LONDON, UK ― Platinum Recording and Immersive Mix Engineer Kurt Martinez holds years of experience as a Dolby Atmos Mix Engineer at the historic Dean St. Studios in Soho, London, which specializes in spatial audio releases for chart-topping artists. An early adopter of Dolby Atmos, Dean St. Studios was one of the first in the world to take on immersive projects, which led to the creation of its complete and dedicated Dolby Atmos Suite, where Martinez works his magic.
Whether he’s mixing a soundtrack or a musical single, NUGEN Audio plays a major role in his workflow for immersive mixes. “When I first came to Dean St. Studios, Studio 1 was already equipped with NUGEN Audio, so I had the chance to get a feel for each of the plug-ins,” he says. “I knew how essential NUGEN plug-ins were to our projects at Dean St., so it was a no-brainer to double-up and equip the Atmos studio with a NUGEN suite as well.”
Included among Martinez’s line-up of NUGEN plug-ins is the brand’s VisLM loudness meter. “I continually use it on everything; it was even in my workflow during the early days when we had to print in real time,” he says. “Now, I’ll bounce to a single, offline the audio file and then take a reading with VisLM to keep things quick and convenient. When I start any sessions, we use the stereo master as a reference point. For Atmos music, the standard is 18 LUFs, so I’ll bring the stereo down to minus 18 LUFs and use VisLM to ensure that’s all in line.”
In addition to Atmos files, Martinez is continually tasked with delivering his projects within different specifications to meet the needs of a variety of over-the-top (OTT) networks. Recently, he remixed live concerts from Duran Duran, Billy Idol and Def Leppard across multiple providers, for which he deployed NUGEN Audio’s LM-Correct. “These media services all have different requirements for deliverables,” he explains. “With LM-Correct, I can select the standard I’m trying to reach, whether it’s a traditional one like ATSC/EBU or something more unique like Netflix or Peacock, and adjust my audio as needed. This saves me from having to print a two-hour show over and over.”
The brand’s Halo Upmix and Halo Downmix are also go-to solutions when it comes to his deliverables, especially when mixing for Amazon’s audio book platform, Audible. A recent example is his work on the platform’s “Sleep Sounds” series. “Mixing for Audible is essentially like creating a TV mix, without the visual,” explains Martinez. “The platform takes the binaural Atmos Audio Definition Model (ADM) file and downfolds to stereo for playback. That’s where Halo Downmix comes in — I’m able to quickly bounce a file and check things back. There is a button at the bottom where it folds back down perfectly to the stereo file, so that I know exactly what it’s going to sound like, which is really cool. On the other hand, I try to enhance the ambience and environment according to the project, and that’s when I’ll utilize Halo Upmix. Both tools have been immensely helpful in those instances.”
When it comes to augmenting the background audio in a project, Martinez calls on the brand’s Paragon reverb, which solved a major issue he encountered on a past project. “There was a problem with the vocal mics for this specific live show, so we ended up having to replace several recordings with re-recorded vocals,” he explains. “To achieve this, we had to remove the ambient mics from the actual songs, which kind of took the life from the performances. The crowd typically comes in before and after each song with applause, but the actual songs had none of that ambience. So, I took a split of the stereo and ran it through Paragon, and I was able to recreate what would’ve been captured on those ambient mics.”
A veteran of the audio industry, Martinez honed his skills co-engineering on recording sessions at several renowned London studios, including Sarm and Metropolis, where he learned from an array of talented producers and engineers. In addition to Martinez’s credits mentioned above, he has worked on various Platinum-selling singles for major artists, from Rita Ora, Central Cee and Lil’ Baby, to Kylie Minogue and Aitch x AJ Tracey. Beyond music, Martinez’s work extends into television, film and gaming, with contributions to soundtracks like the Apple TV series “Strange Planet” and the videogame soundtrack “Horizon: Forbidden West,” as well as for scripted dramas and documentaries for Audible and BBC, including the “Sleep Sound” series, “Countered Terrorism,” “Discover Your Inner Astronaut” and the Idris Elba produced sci-fi thriller “Halfway.”