Steve Fitzmaurice talks mixing Hikaru Utada’s “First Love” and “Hatsukoi” into Dolby Atmos

A shot of Steve Fitzmaurice at a mixing console, wearing a black hat and glasses.

With Hikaru Utada’s “First Love” and “Hatsukoi” being mixed in Dolby Atmos (at the request of Netflix Japan), we got a cool interview with the person responsible for these mixes. Steve Fitzmaurice.

Hikaru Utada fans who skulk around in the liner notes will know Steve Fitzmaurice as the mixer, recorder and engineer for Fantôme, Hatsukoi and Bad Mode. But he has a long and illustrious career which predates his work with Hikaru.

I really wish we got to hear direct differences between the original mixes and his Dolby Atmos mixes, because they’re not going to be something which everybody picks up on. Some people can barely tell the differences between remastered versions of songs aside from them just being louder, despite it being a big thing which labels push. Remastering and Dolby Atmos mixes are not things which always make sense to casual music listeners and consumers; which I think speaks to the attitude towards streaming. ‘Why would anybody care what remastering and Dolby Atmos is? It’s not like they’re paying for these albums and songs individually?’ and this has gotta change.

Dolby Atmos is something which Apple Music is pushing, given that streamable Dolby Atmos mixes of songs are currently exclusive to their music streaming service. But what exactly is it?

Dolby Atmos is a form surround sound, or more specifically, object based surround sound. Think of it as surround sound+ or surround sound HD.

Dolby Atmos itself isn’t entirely new. It was introduced in 2012, but wasn’t widely used, because not enough folk knew how to mix in it, cinemas didn’t have the setups for it, and there was no real NEED for it - the usual teething problems of creating something new in a market which isn’t yet primed to really take it on at scale. But as premium cinemas and screenings became more of a lucrative business, video games continued to push high definition experiences, home entertainment systems became more affordable and people began to care more about audio fidelity for their homes and their personal devices; Dolby Atmos has become more of a standard for films and video games. But we’re now starting to see it become a thing in music too.

In a film it’s obvious how Dolby Atmos would enhance an experience. Especially in an action scene, where there is a lot going on, and the enhanced surround experience can be used to provide scene information; such as the placement, direction and distance of things. It makes you feel like you are actually in the moment. With music though, it’s different. Because even when you’re at a concert, the sound is primarily coming from one direction. The stage. So some may wonder ‘what difference would surround sound make?’. The answer is ‘a big one’. But it depends on how the song is produced and mixed. In the context of “Hatsukoi”, Steve’s goal was to play with the strings, which I imagine is to create the feeling of being surrounded by an orchestra. With music it’s less about using surround sound to be object based, and more about making the listening experience dynamic. But it can be object based too. Think of a song like “Traveling”, where Hikaru singing ‘Traveling’ could be mixed in Atmos to make it sound like their vocals are a passing train going from left to right. Or Hikaru’s reversed vocals in “Passion” mixed in Atmos to sound like their voice is coming from some unseen spirit that’s moving all around you.

There are a lot of really cool things that can be done with object based surround sound in music. It really depends on who is mixing the song and the way in which they mix it. This is why I oft bring up mixing in album reviews, because how a song is mixed can determine whether it sounds good or bad. And also, some of the creative choices on songs that you would think is down to the producer are usually down to the mixer.

It’s probably a complete coincidence that this video pops up around the time Sam Smith released their new album, but very timely; given that Steve Fitzmaurice mixed most of the songs on it.

Steve has worked on all of Sam Smith’s albums in differing capacities as a mixer, producer and executive producer. And to to thread more connections back to Hikaru Utada; Sam Smith also records at RAK Studios, which is where Hikaru Utada worked on Fantôme and Hatsukoi. And Jodi Milliner who has been Hikaru Utada’s band master, musical director and is credited as a co-writer on “Bad Mode” is a credited musician on all of Sam Smith’s albums to date. And Reuben James who was the piano player for Hikaru Utada’s Live Sessions from Air Studios is also a credited musician on each of Sam Smith’s albums.

I’ve finally started watching First Love. But I’m making my way through it slowly. So far “First Love” has played once, but it’s not become the theme of anything just yet. I also recently started watching The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, which has a lead character who looks a lot like Hikaru Utada.

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Steve Fitzmaurice talks mixing Hikaru Utada’s “First Love” and “Hatsukoi” into Dolby Atmos

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