Immersive Audio
Monitoring, Acoustics, Interfaces, & Plugins
Welcome to the May 2026 issue of RECORDING Magazine.
May marks our third annual issue exploring the world of immersive audio, a topic we have been covering diligently for more than four years. In addition to the technology, tools, and techniques surrounding Dolby Atmos and immersive mixing, many of this issue’s topics also focus on immersive recording.
REVIEWS
We kick off this month’s reviews with two pairs of speakers. From HEDD Audio, we listen to the Type 20 A-Core, and from Kali Audio, we check out the Project Santa Monica SM-8 monitors. In headphones, we have the just-released Sennheiser HD 480 PRO.
On the software front, this month we explore the extremely detailed metering options found in PSP Metra from PSPaudioware, and from NUGEN Audio, we review version two of the MasterCheck codec and loudness preview plugin. We also check out the new InShaper immersive saturation plugin from Sound Particles.
Our final review this month is the Ohr-1 Level Meter from Ohr Labs, a simple, effective, and stylish desktop dB meter.
INTERVIEW
Capturing Immersive Space: Recording and Mixing in Dolby Atmos with Justin Gray
Our main interview this month is with mastering engineer, Atmos mixer, composer, and bassist Justin Gray, whose 2025 album Immersed just won the GRAMMY Award for Best Immersive Audio Album. [GET IT HERE]
First Impressions of Immersive Recording
Artists on Atmos
Next up in a group roundtable, six artists share their first impressions of recording in Dolby Atmos. We sit down with Willy Porter, Mai Bloomfield, Carmen Nickerson, Ryan Pearl, Jacob Mann and Charlie Paxson. [GET IT HERE]
FEATURES
As we continue our year-long exploration of essential audio terminology, this month in Studio 101, Joe Albano defines the terms and concepts of reverberant space. [GET IT HERE]
In Inside The Studio, producer Mark Hornsby discusses The Great Atmos/Stereo Paradigm Shift as immersive audio has reshaped how we think about speakers and rooms. [GET IT HERE]
In this issue’s RECORDING Techniques, Dave Martin examines the ins and outs of Atmos mastering and delivery, [GET IT HERE] and in Field Notes, Giles Reaves offers a different kind of immersion story as he takes us back to his first day in a recording studio. [GET IT HERE]
In RECORDING Remastered, we revisit our April 2012 issue with an article by Scott Dorsey on ambisonic recording. [GET IT HERE] Next, we welcome back our resident Dolby Atmos expert Will Kennedy, who offers three different perspectives on Atmos microphone arrays and techniques. [GET IT HERE] Last but not least, we present a manufacturer technical article from Immersive Design Labs, as gear designer and company founder Adrian Weidmann introduces the company’s immersive Mic Array. [GET IT HERE]
In our semi-regular First Steps In Dolby Atmos column, Editor Paul Vnuk Jr. shares ideas, considerations, and experiments to try during tracking for use in an Atmos mix. [GET IT HERE]
REGULARS
Rounding out our immersive audio theme, in this issue’s Studio Spotlight, we meet electronic musician and modular sound designer Chris Meyer and learn how he remodeled his garage into a full-scale Dolby Atmos room.
If you are committed to—or simply curious about—spatial audio, there has never been a better time to immerse yourself in the May issue of RECORDING Magazine.