Why Reverb Can Make or Break Your Dolby Atmos Mix

With Nathaniel Reichman, Co-Founder / Product Director, Immersive Machines, LLC

As immersive audio continues to expand from cinemas and streaming platforms into music and gaming, more engineers are taking the leap into formats like Dolby Atmos. But while the jump from stereo to immersive mixing can be creatively thrilling, it can also expose weaknesses in your toolkit — especially when it comes to spatial realism.

Many mixers assume that adapting their workflow for Atmos means starting from scratch, investing in new plug-ins, or learning unfamiliar tools. But as Nathaniel Reichman — veteran mixer, music producer, and immersive sound specialist — points out, that’s not entirely true.

“For the most part, the basic toolkit you already have — your favourite EQ, dynamics, and saturation plug-ins — all apply to the world of Atmos,” says Reichman. “You can keep using all of your favourite mono and stereo plug-ins in an Atmos mix — with one glaring exception: reverb.”

The Reverb Problem

“In 2019, I tried to adapt an orchestral album I had mixed in stereo to Dolby Atmos,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’ll just take my stereo reverb, turn up the object size, and it’ll fill the room — it’ll be great!’      

And it wasn’t great. It was terrible. Flat-sounding and lifeless.”

The reason, he explains, is fundamental to how humans perceive space. In a concert hall, our sense of depth and envelopment comes not just from the direct sound of an instrument, but from a complex web of reflections arriving from every direction — floor, walls, and ceiling. A stereo reverb simply can’t reproduce that multidirectional reality.

“While listening to that trumpet in the hall, the sound arriving from the ceiling to your left is very different from the sound coming from the rear wall to your right,” he notes. “That difference — what we call decorrelation — is essential to believable immersive sound.”

The Critical Role of Reverb in Immersive Mixing

In a stereo world, a two-channel reverb return is usually sufficient. But in Atmos, where the sound field can include up to 11 channels (or more), a mix lives or dies on the realism and cohesion of its reverb. Without it, even the most dynamic object-based mix can feel artificial or disconnected from the room.

“Personally, I’d say seven decorrelated channels is the bare minimum for Atmos — but the jump from 7 to 11 channels is very noticeable,” says Reichman. “This is one of those cases where more is more.”

And while immersive mixing has made huge strides in recent years, the availability of high-quality, truly immersive reverbs remains limited.

“Back in 2019, there weren’t many immersive reverbs available,” he recalls. “Fast-forward to 2025, and… there still aren’t. Building a great-sounding immersive reverb is hard.”

Discovering Verberate Immersive

That scarcity is what made Acon Digital’s Verberate Immersive stand out to Reichman.

“When I first heard Verberate Immersive from Acon Digital, I got excited — because it excels in many different areas,” he explains. “Previous reverbs tended to specialize: this one’s great for acoustic music… this one’s great for special FX… this one always sounds huge… Verberate is really versatile. You can go from a subtle ADR-matching room to an all-out stadium EDM sound. It answers the question: ‘If you could only buy ONE Atmos reverb, what would it be?’”

For engineers working across multiple formats, Verberate’s consistency is also a major advantage.

“If the client approved a stereo mix that used Verberate Stereo, there won’t be any surprises during Atmos mix review when I switch that insert up to Verberate Immersive — the sound will match perfectly.”

Performance and Workflow

Reichman’s background in television post-production has made him especially sensitive to workflow reliability — and Verberate delivers on that front too.

“I’m a heavy user of Pro Tools’ advanced automation and snapshot features,” he says. “The first time I spilled Verberate’s parameters across my Eucon control surface, everything was intuitive, and the plug-in responded to automation quickly and elegantly. That’s huge.      

Any TV or film re-recording mixer will tell you that certain plug-ins simply can’t be used on a dub stage — they’re too high-latency or too glitchy to be trusted in front of clients.”

The Future of Immersive Mixing

Immersive formats are quickly becoming a standard expectation for major releases. Streaming platforms, music labels, and post houses are investing heavily in Atmos-ready workflows, and mixers who master these tools now are positioning themselves for the next era of production.

“The demand for immersive albums, TV shows, and film soundtracks is not going away,” says Reichman. “And these are still the early days. My advice to anyone coming up in the industry: get good at the immersive tools that are available. And if you make a killer mix — DM me, because I want to hear it.”

Ready to take your Dolby Atmos mixes to the next level? Try Verberate Immersive for free and experience next-level depth, realism, and spatial precision—no commitment required. Hear the difference today!

About The Author

Nathaniel Reichman is a Grammy-nominated producer, recording engineer, and mixer with credits spanning classical, EDM, and television post-production. As Co-Founder and Product Director of Immersive Machines, LLC, he has been a leading advocate for innovative workflows in spatial and immersive audio.