback running at the same time as a headphone binaural playback in Studio One, means that we can work with creativity at the forefront and not be slowed down by confusing menus,” adds James, referring to the ability to patch one of the headphone sockets to channel 17 + 18.

“It really can be the centrepiece of your studio, not only for Atmos, but also for tracking if you need to. ORIA has been the centrepiece of my mastering room since we’ve had it – for stereo mastering as well as Atmos,” he continues.

“ORIA is designed with workflow and efficiency at its heart, and after having used it for a few months, that becomes ever clearer to see. It simply sounds like it isn’t there, and it’s been rock solid in both performance and reliability.”

Both staunch audiophiles, James and Mark manufacture and sell their own in-house monitors as well as running their own PresentDayProduction YouTube channel. They’ve grown their following to a staggering 47.5K and logged over 4 million streams to date. It’s here that they review studio gear, conduct interviews and document their own foray into the immersive audio scene.

“If anyone has asked us for a recommendation on necessary kit for their upcoming Dolby Atmos studio builds, the ORIA is always top of the list. We love it,” concludes James.