Atmos: In conversation is our series of interviews about all things Atmos and 360 RA.  In this issue we sat down with Mike Hillier, mastering and Atmos engineer at Metropolis Studios, to talk about his recent work with Calvin Harris. Tell us a bit more about your work with Calvin Harris.  Mike Hillier: The first track I worked on for Calvin Harris was “Miracle” with Ellie Goulding, and since then I’ve mixed the Atmos versions of “Desire” with Sam Smith, “Body Moving” with Eliza Rose, and “Lovers In A Past Life” with Rag’n’Bone Man. Why do you think Calvin’s music benefits from Atmos ..read more

Atmos: In conversation is our series of interviews about all things Atmos and 360 RA.  In this issue we sat down with Matt Colton, mastering engineer at Metropolis Studios, to talk about his recent work on James Blake’s recent album “Playing Robots Into Heaven”. How long have you been working with Atmos?  Matt Colton: I have been working with Atmos for a couple of years now since Apple adopted the format.   Is your workflow different when you work in Atmos?  Matt Colton: It’s different in that I work entirely in the box when doing Atmos mixing and mastering, whereas in ster ..read more

Last week we had the pleasure of being one of three venues to host the world’s first 5G Festival. Over the last two years, nine heavyweight organisations have been working collectively on an initiative dubbed 5G Festival exploring the untapped potential of 5G for the music industry as part of a wider £200m DCMS 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme. Providing a blueprint for how technology can play a key role in the future of the sector, consortium partners include Metropolis Studios, Mativision, Digital Catapult, Sonosphere, Audiotonix, Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, LiveFrom, Virgin Med ..read more

Atmos: In conversation is our new series of interviews about all things Atmos and 360 RA.  In this issue we sat down with Mike Hillier, mastering engineer at Metropolis Studios, to talk about his recent work on Kasabian’s The Alchemist’s Euphoria and Pip Millett’s When Everything Is Better, I’ll Let You Know as well as the challenges of remastering projects in Atmos.  Tell us a little bit about your recent Atmos projects. How about Kasabian’s The Alchemist’s Euphoria Mike Hillier: Both my recent projects [The Alchemist’s Euphoria by Kasabian and When It Gets Better I’ll Let You Know ..read more

Following on from the BRIT Awards 2022 ceremony at the O2, we would like to send a HUGE congratulations to the 6 winning artists who mixed, mastered and/or recorded here at Metropolis. Adele Adele went home with three awards for Album of The Year (30), Artist of The Year and Song of The Year (Easy On Me), all of which were recorded at Metropolis. This isn’t the first time we’ve had the pleasure of working with Adele, having previously been her studio of choice for two other albums (21 and 25). We are also extremely proud of our Studio Engineer, Liam Nolan, who won two Grammys for his work on h ..read more

Following the BRIT Awards 2021 ceremony at the O2, we send huge congratulations to the four winning artists who mastered and recorded here at Metropolis.  Testament to Metropolis Studios’ accessible yet high-spec facilities and top-level engineers, winners include some of the world’s most exciting independent and major label artists.   Pop superstars Little Mix took home Best British Group, the first female group ever to do so. Their #2 album Confetti was recorded in Studio E with Paul Norris engineering. Arlo Parks, meanwhile, picked up the Breakthrough Artist award with ..read more

In July 2021, Metropolis Studios launched a new state-of-the-art 3D audio mixing facility at the heart of our West London complex, currently the highest resolution Dolby Atmos mix facility in the UK. Our Target Our target was to enable established and emerging artists to unlock the exciting potential of 3D audio. Pursuing a flexible ‘hub studio’ approach, the room allows for multiple mixing desk-based workflows and is also connected to both Studios A and B allowing us to record and broadcast live in any immersive format, something we are just beginning to realiz ..read more

It has been a busy period for Metropolis Studios… For this year’s 2021 Record Store Day Announcement, we hosted and sculpted an ambitious live to vinyl live broadcast to Steve Lamacq’s 6 Music show with Warp Records act Squid. The band masterfully scored and presented new versions of their tracks ‘2010’ and ‘DFM’ both featuring string and horn sections. The two tracks were cut to lacquer by Stuart Hawkes for a subsequent 12” vinyl release available exclusively from independent record stores on Saturday 17th July. See the full list of release drops here! One of the best projects we h ..read more

Music is the quintessential expression of what it means to be a human, and as an artist, you put your heart and soul into your music. But how do you make sure your music reaches its full potential? In the modern world of music production, technology has enabled artists to create music in their own home-built studios. They are able to get the basics done in this home studio, but that is simply the first part of their musical journey.  After a record is released, one of the worst things that can happen is to realise that your track sounds dry, empty, and one-dimensional. This may increase y ..read more

Metropolis Studios, alongside leading organisations from across the UK’s arts, entertainment and technology industries are collaborating to create the first-ever hybrid 5G Festival. The R&D testbed will utilise the power of advanced digital technologies enabling artists to broadcast live direct to audiences from remote locations and venues, as well as producing novel immersive in-venue experiences. The pandemic may have changed the habits and appetites of consumers for the long term, as audiences increasingly look for remote, digital and blended experiences. 5G Festival imagines the “fest ..read more