Immersive, Not Gimmicky: Gunshots, Ghosts and Kylie Minogue in 360°

Risk, Rears, and Reverb Marv reunites with two old friends from the Nottinghamshire music scene — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer Kurt Martinez and music educator/dementia-charity worker Rob Huskinson — for a wide-ranging chat about immersive audio, career risk-taking, and what it actually means to teach music in 2026. Kurt walks through how he backed into podcast/audio-drama mixing via Audible's early Atmos launch, why documentaries and scripted drama get treated completely differently in the mix (stage-setting vs. free-roaming immersion), and the gunshot-and-bullet-trajectory example that shows just how precisely spatial audio storytelling can get. He also talks through mixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in Atmos — commuting with it on AirPods Max, checking it on a Sonos speaker while doing housework, and revisiting it recently on 7.1.4 headphones to see how it's held up. Rob brings the conversation into music education, talking about designing a curriculum that starts from what's relevant to students now rather than working backwards from music history, and his work with Open Door, a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, where he helps organise carer support events (money management, physiotherapy, nutrition) alongside the day-to-day group sessions. There's also a candid stretch on ADHD, time management, and the different but complementary ways Kurt and Rob each work in a studio. The three of them close on the value of informal networking ("smooshy events"), the risks each of them took to build a freelance/portfolio career, and what's next for each — including Season 2 of I Am Not Nicholas, out now. In this episode: How Kurt got into Dolby Atmos, from a Guinness cinema ad to mixing I Am Not Nicholas for BBC/Audible The difference between mixing music, scripted audio drama, and documentary in Atmos Mixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in immersive audio Building a curriculum around student relevance vs. music history Open Door — a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, and Rob's work with carers ADHD, time management, and studio workflow Career risk-taking, freelancing, and the value of informal networking What's next: I Am Not Nicholas S2, new Alfie Duke and Meek singles, The Script's new album Guests: Kurt Martinez — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer (Audible, BBC, I Am Not Nicholas, Kylie Minogue) — find him on LinkedIn and Instagram Rob Huskinson — music lecturer and grants/events lead for Open Door dementia day service — find him on LinkedIn