Gamescom is enormous. 368,000 visitors, more than 1,700 exhibitors, and for the first time the entire Cologne convention center sold out. Standing in the middle of it left me more impressed than any industry event has in years, and it changed how I see the games industry. That shift is what pushed me into making this video, which turns into something of a rant along the way.

In this video I check out D1vert, a free immersive audio plugin from Max1mus Audio that tackles one of the more annoying problems in higher channel formats like 9.1.6: channels that simply won't line up in the right order. I set up a real-world example in Reaper to see how well this small, simple tool handles a headache that usually calls for far more complicated solutions.

In Part 2 of my series with Gert Keunen, author of Stereo Was a Nice Try, we take on the controversial question of whether you should upmix at all — then break down the immersive upmixing plugins that matter, from the pro-grade industry standard to free research tools and affordable creator options. We dig into sound quality, latency, format support, and price, and we each name a pick by the end.

A viewer question sent me back to this channel's roots: how do you actually get Neumann RIME working inside WaveLab 13 to monitor Dolby Atmos on headphones? I also show a bonus trick for adding Apple Spatial Monitoring the same way, so you can virtualize your Atmos studio anywhere.

I take a hands-on look at Spanner 5, The Cargo Cult's immersive channel panning plugin, now available in VST3 and Audio Unit alongside its long-standing Pro Tools version. I show how it handles panning, up-mixing, and down-mixing across Reaper, solve a Reaper specific channel routing issue, and share my honest verdict.

I sit down with Gert Keunen, author of Stereo Was a Nice Try, to break down the immersive audio panning plugins that matter right now — from cinema-grade channel tools to creative, movement-driven effects — and what actually makes one worth putting in your workflow. It's Part 1 of a two-part series (upmixers are coming next), and we each reveal a personal favorite at the end.

I sit down with Ben Weatherill, the one-man team behind South Loop Studios, to talk about how a small side project became a full suite of immersive audio tools — from Orbit and Orbit Pro to the Esfera streaming platform, OSLS, and Cota — in a matter of months. We dig into open formats like IAMF and Google Eclipsa, how they stack up against Dolby Atmos and Apple Spatial Audio, and where 3D sound is headed next.

Orbit Pro 1.5 brings a dramatically cleaner interface and a surprising new capability that pushes the software into fresh territory. I break down what's improved, what still needs work, and whether this tiny developer is quietly outpacing the giants behind Eclipsa Audio.

I've spent years hunting for one compact controller that handles both video editing and music production, and I think I've finally found it for under 40 bucks. In this video I show you how to set it up, how it performs in a DAW and in DaVinci Resolve, and the one caveat to keep in mind before you buy.

I sit down with Pablo Garcia-Valencuela of Nine Angles For Forte, a two-decade pioneer of immersive live performance, to dig into SPAT Curve, his patent-pending 3D Kontakt instrument built for the stage. We cover where immersive audio is heading, why he builds instruments rather than tools, and a few creative directions that genuinely caught me off guard.

I'm following up on my Berklee/Suno response video by answering the most interesting comments you left — from the "AI stole all the music" argument to whether generative tools belong in a music college at all. Expect a lot of nuance, a few disagreements, and an honest look at what music education needs to get right for the next twenty years.

I put the new AB Recorder from Audio Brewers to the test, recording first-order ambisonics straight from the iPhone and decoding the result in Reaper. Join me for a hands-on walkthrough of the app's standout features, its limitations, and my honest take on whether it earns a place in your pocket.

I dive into Vert1go, the new immersive 3D auto-panner from Max1mus Audio, and explore everything from its pattern library and draw mode to a clever feature for object-oriented workflows like Dolby Atmos. I also compare it head-to-head with Sound Particles' Beat Panner so you can decide which one belongs in your immersive audio toolkit.

Sound Particles just released Beat Panner, a new plugin that works like an auto-panner in three-dimensional space for immersive and spatial audio. In this video I explore what it does, who it's for, and give my honest verdict, limitation and all.

Dolby recently made the Dolby Reference Player available to buy on its own, so I take a hands-on look at what it does, how it fits into Dolby Atmos quality control, and how to create a bitstream you can actually test. The real question, though, is who this $50 tool is for — and whether hobbyists and semi-professionals need it at all.

Adam Neely says Berklee made a serious mistake with its Suno-based "Bots and Beats" songwriting course — and as a creative technology educator and department head who defends AI more than most, I largely agree with him. But in this video I add the nuance his argument is missing: why being "out of touch" can be a feature of good education, why the Suno ethics are messier than simple theft, and why the public isn't quite as hostile to AI music as his corner of the internet suggests.

In this first look I explore Orbit Pro, the new Pro version of the Orbit player from Orbit Spatial, which can now transcode Dolby Atmos Master Files directly into YouTube-supported Eclipsa Audio—something even Pro Tools can't do yet. I also walk through its new video import, multi-track sessions, webcam head tracking and improved loudness metering, and explain why it's a strong pick for anyone serious about immersive audio production.

I answer the two biggest questions I keep getting about the Steven Slate Immersion One: can you use the VSX system for immersive audio, and should you upgrade from the original VSX? My verdict might surprise you — better doesn't always mean right for you.

In this episode, I chat with Gert Keunen, mastering engineer and author of Stereo Was a Nice Try, about everything from setting up a budget immersive studio to mixing secrets for Dolby Atmos and why thinking immersive from the start changes everything. We cover DAWs, headphone mixing, the LFE channel, loudness, virtual instruments, and even what beer style best represents an immersive mix.

I take a first look at the Areal SR1 — a groundbreaking set of immersive headphones from Belgium that uses multiple physical drivers per ear cup to reproduce spatial audio through your own ear geometry, bypassing software-based HRTF simulation entirely. In this video I walk through the hardware, the audio interface, the setup process, and give my honest verdict on whether the SR1 lives up to its fascinating concept.