The Art of Mixing in Immersive
By Rudy Van Duppen, CEO, GOERDYNAMICS B.V.
A Studio Roundtable on Crafting Realistic Soundscapes with AURO-3D
Immersive audio is often framed as a technology shift, but for working studios, it’s fundamentally a creative shift. To explore how three-dimensional sound changes the art of mixing, we asked AURO-3D Certified Studios and Grammy® winning immersive artists to share how they approach space, height, and realism in day-to-day production using AURO-3D.
What follows is a studio-authored roundtable perspective—less about specs and more about how immersive audio actually gets used to tell a new audio story.
Why Immersive Audio Changes the Way Stories Are Told
Immersive audio doesn’t just expand the soundstage—it fundamentally changes how stories are constructed and delivered. In stereo, mixers are forced to prioritize and compress elements into a limited horizontal field. In immersive formats like AURO-3D, space itself becomes a storytelling tool, allowing sound to exist naturally rather than compete for attention.
“I think everything changes… we’re always trying to tell a story with the song… but in stereo it’s very limiting. Once you put that in a 3D space, you have so many more options and possibilities—it just gives you more freedom.”
— Robin Reumers, Abbey Road Institute Miami
Across music, film, and experiential content, studios agree on one thing: immersive audio expands narrative control. Instead of compressing every idea into a horizontal plane, mixers can shape an environment that feels physical and believable.
Bert van der Wolf, founder of NorthStar Recording Services | The Spirit of the Turtle, frames this idea at a more fundamental level—before format, before technology:
“An instrument without context is in essence meaningless… it is this play between ‘what something is’ and ‘where it is’ that brings the emotion, musicality, storytelling if you like.”
That concept of context sits at the heart of immersive audio. It’s not just about placing sounds around a listener—it’s about restoring the natural relationship between source and space.
Justin Gray, GRAMMY Award winner for Best Immersive Audio Album (Immersed), describes immersive mixing as a fundamental shift in how music is experienced:
“The ability to move sound behind me fundamentally changed my relationship with music… it allowed me to use space as a narrative tool, helping to further shape and refine the emotional impact of an arrangement.”
Studios describe immersive audio as:
- A way to place the listener inside the story
- A method for reducing competition between elements
- A tool for emotional pacing, not just spectacle
Rather than making mixes more complex, three-dimensional sound often makes them clearer—because elements no longer fight for the same space.
“With more physical space for sound distribution, I found I could manipulate sources less while still maintaining clarity and balance.”
— Justin Gray, GRAMMY Award Winner, Best Immersive Audio Album
How Height Layers Create Realism
Height is one of the most misunderstood—and most powerful—elements of immersive audio. It’s often associated with dramatic effects or movement, but in practice, its greatest value is subtle: recreating the natural vertical dimension of sound that exists in real environments.
“It really depends on the song… sometimes I use height just to elevate and give more space, and other times you have a flyover or something above your head.”
— Robin Reumers, Abbey Road Institute Miami
Certified studios consistently point out that height channels are most powerful when they’re intentional.
Bert van der Wolf connects height directly to how humans perceive reality:
“The continuous holographic appearance of real life is our reference… supplying this in recorded music helps tremendously in feeling safe and confident, knowing both the source and context in its natural appearance.”
He explains that 3D sound reduces cognitive load:
“Stereo simply needs more DSP from the brain to get into this relaxed experience… our hearing and feeling apparatus is just more at ease with 3D sound.”
This is a critical distinction for immersive mixing: realism isn’t just aesthetic—it’s biological.
Justin Gray emphasizes that height is almost always active—even when subtle:
“I am almost always using the height channels, even in subtle ways, as they contribute significantly to a sense of envelopment.”
Real-world sound always includes vertical information—reflections, air, overhead movement—and AURO-3D allows mixers to reintroduce those cues naturally. Studios commonly use height layers to:
- Add air and openness without boosting volume
- Enhance room realism and acoustic context
- Increase emotional scale during key moments
“I am drawn to the surreal quality of sound above the listener… expanding grooves or adding orchestral detail in ways that would be difficult to achieve in a traditional live setting.”
