PMC Studio London demos the creative power of Dolby Atmos

PMC has opened PMC Studio London, a state of the art Dolby Atmos music mixing suite that will be used to demonstrate the company’s loudspeaker products, including the new ci series, which are particularly suited to this ground-breaking immersive audio format.

The PMC Studio opening coincides with the company’s 30th anniversary, and reflects the company’s long-standing relationship with Dolby and the development of immersive audio within the music mixing ecosystem.

Based in a former piano factory in Islington, PMC London joins other PMC audio suites in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville, and will offer artists, record labels, recording professionals and custom installers the opportunity to experience the creative potential of Dolby Atmos music mixing.

In 2017, PMC designed one of the very first Atmos Music monitoring systems for Universal Music Group’s Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. The facility quickly became a reference for Dolby Atmos music mixing. Similar systems have now been installed in many other recording studios around the world, including London’s Dean Street Studios, Dolby’s New York Midtown Studios, Universal Music Group’s Berry Hill Studios and msm Studio Group in Munich.



“This is an exciting development for PMC, and for the UK’s professional audio industry,” says Oliver Thomas, PMC’s commercial director. “Dolby Atmos is already the leading immersive audio format for film and television and it is now gaining ground as a music format, with Dolby Atmos music releases now available through streaming services such as Amazon Music HD and Tidal. We are proud to have a close working relationship with Dolby and to have worked together on a large number of Atmos mix room projects so far. PMC has always been at the cutting edge of new technology and our professional monitoring systems are ideally suited to Atmos mix rooms.”

These Atmos loudspeakers include PMC’s recently launched slimline, high-performance ci series, which feature the company’s proprietary ATL bass loading technology and Laminair air flow control for ultra-low distortion and high resolution playback.

All of the monitors in this range are designed with a shallow depth for wall mounting and all models, apart from the ci140 and ci140sub, can also be used in-wall. This discreet design makes them ideally suited to applications including studios and home theatres, and enables custom installers to provide their clients with exactly the same speaker system used during the production process.

PMC London’s monitoring system comprises six slimline ceiling-mounted ci45 monitors and eight slimline ci65 monitors for height and surround channels. The system is fronted by MB3 XBD Active monitors for the LCR channels, with four twotwo sub2 monitors for effects channels.

PMC’s professional customers can also draw on the expertise of its US President, Maurice Patist, who has long been an advocate for Dolby Atmos Music. A 20-year veteran of PMC, Patist is also a noted producer and engineer with a particular passion for jazz music. Shortly after helping to build the first Dolby Atmos room at Capitol Studios, Patist became part of the team that remixed Miles Davis’ albums Kind of Blue (1959) and Sketches of Spain (1960) in Dolby Atmos. Since then, he has been involved in many other Dolby Atmos projects, including mixing tracks for artists such as Marcus Miller.

“Immersive audio is the future for music, not least because it brings an entirely new and innovative dimension to the mixing process,” Patist explains. “The technology for both creating and distributing immersive audio has moved on and there is also much more of a push from equipment manufacturers and labels alike to see this format succeed. It’s no longer just a question of consumers needing a high end home theatre set up to enjoy the experience, with products such as the Amazon Echo Studio delivering via up-firing speakers and headphone playbacks for people who like to stream tracks while on the move, there is little doubt that immersive audio for music will redefine the way we make music and the way we appreciate it as consumers.”