Home Theater United Episode 44 March 6, 2023, 2023 7:30 PM EST Introducing immersive recording artist and storyteller Brent Watkins Introducing Brent Watkins a musician focusing on immersive audio experiences  Intro by Sam: Welcome Brent, you bill yourself as an immersive recording artist and congrats on the launch of your website and second album!  What does the focus on immersive music mean to you and what kind of music are you creating?  With Apple’s new focus on Atmos it seems like a major shift has occurred. Previously artists wanted front heavy experiences mimicking a stage performance and now they want the listener to be in the middle of the storm. Do you think this is sustainable and is the new normal? The example I use is Tom Sawyer where you literally hear the drums in a 360 experience.  Besides your own work, what are your favorite immersive music experiences? Are you 100% self produced, do you have other artists joining you in your work? You recently built a dual purpose home recording studio and home theater! That sounds amazing, what can you tell us about how you built that and what kind of gear you are using? The barrier to entry designing immersive music continues to fall down.  What does your workflow look like? How hard / expensive is it for a new artist to move from stereo to build their first tracks? Is Atmos mastering something you can ‘add at the end’ or do you think you need to think about the room for every track from its inception now? How do you manage folks listening to stereo vs immersive headphones versus full 7.1.4 home theaters? You also produced two documentaries!  What can you tell us about them and how folks can find them? You do all this on your own time while working full time.  How do you juggle it all? What would you like to see in the next evolution of sound technology (ie atmos) or music production? Anything else you would like to talk about or promote? Quick Good Bad and Ugly Quick Good Bad and Ugly: Sam - The Fabelmans Brent - A.I. 2001