"I believe surround is the future of music," Robin Uotila, Esports senior says. Earlier this year he completed a six-month program to become certified in Pro Tools Dolby Atmos Production. This certification program taught him how to design surround sound for the most advanced system in the industry.

Before the use of surround, movie theaters were designed with speakers producing sound from the front wall. This setup, called stereo, only allowed sound designers a 180-degree plane to work with. Stereo had been standard in the industry from the initial use of sound in movies. It was also standard for music as most people listened on radios and individual speakers.

Surround sound has been around for a few decades. "It's standard for film right now, if you go to any high standard theater, you're experiencing surround," Robin says. Not all surround sound systems are made equal. There are different types of surround setups, defined by the number of speakers in a space. A 5.1 surround stage translates to five ear-level speakers and one low-frequency subwoofer in the room.

"In Dolby Atmos there is much more dynamic range because instead of working with a 180-degree range you build the space in 3D," Robin says. The specifications for Dolby Atmos include an extra number for speakers above hearing level, typically on the ceiling of a space. A Dolby Atmos space typically has a 7.1.4 setup, with the four referencing the higher-level speakers. This extra dimension adds dynamics and difficulty for sound designers. The Dolby Atmos designs are completed in a software specific to the Dolby Atmos process, and the certification process requires rigorous in-class training and practice work. Robin completed this process at SCAD's Hamilton Hall in a mixing stage outfitted with the technology to test Dolby Atmos design. To practice the skills needed to obtain his Pro Tools Dolby Atmos Professional certification, he re-mastered a song. His professor Robin Beauchamp provided him with the tracks recorded for "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson. "We have faculty in the sound department," Robin says, "that worked with bands like Queen and Michael Jackson transferring analog recordings into digital. They let us use the individual tracks to practice Atmos."

Although surround sound is starting to become standard in the film industry, it's taken longer for music to catch on. The music industry has a standard process for mixing designed for their main output source, stereo. "Mixing for stereo has been done for over fifty years, because surround is so new there are no clear rules yet," Robin says.

In his re-master of "Rock with You" Robin was given the freedom to create a new sound based on the archival tracks. "There were tons of individual tracks in the original studio recordings which allowed it to transfer to a surround space," he says. One aspect of his mix that is prevalent in his interpretation of the song is the drum placement. "I put my kick in the middle and my snare to the side of the room," he says, "The room had a groove that made everyone move, the space was swinging."

With his knowledge of sound design, Robin hopes to peruse a career in the music industry as a performing artist. "I feel like I have a strong niche with my background as a sound designer," he says. His experience at SCAD as an international student has opened many doors for him to achieve this goal. "In Finland it's inaccessible to become a musician, so SCAD allowed me to learn these skills that I would never have in Finland."

As an artist, Robin attributes his success to the skills he's learned as an Overwatch player. "The discipline and the grit to just stay at it is what comes from being an athlete," he says. With a well-ranked career on SCAD's Varsity team as well as playing professionally in Europe, Robin has one takeaway on the skills developed during his athletic career. "Mastering one skill in a really dedicated manner teaches you more about life than anything else."