Releasing in Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio
Uploading & Releases

Dolby Atmos is included in your MOOSYC plan. Here's what it is, what to send us, and how to add it.

What Dolby Atmos is

A stereo mix places sound between two speakers, left and right. Dolby Atmos is object-based: each sound can be placed anywhere in three dimensions around the listener, above them included.

Spatial Audio is Apple's name for its immersive playback, which includes Dolby Atmos. Other services play Dolby Atmos too, among them Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listeners need compatible headphones, speakers or devices to hear it.

Your stereo master stays the main version of the song. The Atmos mix goes alongside it as a second version.

Why it's worth doing

• It gives you more room creatively. Height, depth and movement become part of the arrangement.
• It works on music that's already out. You can add Atmos to a release that's already live, not just new ones.

It has to be a true Atmos mix

Apple publishes clear delivery rules for Dolby Atmos, and they're good ones to follow whichever store your listeners use:

• Build the Atmos mix from your multitracks, or from stems made from the multitracks
• No upmixing a stereo release
• No splitting a stereo master into stems ("demixing") to build the Atmos mix
• No stereo mix placed in the sound field with ambience or reverb added
• Conform and sync the Atmos mix to the stereo version of the same song
• Keep integrated loudness at −18 LKFS or below, and true peak at −1 dBTP or below

Apple can remove immersive audio that breaks these rules. Logic Pro can export a Dolby Atmos ADM BWF master, and Dolby lists Atmos music studios if you'd rather work with an engineer.

(Apple: Immersive Audio Source Profile)

The file MOOSYC needs

• ADM BWF (Broadcast Wave with Audio Definition Model metadata), as a .wav file
• 24-bit
• 48 kHz. If you mixed at 96 kHz, export at 48.
• The same length as the stereo track, to within one second
• One Atmos file per track

Before your upload starts, we read the file's header and tell you straight away if the bit depth, sample rate or length is off, so you don't wait on a multi-gigabyte upload that was never going to pass.

Each Atmos mix also gets its own ISRC, separate from the stereo track's. If you already have one for it, enter it when you upload. If not, leave the field empty.

How to add Dolby Atmos to a release

Atmos is added after you submit a release, track by track.

1. Submit your release as usual, with the stereo masters.
2. From Home, open Dolby Atmos.
3. Open the release. Every track has its own Dolby Atmos control.
4. Tap Add Dolby Atmos on a track and drop in your .wav.
5. Add the Atmos ISRC if you have one, then tap Send for review.

You can queue several tracks and keep working while they upload.

A person reviews every Atmos file before it's added to the track, the same way we review every release. While that happens, the track reads Under review. Once it's approved, the mix is attached, and its Dolby Atmos ISRC appears in the track's details, ready to copy.

Changing your mind

• Not approved? You'll see our note on what to fix. Fix it and tap Send again.
• Replacing a mix? Upload the new one. The current Atmos file stays on the track until the new one is approved.
• Removing a mix? Remove takes it off the track. Putting it back means uploading the file again.

Things to know

• Upload the stereo master first. A track without one can't take Atmos.
• Some releases can't take Atmos files, for example releases that were rejected, cancelled or taken down. If a release you expected to see says so, contact us.
• Atmos shows up separately in your numbers. A Dolby Atmos mix is its own recording, so its streams and earnings appear as their own row, marked Dolby Atmos, under the song's name.

Related

• Supported Audio Formats for your stereo master
• What Is an ISRC?
• What's Included in the Plan