November 25, 2019

Dolby Atmos turns it up at the AMAs

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The 2019 American Music Awards was a night full of memorable moments — Taylor Swift became the American Music Awards' most-awarded artist of all time, Camilla Cabello and Shawn Mendes gave a steamy "Señorita" performance, the crowd joined Lizzo in holding up their phones as flashlights to signify "the love you have for yourself," and we all got to appreciate Post Malone dancing and rocking out to Shania Twain. 
 
It was also a big night for Dolby. We brought the immersive Dolby Atmos Music experience to the American Music Awards with the first-ever Dolby Atmos® live in-venue musical performances, a backstage Dolby Atmos listening lounge and mixing studio courtesy of a custom Airstream trailer, and the first in a series of films for the new Dolby Atmos Music campaign featuring some of the music industry’s most visionary icons.

Dolby Atmos Music – live at the AMAs

The performances at the AMAs are always the highlight of the night and this year, Dolby helped take them to the next level. The more than 4,000 attendees at the AMAs got to experience the first-ever Dolby Atmos Music live performances from some of this year's most influential songs and artists, including Dua Lipa's "Don't Start Now," Lizzo's "Jerome," and Post Malone's "Circles."
 
 
Lizzo Performing To Audience at 2019 AMAs on Dolby Stage
Dolby collaborated with Dick Clark Productions, the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming, to bring these immersive musical experiences to life. The setup included over 250 speaker boxes and utilized 17 high performance JBL line arrays, which were expertly installed and tuned throughout the venue. It is the largest installation for Dolby Atmos Music playback done to date.
 
“We’re thrilled to have partnered with Dolby and these amazing artists to deliver an industry-first experience at this year’s 2019 American Music Awards,” said Mike Mahan, Chief Executive Officer, Dick Clark Productions. “Listening to these songs in Dolby Atmos unleashed every musical detail as it was meant to be heard, completely immersing our live audience in a whole new way.”
 
Read the full press release here.

Connecting artists and fans

Dolby also debuted the first in a series of Dolby Atmos artist profiles during the show. The spot, featuring Lizzo, ran two minutes during the broadcast and in the venue, treating viewers and attendees to an up close and personal conversation with the eight-time GRAMMY-nominated singer.
 
The Dolby Atmos Music campaign will feature more big names and trailblazers in music and focus on the intimate connection that music creates between artists and their fans.

Mixing it up backstage

Even though the official AMA performances didn't begin until the evening, it was an all-day event for the artists and music professionals featured in the show.
 
Post Malone and other artists and professionals came to enjoy Sunday football and music in our Dolby Atmos outdoor lounge. Dolby hosted more than 3,000 guests backstage in the Artists Village with an exclusive Dolby experience. 
Airstream (Akamai)
People Gathered Outside Dolby Airsteam at 2019 AMA
We also premiered our new Dolby Atmos Airstream trailer with a built-in Dolby Atmos mixing studio. Inside our mobile mix lab, artists were able to test out a 5.1.4 Avid Pro Tools setup with the latest Dolby Atmos mixing tools and play with the new creative palette that Dolby Atmos offers.
 
People Mixing Music Using Dolby Atmos
We've partnered with artists, mixers, audio engineers, and the leading digital audio workstations like Avid Pro Tools and Steinberg Nuendo to design our Dolby Atmos tools for music production, so music professionals can easily integrate tools like our Dolby Atmos panner into the workflows they already use.

The beat goes on

Sunday was a big night for fans and professionals in music and we were thrilled to have been a part of it. Alongside our announcement that Warner Music Group will be adding their catalog to the growing library of tracks in Dolby Atmos, it has been an incredible few days.  
 
We're only getting started. Stay tuned for what we have coming next. 

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