With the post-pandemic revival of live music, Coldplay undertook their Music of the Spheres tour and broadcasting their Buenos Aires gig live to cinemas in 96 countries. The broadcast was mixed on-site by record producer and mix engineer Rik Simpson alongside broadcast sound supervisor Toby Allington and his team. Simpson was later entrusted with remixing the recording to 5.1 surround for subsequent global runs in theatres, which he undertook at his own studio.

‘It was a stressful task, but we managed to get a handle on it and the end result was amazing,’ Simpson says. ‘Quite often, a live mix is a bit rough around the edge – the energy is good, but there isn’t as much attention to detail as one would like. I’m glad I had the opportunity to remix and delve deeper into what makes the songs tick.’

Despite the challenges, Simpson turned the multitrack recording of the live performance into a cinematic release using the Nugen SEQ-S and Stereoizer plug-ins from the Nugen Audio Producer bundle. ‘Nugen’s interfaces are very easy to understand and they’re fun to work with,’ Simpson says. ‘SEQ-S is a staple for me and I used it on these 5.1 mixes. Its phase correlation is very precise and it sounds fantastic. Stereoizer is also wonderful – I’ve used it on tons of Coldplay studio recordings in addition to this project. It’s probably my favorite spreader.’

Though Stereoizer was the first Nugen product in Simpson’s toolkit, it is the Halo plug-ins that he says has had the biggest impact on his immersive workflows. ‘They opened up a whole new world for me,’ he adds. ‘I knew that Halo Upmix and Downmix were some of the best tools for 5.1 mixing, so when Halo Vision was released, I got my hands on that, too.’

Another major challenge presented by this project was a proliferation of harsh frequencies in the mixes, a result of the buildup of mid and high frequencies from the ambient microphones in the large River Plate Stadium, which Simpson reduced using Halo Downmix.

‘Once I got into the mix, I put the stereo downmixer across the audience to spread things out, and I loved it,’ he says. ‘It was such a creative way of downmixing and adding ambience, softening the harsh frequencies and making a more pleasurable surround experience for people. Sometimes there’s too much detail with surround, so you get distracted by little things as opposed to listening to it as one piece. For example, you’ll be lost in the song but then you’ll be pulled out of the spell by somebody screaming from the left rear speaker. The Nugen Halo plug-ins really helped me tailor everything to ensure that the emotional impact of the piece came across correctly.’

In addition to mixing all Coldplay live performances for broadcast and commercial release, Simpson has also co-produced and engineered the majority of their albums. ‘I first worked with Coldplay in 2002, engineering some of their second record, and later went on tour with them for a bit,’ he says. ‘We built a studio together in 2005 and commenced recording Viva La Vida. I started off engineering the record and by the end of it, I had a production credit. It was nice to have my input recognized and appreciated; we made another five albums together after that.

‘I feel that I’m in a position in my career where I can choose what I work on and, while I will always work on music with and for artists, I do intend to break more into the market of film sound tracks, video games, TV syncs, etc,’ he adds. ‘I’m excited about the creative opportunities that immersive audio can bring. I’m definitely getting more into the 5.1 and Atmos world, and I’m happy that Nugen plug-ins can come with me on this journey.’

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