London, UK (June 29, 2023)―Grammy-winning record producer and mix engineer Rik Simpson was recently tasked with mixing Coldplay in 5.1 surround for their Music of the Spheres: Live from Buenos Aires film.
Coldplay presented its Music of the Spheres tour to the big screen, broadcasting its performance in Buenos Aires live to cinemas in 96 countries. The live broadcast was mixed on-site by Simpson alongside industry veteran Toby Allington and his team. Simpson was later entrusted with remixing the recording to 5.1 surround for subsequent global runs in theaters, which he worked on at his own studio.
“It was a stressful task, but we managed to get a handle on it and the end result was amazing,” says Simpson, whose production credits include Jay-Z, Portishead and PJ Harvey as well as Coldplay, with whom he has worked since 2002. “Quite often, a live mix is a bit rough around the edges; the energy’s good but there isn’t as much attention to detail as one would like. I’m glad I had the opportunity to remix and delve deeper into what makes the songs tick.”
Simpson remixed the live multitrack recording for the cinema using Nugen Audio’s SEQ-S and Stereoizer plug-ins from the Producer bundle. “Nugen’s interfaces are very easy to understand and they’re fun to work with,” he says. “SEQ-S is a staple for me, and I used it on these 5.1 mixes. Its phase correlation is very precise, and it sounds fantastic. Stereoizer is also wonderful; I’ve used it on tons of Coldplay studio recordings in addition to this project. It’s probably my favorite spreader.”
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That said, it is the Halo plug-ins that he says has had the biggest impact on his immersive workflows. “They opened up a whole new world for me,” he adds. “I knew that Halo Upmix and Downmix were some of the best tools for 5.1 mixing, so when Halo Vision was released, I got my hands on that, too.”
Another major challenge of this project was the proliferation of harsh frequencies in the mixes, a result of the buildup of mid and high frequencies from the ambient microphones in the large River Plate Stadium, which Simpson reduced using Halo Downmix. “Once I got into the mix, I put the stereo downmixer across the audience to spread things out, and I loved it,” he says.
“It was such a creative way of downmixing and adding ambiance, softening the harsh frequencies and making a more pleasurable surround experience for people. Sometimes there’s too much detail with surround, so you get distracted by little things as opposed to listening to it as one piece. For example, you’ll be lost in the song but then you’ll be pulled out of the spell by somebody screaming from the left rear speaker. The Nugen Halo plug-ins really helped me tailor everything to ensure that the emotional impact of the piece came across correctly.”
