Stockholm, Sweden (May 23, 2024)—With Dolby Atmos now a mandatory deliverable on certain platforms, ABBA co-founder Benny Andersson upgraded his studio in Stockholm to create immersive mixes of the band’s long-awaited Voyage album.
As ABBA prepared to release Voyage in 2021, Andersson learned that both Universal Music and Apple Music wanted the album to be mixed in immersive Dolby Atmos, requiring an extensive renovation of the analog studio. Andersson and his engineer, mixer Bernard Löhr, have been working in the facility, which is in a building of cultural and historical significance on the island of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, since the 1990s.
Avid Pro Tools | S6 with 32 faders replaced the old analog mixing console, enabling both Andersson and Löhr to work on the control surface at the same time. “The Avid S6 control surface is the right size and easy to use. For example, we can access all the reverbs in a way that suits Benny,” Löhr reports.
The audio interface was upgraded to an Avid Pro Tools | MTRX Studio, which is controlled directly from the Avid S6 surface and supports Dolby Atmos monitoring as well as processing of the speaker alignment and bass management. An immersive Genelec 7.2.4 system of “The Ones” speakers with two subwoofers was also installed.
The building is owned by the Swedish state, which meant that the renovation required careful planning and execution. The renovation project was extensive; for example, the original studio was moved from downstairs to upstairs. “The studio is now much smaller than before, but way more cozy,” Löhr says.
The Synclavier synthesizer is an important part of Andersson’s compositional and creative process. It is integrated directly from the composition room downstairs into the Pro Tools system upstairs.
The renovation of the studio started in spring 2022 and continued until almost the turn of the year. The technical installation was completed at the end of 2022 and the new studio was opened in spring of 2023.
Löhr comments, “The Dolby Atmos format sounds great—not just to me, but also to Benny and our external customers. We have already been able to use Dolby Atmos successfully in a number of projects.”
