Surround formats in a Dolby Atmos mix in Logic Pro for Mac
In Logic Pro for Mac, you can choose different surround formats in the Audio project settings. This has an impact on your Dolby Atmos project because it affects various components that can alter the sound of your mix.
Object tracks
The project surround format has no effect on the object tracks. The mono or stereo signal of an object track is routed directly to the corresponding object input of the Dolby Atmos plug-in.
Bed tracks
Similar to a surround project, bed tracks are routed to the surround bus, and the channel mode of that surround bus is determined by the currently selected option in the Surround Format pop-up menu (5.1, 7.1, or 7.1.2). That channel format is not indicated on the Output slot of the channel strip; it only says Surround.
Surround master channel strip
The channel mode of any plug-in that is placed on an Effect slot of the surround master channel strip depends on if it is placed before or after the Dolby Atmos plug-in.
Before: The channel mode is determined by the project surround format and can be 5.1, 7.1, or 7.1.2.
After: The channel mode is determined by the output of the Dolby Atmos plug-in, which is always 7.1.4, even if you select a monitoring format that renders to fewer speakers (such as 5.1.4 or binaural).
The input-to-output format conversion on the Dolby Atmos plug-in is indicated on the Channel Mode submenu when you choose the Dolby Atmos plug-in from the plug-in menu.