— Justin Gray
Creative Decisions: Ambience, Vocals, and Instruments
One of the biggest misconceptions about immersive mixing is that it’s simply about spreading sounds around the room. In reality, it requires more discipline, not less. Every placement decision carries meaning, and the relationship between elements becomes more exposed in a three-dimensional space.
“Vocals—I really like the center speaker… it gives you that anchor point and creates space for everything else.”
— Robin Reumers, Abbey Road Institute Miami
Rather than treating immersive audio as a redistribution exercise, studios emphasize intentional placement—and often movement.
Bert van der Wolf approaches this from a capture-first philosophy rooted in realism:
“My understanding of instruments and the context they sound in always has been my main scope of attention… AURO-3D came as a logical progression.”
Justin Gray approaches placement as a balance of energy and perception:
“Immersive mixing is fundamentally about distributing sound energy, and I’m always aiming for balance, both in level and frequency.”
Ambience
Ambient elements are often elevated or wrapped around the listener instead of pushed forward. This preserves clarity while enhancing depth.
Vocals
Most studios keep lead vocals grounded—often centered—while using space creatively when the story calls for it.
“Lead vocals and soloists tend to sit in the center, while harmonies or ensemble elements can surround the listener.”
— Justin Gray
Instruments
Instruments benefit from physical logic:
- Percussion gains realism from spatial energy
- Pads and textures bloom naturally overhead
- Acoustic sources feel more “real” when placement matches perception
“I often place lower, darker elements toward the rear, and brighter, more forward material toward the front.”
— Justin Gray
Guiding the Listener’s Focus in 3D Space
One of the biggest shifts in immersive mixing is how attention is controlled. In stereo, focus is often controlled through level and frequency—what’s loudest or brightest tends to dominate attention. In immersive audio, focus becomes spatial. Where a sound is placed can be just as important as how it is processed.
Gray describes this as a deliberate, top-level creative decision:
“The first step is defining the experience I want to create for the listener… whether the goal is a hyper-realistic experience or something more surreal.”
Bert van der Wolf connects this directly to human survival instincts:
“Our brain/ear is constructed to localize danger… it needs to know ‘where this danger might be’… supplying accurate spatial information allows the listener to relax.”
By leveraging psychoacoustics—how we perceive sound directionally—mixers can guide focus naturally:
“By placing and balancing elements carefully in space, the listener can naturally focus on the most important musical material… when it’s working well, the speakers disappear.”
— Justin Gray
Monitoring Immersive Mixes on Headphones
As immersive audio workflows evolve, so does the way mixes are monitored and approved. While speaker-based environments remain the gold standard, modern production requires flexibility—especially when collaborators, artists, and clients are often reviewing mixes remotely.
This has made headphone translation an essential part of the process. The challenge is ensuring that what works in a physical room maintains its integrity when rendered binaurally. The best workflows don’t treat these as separate experiences, but as connected stages of the same mix.
While immersive speaker rooms remain the reference, AURO-3D’s binaural tools enable modern workflows.
Justin Gray emphasizes a hybrid approach grounded in accuracy:
“I always begin by working on speakers… When the spatial distribution and balance are working properly in the room, the mix typically translates well to binaural.”
Bert van der Wolf offers a more pragmatic view from production reality:
“There never has been a musician that approved on my AURO-3D mixes other than visiting my studio… they don’t even care that much I suspect, but they do like it a lot when I play it for them.”
This highlights a key truth: immersive audio is still best experienced physically—even as workflows adapt for headphone review.
“Since many collaborators and clients rely on headphones for review and approval, I take binaural translation very seriously.”
— Justin Gray
Takeaway from the Studios
AURO-3D isn’t just a destination format—it’s a creative medium that aligns closely with how humans naturally hear and interpret sound.
Bert van der Wolf’s philosophy reinforces this at its core: immersive audio works because it restores the relationship between sound and space—the very thing that gives audio meaning.
As Justin Gray demonstrates through his immersive work, the format becomes a true storytelling canvas:
“The ability to use a detailed three-dimensional space as a sonic canvas for storytelling is incredibly inspiring.”
