I’m working on a project I did last year in stereo and now want to upmix it to ATMOS. I’m looking for the best, most time saving approach. Should I:
DO you wish to mirror the Stereo or be more Creative with Atmos.
The first is easy and the second is fun.
Route all your tracks from stereo to Atmos Bed
disable all the Compression and EQ that you specifically used to create Depth, Hight Presence and everything you did to overcome Frequency masking.
What you will be left now is LRCS
Move, spread and 3D Pan your tracks to achieve your original soundstage
From here on it’s all fun. You will be surprised how much you can achieve with Objects without the essentials that is EQ, Compressor, Reverb and Delay
If you re-assign your outputs to the Atmos Bed you will lose all your panning if there is no pan automation. Go to the Automation page (A), click on the drop down arrow and select Create Initial Parameter Events. Then when you re-assign your outputs click on the Read button (if its not already on) and your panning will return. Click the Read button off if you don’t need it.
It’s easy to get carried away with height and surround placement (it is fun!). But in the end, keep in mind 99% of your audience will be listening on headphones or sounds bars with (if you’re lucky) simple left and right surround speakers. Be sure to check your fold downs! And on real consumer gear, too! (ie. AirPods)
I’m not getting anywhere at present. I’d forgotten what a nightmare it was learning this platform. But it’s all coming back now. 
I’ve only got a 5.1.4 rigg to work with and I opted to just swap out the busses. So, I added the 5.1.4 master out buss and inserted the equivalent renderer. For simplicity’s sake, I thought I’d just take group outs from the rhythm section, and BG Vox and place them in the bed. I made objects of soloing instruments and vocals in the ADM. I wanted to do the same with the FX, but it wouldn’t allow that (I’ll figure that out later).
When I tried to play it back, I found that the CONTROL ROOM DID NOT MAKE AN ATMOS 5.1.4 OUT. 
It’s still showing Stereo and Mono. The mixer shows a 5.1.4 Master out and the Renderer shows the individual tracks playing in surround. The Monitor Sources shows the 5.1.4 Surround Buss. But the Downmix Presets only shows Stereo and Mono options. So I’m getting the weird sounding stereo playback.
Can anybody tell, from this screenshot, what I did wrong?
Thanks.
I think a higher-res image of the Audio Connections window’s tabs for outputs and Control Room, respectively, would help.
I’m not sure if you’ve done it already, but the 5.1.4 main output in the output tab should likely have zero physical outputs assigned, same as a stereo setup would. In the CR tab in that window you’d set up a 5.1.4 output/speaker path with outputs assigned to speakers. And then you’d pick that main output from the output bus as a source in Control Room window and the 5.1.4 output should be there for you to choose.
I think this needs to be separate from your actual mix. So you can put your Atmos Renderer on that main output bus but you wouldn’t assign that bus in the Atmos window, you’d leave it alone.
I’m pulling this from memory now, and if I’m wrong hopefully someone can correct me.
HI. A better resolution will help, as I cannot figure out any of your settings.
Nonetheless here is just the bare basic of the setup, its not a template but just the Basic Atmos setup (A quick hack) 
Basic.npr (452.5 KB)
Keep the standard Atmos Bed as 7.1.2
In the renderer set the down mix to 5.1.4
If you have access to Groove you can check the chapter “How to Set Up & Use Dolby Atmos in Cubase”
Have you selected the 5.1.4 bus as the Main Mix Bus on the outputs page (F4)? The 5.1.4 preset should show up in the Control Room.
That’s how it’s set up. Output tabs have NO CONNECTIONS. They showed up as sources on the CR tab, where the output speakers are assigned.
Where they DON’T show up is on the CR Pannel on the mixer, from the channels tab down. Top says Stereo, ATMOS MSTR and an additional 5.1.4 FEED. They are activated and show a 5.1.4 output in the MIXER WINDOW. But on the CR Master tab it’s only showing Stereo and Mono.
Check the tabs in green by expanding them. Make sure they’re set correctly:
Also note the A/B selection at the bottom.
Hi Key,
There’s the problem right there. Refer to my previous post. Right click the Dolby Atmos output and select “Main Mix” or whatever it’s called. HTH.
Actually, firstly do as I and “Wheels” said, go to the output tab in audio connections and make sure the widest channel-count output bus is selected as main output. It looks like you’ve selected stereo out as the main.
Secondly, you should also check under the “monitor” tab in CR to make sure you’ve got the right outputs selected… i.e. not the “downmix” tab.
I got it. I inserted one of my ATMOS PRESETS, which bumped out the Stereo as main output. So it’s working now.
Now, I can go back up to the top of the thread and follow the mixing instructions, as all the Bed tracks sound flat as hell (almost mono) now.
Thanks for your help!
