Mary Queen of Scots is the first feature film to have been mixed in Dolby Atmos within Abbey Road's Mix Stage. A new film featuring Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan and David Tennant that shows Mary, Queen of Scots meeting rival English Queen Elizabeth I, due to be released on 7 December in the US and 18 January 2019 in the UK. Steve Single, Re-Recording Mixer, told us about his experience: "The mix of Mary Queen of Scots was an absolute pleasure. A great sounding room with great tech support from Jack and Kobi. And most crucially the Atmos mix translation from Abbey Road to several other rooms and cinemas was true and accurate. Thats the dream".
Engineered by Kobi Quist - Abbey Road Senior Mix Technician, Jack Cheetham - Abbey Road Mix Technician, alongside Steve Single - Re-recording Engineer, Andrew Caller - Re-Recording Mixer, Ian Wilson - Sound Supervisor/ FX Editor and Michael Conell - Music Editor. The final score was mixed at Abbey Road and Pinewood Studios. Andrew Caller mentioned that the transition from Pinewood Studios to Abbey Road and back again worked brilliantly, thanks to the support and enthusiasm of Kobi, Jack and the rest of the team: "It was an amazing privilege to get the opportunity to work at Abbey Road and we hope to repeat the experience again soon".
Abbey Road's Jack Cheetham explained the process: "Steve Single and Andrew Caller made use of the Hybrid mixing console, and opted to mix using two S6 Master modules with 24 and 16 faders respectively, whilst summing through the AMS Neve DFC 3D. There were 6 rigs in total, which included 3 playback rigs, 1 offline machine, 1 picture player and a Dubber. The temp mixes leading up to the Atmos mix were all done in the traditional 5.1 format, and translated beautifully between various post-production facilities and cinemas in London. The final mix was the first chance for Ian, Steve and Andrew to really sculpt the sound to the final article, and trust that the decisions they were making in the mix stage would translate to an everyday listening environment such as a cinema. That is the real test. The decisions that are made during the final mix of a film are crucial. This is amplified when working in Dolby Atmos as there are more critical decisions to be made, and whilst there is more scope to be creative, there is a fine line between being creative and a mix being more immersive, and being creative and a mix being distracting. The film lends itself to rich ambiences and thematic scores, which are mixed in a way that envelops you and draws you into the characters and their dialogue. The mix supports the narrative incredibly well, and this is further exaggerated when listening within a 3-dimensional sound field".
