Upmixing or Downmixing, He’s Got the Tools

Austin, TX (July 30, 2026)―Composer and producer Andy Dollerson has become a go‑to creative partner for film directors seeking sound for festival‑bound films, often without the budget for a full post‑production team.

“I’m not a technical person or a mix engineer by any stretch, but when you work with independent filmmakers, sometimes they don’t have the budget to do both stereo and surround mixes. So, I need tools that let me deliver something festival‑worthy without having to learn every detail of post‑production engineering,” says Dollerson.

As a result, Dollerson first adopted the Nugen Audio Halo Upmix plug‑in nearly a decade ago, when he began receiving requests for both stereo and multichannel mixes for festival submissions and theatrical screenings. “I worked in multichannel stuff back at university and since then, I’ve mostly been in stereo,” he says. “At one point, there were a couple of filmmakers who wanted both, and that was when I came across Halo Upmix. It just seemed like a really good solution for non‑technical, quality upmixing to surround.”

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While Dollerson initially struggled with building surround mixes manually, he quickly discovered that Halo Upmix solved those problems, such as on Sitka: Hidden Wonders, a nature documentary currently making the festival rounds and already earning awards. The director wanted to start the project in surround but also needed a clean stereo downmix.

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Dollerson rented a full surround system for the initial mix, but when it came time to deliver stereo, he turned to Nugen Audio Halo Downmix, which he describes as “the same as Halo Upmix in terms of ease of use. I’m aware of the phase issues and the stuff that happens when you try to downmix just in the DAW. Nugen provides a solution to do it for you in a way that doesn’t create phase issues. You get good, clean surround or stereo sound, depending on which way you go.”