Sreejesh Nair chooses Nugen Audio's Halo Upmix for his Bollyhood work

With over 250 films to his credit, Nair is one of the most reputed sound engineers in Bollyhood.

Sreejesh Nair, one of the most promising sound engineers in India, has chosen the Halo Upmix plug-in from Nugen Audio for a stereo upmix to 5.1/7.1/9.1. Nair is using Halo in a wide variety of film projects, including the soundtracks for well-known Bollywood titles.

With over 250 films under his belt, Nair has worked as a Senior Mixer for Rajkamal Studios (FutureWorks) in Mumbai, as well as being a highly regarded Avid solutions specialist. While most of his work has been based on Bollywood films, he has also worked as a mixer for the Indian market versions of Hollywood studios such as Warner, Disney, Paramount, and others. The sound engineer chose Halo Upmix after searching for an upmixing tool that would not only offer surround output and sound as close to the original as possible, but would also allow him to work efficiently and save time.

Nair highlighted that "Advances in technology have given audio engineers more flexibility to deliver complex mixes, but new efficiencies mean they are expected to deliver much more in less time, without abandoning inspiration and new ideas. My colleagues and I first discovered Halo Upmix at IBC 2015, and we could quickly see that Halo is an extremely immersive tool. I knew I had found the upmixing tool I was looking for when I heard the reverbs, pads and instruments after go through Halo.”

Nair also acknowledges that Halo offers unique spatial density and core channel management controls. Additionally, it provides an “Exact” function to create a downmix that is almost identical to the original.

Nair added that "one of the most valuable features of Halo is its ability to downmix towards Dolby 7.1, and now, 9.1 surround audio. This format flexibility, and the control that Halo gives me over the finished sound, is absolutely essential in my work. Instead of simply performing a full upmix, I am able to do things differently - for example, I could add harmonic distortion and reverbs to one element and then do the upmix as a parallel signal that could be mixed with the original signal, creating a much more cohesive and open tonality and the spacing that the instrument demands. Halo reacts differently depending on the harmonic content to mix sounds, the movement in the surrounding space is very analogous and has an element of apparent randomness that I love.