When immersive mixes succeed, listeners don’t say, “That sounded immersive.”
They say, “That felt real.”
FAQ: Immersive Audio Mixing and AURO-3D
What is immersive audio mixing?
Immersive audio mixing is the process of placing sound around and above the listener to create a three-dimensional listening experience. Instead of limiting music or sound design to left and right stereo speakers, immersive mixing uses height, depth, space, and movement to make audio feel more natural, emotional, and realistic.
How is immersive audio different from stereo?
Stereo places sound across a left-to-right field. Immersive audio adds height and depth, allowing mixers to position sound in a more lifelike environment. This gives the listener a stronger sense of place and makes the mix feel less compressed, because instruments, voices, ambience, and effects no longer have to compete in the same narrow space.
Why does AURO-3D sound more natural?
AURO-3D is designed around how humans naturally hear sound in real spaces. Real life includes sound from in front, behind, beside, and above us, along with reflections from the room or environment. By recreating those spatial cues, AURO-3D helps recorded audio feel more believable and emotionally connected.
Why are height channels important in immersive audio?
Height channels add vertical information to a mix. They can create air, openness, room reflections, overhead movement, and a stronger sense of scale. When used subtly, height channels make the listener feel enveloped. When used creatively, they can support dramatic moments, movement, or surreal effects.
Does immersive audio make music clearer?
Yes. Immersive audio can improve clarity because sound elements can be distributed across a larger three-dimensional space. Instead of stacking vocals, instruments, ambience, and effects into the same stereo field, mixers can separate them spatially. This often reduces masking and allows each element to be heard more naturally.
Where should vocals go in an immersive mix?
Lead vocals are usually kept centered or anchored near the front of the mix so the listener has a clear focal point. Supporting vocals, harmonies, choirs, or atmospheric vocal effects can be placed around or above the listener to create depth, emotion, and envelopment without distracting from the main performance.
How do immersive mixers use ambience?
Ambience is often used to create the sense of a real acoustic space. In AURO-3D, room sound, reflections, reverbs, and environmental cues can surround the listener and extend into the height layer. This helps the recording feel less like isolated sound sources and more like a complete world.
Why is context important in immersive audio?
Context is the relationship between a sound and the space it exists in. A voice, instrument, or effect becomes more meaningful when the listener can perceive where it is and what environment surrounds it. Immersive audio restores that relationship, helping sound feel more emotional, musical, and lifelike.
Can immersive audio be used for both realistic and creative mixes?
Yes. Immersive audio can be used to recreate a natural performance space, such as a concert hall, studio, church, or live room. It can also be used creatively to place sounds in impossible or surreal positions for artistic impact. The best approach depends on the story, song, or emotional goal of the production.
Can immersive audio translate to headphones?
Yes, immersive audio can translate to headphones through binaural rendering. However, many engineers still prefer to create and approve immersive mixes first in a calibrated speaker room. Headphones are useful for review, collaboration, and consumer playback, but speaker-based immersive monitoring remains the most accurate reference for spatial balance.
Why does immersive audio feel more emotional?
Immersive audio feels more emotional because it places the listener inside the sound field. Instead of hearing a performance from the outside, the listener experiences the music or story as a physical environment. This added sense of space can make moments feel more intimate, expansive, dramatic, or realistic.
Is immersive audio only for music?
No. Immersive audio is used in music, film, television, gaming, live events, virtual reality, theme parks, branded experiences, and high-end residential entertainment systems. Any content that benefits from realism, space, movement, or emotional impact can benefit from immersive audio.
What makes a good immersive mix?
A good immersive mix uses space intentionally. It does not place sounds everywhere just because the format allows it. The strongest immersive mixes balance clarity, realism, movement, emotional pacing, and listener focus so the technology disappears and the experience feels natural.
What is the main benefit of mixing in AURO-3D?
The main benefit of mixing in AURO-3D is the ability to create a natural three-dimensional sound field that supports both realism and storytelling. It gives engineers more creative control while helping listeners experience sound in a way that more closely reflects real life.
Author: Rudy Van Duppen (C.E.O) GOERDYNAMICS B.V.
