Feature

Mixing Ziggy Stardust in ATMOS

Ken Scott & Emre Ramazanoglu Mixing the Album

Mike Exeter visited RAK Studios while Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu were in Studio 4 mixing David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album in ATMOS. We recorded some of the behind the scenes work and managed to take 20 minutes of their time to have a cup of tea and chat about the project. Sadly, for the obvious copyright reasons, the music has been edited out but the Blu-Ray version ships in September 2024 and streaming will happen at some point later we expect.

Many journalists and specialists will be reviewing the new mix, we wanted to get a sense of what mixing Ziggy in ATMOS would bring to listeners and tried to not get too drawn in to the fine deep technical details - we didn't want to disrupt the session so hope that you find the short conversation with Ken and Emre interesting and maybe tip you over the edge in to re-equipping your living room with an ATMOS setup! The founder of this web site first got in to recording after hearing Alan Parsons' Quad mix of Dark Side of the Moon and have a feeling that anyone coming in to the industry fresh will find hearing this mix that Ken and Emre were doing even more inspiring.

Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu mixing Ziggy Stardust in ATMOS at RAK Studios

The sound quality of the original recording heard in the room was astonishing. Ken recorded the album on 16 tracks (two inch analogue tape) originally but took the multitracks to Abbey Road Studio 2 and played various elements out in to the studio to re-record the room ambience. A photo of the setup taken by Ken is included here and we are very grateful to him for sending us the snap as it gives a good insight in to the setup.

Studio Two at Abbey Road. Loudspeakers sending the sound to be re-recorded - featuring Core Sound OctoMic surround microphone

Studio Two at Abbey Road. Loudspeakers sending the sound to be re-recorded - featuring Core Sound OctoMic surround microphone

Bringing greater flexibility and space with the surround format has enabled Ken and Emre to bring something completely new and worthwhile to the album while retaining that 'glue'. Stereo however was not forgotten about and this perspective was constantly being monitored as it was derived from a fold down of the ATMOS mix. Apparently John Webber (Air Mastering) visited to understand their objectives for his new stereo cut and we really look forward to hearing that too.

Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu mixing Ziggy Stardust in ATMOS at RAK Studios

Emre has vast ATMOS mixing experience and was able to help guide Ken through his first experience with the format. Ken has been very full of praise saying that Emre is one of the few engineers that he has been happy to engineer for him - a very high accolade.

Many thanks to Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu for giving us access and letting us film during the mix. Big thanks also to everyone at RAK Studios including Gili Portal (assistant engineer of session) and Emma Townsend. Many thanks to Mike Exeter for thinking up the questions and for giving up his time too.