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.

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.

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.

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.