The main benefit to Apple Music bringing DJ mixes to its platform and making them available for everyone to listen to was the ability to fairly use tracks in mixes being uploaded without the risk of copyright strikes. Any artist who’s done a live-streamed or recorded DJ set, particularly during the pandemic, knows how much of a headache it is to make sure your set won’t get flagged or taken down for copyright issues. Curators, labels, and some artists have now been able to submit mixes to Apple and provide a lossless mix for listeners. With Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, this goes to another level.
In addition to labels and other curators bringing sets to Apple Music, record labels and events companies including the likes of Defected and Tomorrowland used the opportunity to keep the music going through lockdown in the form of (stereo, albeit lossless) DJ mixes when the festival grounds were empty. Now that festivals and events are in full swing again, they’ve used the opportunity to create more exciting experiences for fans, bringing us closer than ever to the actual experience.
If you’re not sure how to listen to Spatial Audio with the best experience, check out Apple’s handy guide to listening to Dolby Atmos.
Fred again..’s iconic Boiler Room set
If you’ve heard of Boiler Room, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Fred again..’s massively iconic set–it’s garnered millions of views on YouTube and received much praise from many in the music community. He dropped a few unreleased tracks of his own and others, and the experience was told to be very enjoyable and wholesome. Available in Spatial Audio on Apple Music, this set is sure to get you bouncing, wherever you are.
Dom Dolla’s 2023 Tomorrowland Set
The king of tech-house does not disappoint with this recording, capturing the live audience and the amazing environment, transporting you right into the crowd. This is the next best thing to being there for the Aussie’s amazing, bouncy set.
Kaskade’s Redux Set for EDC Las Vegas 2022
If you’re looking for something a little more emotional and moody, but still want the experience of being in the crowd, you can’t go wrong with Kaskade’s Redux set for EDCLV in 2022. This perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of music that leans more towards the melodic side, and even with the calmer theme, Kaskade manages to keep it exciting.
Jayda G’s 2023 Boiler Room Set
This mix is pure bliss–taking the groovy, disco-flavored tunes Jayda G is known for, bringing them to a Boiler Room setting, and then recording it in Spatial Audio. This set is one to relive endlessly, and Dolby Atmos enables you to be right in the crowd as Jayda G drops some bangers that will get you moving, no matter what you’re doing. Don’t be scared to cheer along with the crowd–we won’t judge!
One Mix with Goldie
This mix spans a range of genres from techno to disco, and it’s a real gem in Apple’s DJ mix collection. Having been recorded in Dolby Atmos from the ground up, Goldie was able to take better advantage of the space Atmos offers, combining traditional DJ effects with the flexibility and characteristics of a Spatial Audio format. This is the only mix in this list that wasn’t recorded from a live performance with a crowd–but it makes up for it with the experience it has to offer.
Conclusion
Coupled with other new technologies such as AR and/or VR, Spatial Audio will and already has made a stunning impact on the possible ways to experience electronic music. With time, more and more mixes will become available in Atmos and more platforms will likely adopt the standard. As of now, recording DJ mixes in Dolby Atmos is extremely complicated and only available to those with direct access to non-consumer Dolby technology, but as with traditional tracks being mixed in Atmos, it will surely come to the masses sooner or later.
In the mean time, we’ll share some of our favorite Atmos DJ mixes every now and then!
