Composer Andy Dollerson Transforms Independent Film Sound...

Composer and Producer Andy Dollerson has built a career by blending his electroacoustic training with hands on production work for independent artists and filmmakers. With a background that spans continents and genres, Dollerson has become a go to creative partner for directors seeking high quality sound for festival bound films, often without the budget for a full post production team. To meet those demands, he relies heavily on NUGEN Audio's suite of intuitive, technically robust plug ins.

I'm not a technical person, or a mix engineer by any stretch, but when you work with independent filmmakers, sometimes they don't have the budget to do both stereo and surround mixes, Dollerson explains. So, I need tools that let me deliver something festival worthy without having to learn every detail of post production engineering.

Dollerson first adopted the NUGEN Audio Halo Upmix plug in nearly a decade ago, when he began receiving requests for both stereo and multichannel mixes for festival submissions and theatrical screenings. I worked in multichannel stuff back at university and since then I've mostly been in stereo, he continues. At one point, there were a couple of filmmakers who wanted both, and that was when I came across Halo Upmix. It just seemed like a really good solution for non technical, quality upmixing to surround.

While Dollerson initially struggled with building surround mixes manually, he quickly discovered that Halo Upmix solved those problems. I tried doing it the standard way mixing directly in the DAW, and I came across so many issues, he says. Then, I found NUGEN and the plug-ins just kind of solved all my problems.

Halo Upmix was especially valuable on Sitka: Hidden Wonders, a nature documentary currently making the festival rounds and already earning awards. The director wanted to start the project in surround but also needed a clean stereo downmix.

Dollerson rented a full surround system for the initial mix, but when it came time to deliver stereo, he turned to NUGEN Audio Halo Downmix, which he describes as the same as Halo Upmix in terms of ease of use. I'm aware of the phase issues and the stuff that happens when you try to downmix just in the DAW. NUGEN provides a solution to do it for you in a way that doesn't create phase issues. You get good, clean surround or stereo sound, depending on which way you go. I love how you can start super basic, and literally just hit a preset, but there's lots of scope to get further into it as you get more adventurous.

Beyond Halo Upmix and Halo Downmix, Dollerson also uses ISL, NUGEN's True Peak Limiter, particularly when finalizing film mixes. I used the limiter on all the film stuff, he says. It's brilliant for surround because it monitors all the channels for peaking. He has also used LM Correct, NUGEN's automated loudness correction tool, especially when delivering content for broadcast. I used it for something I did for the Smithsonian, he recalls. They needed two versions, and they gave me the specs, so I just ran it through LM Correct. The plug-in nailed it.

While he owns several other NUGEN plug ins, including AB Assist for comparison, he notes that Halo Upmix, Halo Downmix, ISL and LM Correct are his primary tools. For Dollerson, the biggest advantage of NUGEN Audio solutions is the ability to deliver professional grade results without requiring deep technical expertise. It's a great entry point, he says. Being able to give directors something that is festival worthy, proper professional level, without all the technical know how that's huge.

He also praises the intuitive interface design, particularly in Halo Upmix. I love how you can move stuff around in the image just by dragging the surround panel, he says. It's super appealing and really fun to use.

Dollerson's path in the industry began in the UK, where he studied electroacoustic composition at Birmingham University, later earning a master's degree in composition. After relocating to Austin, Texas, he toured as a keyboardist before co founding DOsounds, a production company split between Austin and Brooklyn, New York. Today, he spends most of his time producing independent artists, such as British singer songwriter Alice Watts and Brazilian vocalist Alexia Bomtempo, while also taking on select film and documentary projects.

The composer/producer continues to work on a range of artist and film projects, including The Plea, a documentary about smallpox directed by Neil Halloran. As he moves between acoustic composition, electronic sound design and hybrid scoring, NUGEN Audio remains a key part of his toolkit. It just lets me deliver the quality I want, and it lets me focus on the creative side instead of getting bogged down in the technical stuff, he says.

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