DOLBY ATMOS HEADPHONE PERSONALIZATION IN PRO TOOLS
DOLBY ATMOS HEADPHONE PERSONALIZATION IN PRO TOOLS
Monitoring immersive audio over headphones can vary widely based on the shape of your ears and head. This occurs because binaural renderers generally use a standardized HRTF (head-related transfer function) modeled on a mannequin head. This HRTF is the thing that gives our brain cues about audio directionality in headphones. Your monitoring experience may differ either subtly or significantly from the mannequin head depending on your physical characteristics.
Dolby headphone personalization uses your phone’s camera to scan your head and create a personalized HRTF (PHRTF) profile. This profile can then be loaded into Dolby Atmos® content creation tools, including Pro Tools Ultimate or Studio (Pro Tools 2026.4 or later), to customize your binaural experience and allow you to mix more accurately in headphones. If you’re new to Pro Tools, you can learn more and download the free 30-day trial here.
CREATING YOUR PROFILE
Dolby has partnered with Sonarworks, who have integrated this functionality into the SoundID Tools app. You can download this free app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Stores to create your profile at no cost. The app will walk you through the process of scanning your head and then transferring your profile to your computer.
USING YOUR PROFILE
Once you’ve transferred your profile to your computer, you can load it into your DAW or Dolby Atmos Renderer application. To load the profile into Pro Tools:
- Ensure that the Dolby Renderer is enabled
- Choose Window > Renderer
- In the Dolby Atmos Renderer window, click the gear icon
- From the Headphone Personalization selector, choose Import New Profile
- Navigate to and select the .personalized_headphone profile you want
- Click Open—the imported profile is now selected in the Headphone Personalization selector.
File locations:
- On macOS: /Users/
/Library/Application Support/Avid/Dolby Atmos renderer/Binaural Configurations On Windows: \Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Avid\Dolby Atmos Renderer\Binaural Configurations Format files : .personalized_headphone
On macOS: /Users/ /Library/Application Support/Dolby/Dolby Atmos Renderer/Binaural Configurations On Windows: ProgramData\Dolby\Dolby Atmos Renderer\Binaural Configurations
CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Dolby headphone personalization is designed to allow mixers creating in Dolby Atmos to achieve greater sonic accuracy when monitoring in binaural. This enables you to create a mix that will translate well to consumers listening in any environment, across a wide variety of services and platforms. It is designed to be used for content creation and not for consumer playback devices.
Some playback platforms such as iOS offer the ability for consumers to create their own custom HRTF as well. There is no direct connection between Dolby headphone personalization and these 3rd party consumer PHRTFs, however, they may be used to complement one another.
More information
You can find more information about the Pro Tools Dolby Atmos Renderer and Sonarworks SoundID Tools at the following links:
Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories.