Inside MillSounds Studio: How One Engineer is Rethinking Atmos in the Ozarks
Tucked away in the quiet hills of Mountain View, Arkansas—a town better known for bluegrass jams on front porches than cutting-edge immersive audio—MillSounds Studio is quietly becoming a hotbed for innovation in spatial music production. At the helm is Matt Anderson, a seasoned engineer with deep roots in both traditional recording and bleeding-edge audio formats.
A Studio Built for Projects, Not Just Songs
MillSounds isn’t your average small-town studio. The control room, a compact yet powerful 14x12x10 space, opens into a generously sized 600-square-foot live room with 10-foot ceilings—ideal for capturing the kind of organic, dynamic performances Matt thrives on.
“I run a public studio, and most of the artists who book with me come from out of state,” Matt says. “They’ll stay in town for a week or so to knock out an entire project start to finish. That intensity really breeds focus—and some magic.”
The Monitoring Game: Barefoot Across the Board
Matt’s monitoring setup is a full 7.1.4 Barefoot Sound rig, featuring Footprint03s for the Atmos bed and height channels, with the powerful LFE15 handling the low end. For stereo work, he switches to a pair of MicroMain45s, again paired with the LFE15.
“I’ve been a Barefoot fan since the original MM27s dropped,” Matt explains. “Back when I was in a big California facility, I had access to ATC 150s, Genelecs, even some custom Meyer mains. But the MicroMain27s just clicked for me in a way nothing else did. When I started MillSounds, I went with the Footprint01s, then upgraded to MicroMain45s, and eventually added the 03s. The consistency across their line makes jumping between stereo and Atmos really seamless.”
ROOM SIZE: 14′ x 12′ x 10′
CONFIGURATION: 7. 1. 4 Dolby Atmos
LEFT / RIGHT: 2 x Footprint03
CENTER : 1 x Footprint03C Center Channel
SURROUND: 4 x Footprint03
CEILING: 4 x Footprint03
SUBWOOFER: 1 x LFE15
Footprint03 selected for Left and Right channels
Footprint03C selected for the center channel
Footprint03 selected for surrounds and ceiling
Calibration
With a monitoring setup that sophisticated, precision is critical. Matt uses Sonarworks’ Multichannel calibration in tandem with the Audient Oria, a centerpiece of his Atmos workflow.
“The Oria is a killer piece,” he says. “It makes handling the crossover between the MicroMain45s and LFE15 effortless. Everything just feels tight, clean, and natural.”
Tools of the Trade
DAW of choice? “Pro Tools, unfortunately,” Matt laughs. A comment any engineer can relate to—love it or hate it, it’s still the industry standard. But that doesn’t stop him from using it to push boundaries in unconventional genres.
Reimagining Atmos: From the First Mic to the Final Mix
While much of the industry is focused on remixing existing stereo tracks into Atmos, Matt has a different approach. “I’m not interested in just converting a mix for the sake of it. I want to start at the source—tracking, arranging, and mixing with Atmos in mind from day one.”
Genres like acoustic, bluegrass, and folk—deeply connected to the local culture—are perfect candidates, he believes. “If you’re intentional and minimalistic in the production, Atmos can create a really immersive experience. It’s not about gimmicks or swirling sounds; it’s about space and realism.”
To bring that vision to life, he’s integrating tools like ambisonic microphones to capture performances in a way that stereo never could.
The Future Sounds Like the Ozarks
From the outside, MillSounds Studio might look like a quiet retreat in the Ozarks. But step inside, and you’ll find a thoughtfully designed space, state-of-the-art gear, and an engineer who’s bringing new dimension to some of America’s oldest genres.
Whether you’re a bluegrass picker or an audiophile chasing the future of sound, Matt Anderson’s MillSounds Studio is a place where past and future harmonize beautifully—in Atmos, of course.
