Episode 2: Exploring the Musical Journey and Spatial Audio with Noah Holland
What Makes Noah a Great Guest
Episode 2 is a sit-down with Noah Holland—audio professor, recording/mixing/mastering engineer, and a real-deal Dolby Atmos specialist—who’s helping bring “big room” concepts (better monitoring, better decision-making, immersive audio) into reach for independent artists.
And what makes Noah a great guest isn’t just the résumé. It’s that he explains everything like someone who’s actually been in the trenches: learning, messing up, leveling up, and then turning around to make the climb easier for other people.
If you’re producing in a bedroom, mixing on headphones, trying to make your low end translate, or wondering how the industry is shifting… this episode is a cheat code.
Who Noah Is (and why his perspective hits)
Noah’s story reads like the modern producer’s arc—except he kept stacking the right reps:
Musician first (piano + sax, jazz band roots)
Producer early (when DAWs became portable and accessible)
Engineer by profession (recording, mixing, mastering)
Educator (audio professor—meaning he understands how to teach complex stuff)
Immersive audio specialist (Dolby Atmos) with a clear mission: make it less gatekept and more usable for independents
He’s not pitching Atmos as a gimmick. He’s framing it as an opportunity—one that labels and platforms are already leaning into—and he’s trying to help artists get in the door early.
Noah’s “I’m all-in” Moment
There’s a turning point Noah describes that a lot of creators will recognize: the moment when music stops being “something I do” and becomes “what I’m building my life around.”
A big piece of that was technology finally making it realistic to create anywhere. Not “easy.” Just possible. That shift—plus a willingness to commit—was the start of him taking the craft seriously.
The underrated career move: proximity to real work
One of the best subtle lessons in this conversation is how Noah leveled up faster: he put himself in rooms where the work was happening.
Writing camps, session environments, learning from people further along, becoming useful in those spaces—those moments stacked. That’s how you start building a career without waiting for someone to “discover” you.
Translation: your skill improves faster when you’re around higher standards.
The fundamentals Noah Keeps Coming Back to (because they save you years)
1) Recording quality is the real “mix hack”
Noah basically says: if the recording is shaky, everything after that gets harder.
Noise, clipping, messy gain staging, uncontrolled room sound—those are the problems people try to fix with plugins, and it turns mixing into a constant fight.
The win: when the source is clean, mixing becomes creative instead of corrective.
2) Experimentation isn’t optional—it’s how you find your sound
Noah’s not precious about “rules.” He’s pro taste, pro exploration, and pro learning through doing.
A lot of iconic sounds came from people trying things that weren’t “correct”… and discovering something personal.
The win: experimentation builds identity.
3) Mistakes are reps (as long as you learn the lesson)
He talks about the classic early-studio moments—phantom power mistakes, clipping, session issues—and frames them like training: you make the mistake once, then it becomes part of your internal checklist forever.
The win: you don’t get good by avoiding mistakes—you get good by metabolizing them.
The Session Rule that Separates Pros from Problem People: Ego Kills Progress
There’s a moment in the episode that says a lot about Noah’s character: an artist doesn’t like the vocal sound, jumps into the engineer chair, and quickly pulls up a preset that gets closer.
A lot of engineers would get defensive. Noah’s takeaway is basically: cool—what can I learn from that?
That mindset isn’t just “nice.” It’s strategic.
If you can stay open and collaborative, you become the person people want in the room.
Collaboration Isn’t Just Creative — it’s Leverage
Noah respects the solo artist who does everything. But he also makes a clean point: the industry runs on teams for a reason.
Different brains bring different instincts. You get better ideas. Better execution. Better results.
And he adds a modern angle that’s easy to overlook:
If your collaborators feel creatively fulfilled, they’re more likely to share the work with energy—which expands your reach through their audience too.
Collaboration is a sound upgrade and a distribution upgrade.
Home Studio Advice that feels like it was written by someone who actually mixes
Noah’s home studio take is refreshing: less gear worship, more decision-making.
Build a setup you can trust
Comfort matters because comfort creates output. If your setup is confusing or inconsistent, you spend energy fighting the process instead of making music.
Spend money where it improves your decisions
If you’re prioritizing upgrades, think in terms of: what helps me hear more accurately and record more cleanly?
a solid mic + interface chain (clean capture)
monitors you can learn and trust
reliable headphones for cross-checking
and (this is a big one) a subwoofer if your low end is always a guessing game
Why he keeps emphasizing a sub
Small monitors can’t tell you the truth about the bottom octave. A sub can—when set up correctly—and it reduces that endless “car test / AirPods test / laptop speaker test” spiral.
It’s not about louder bass. It’s about less uncertainty.
Acoustic treatment without turning your room into a money pit
Noah’s stance is practical: you don’t need a designer studio, but you do need fewer reflections and fewer lies coming back at your ears.
DIY panels, thoughtful placement, incremental improvement—those changes directly improve your ability to make EQ, compression, and balance choices that translate outside your room.
Dolby Atmos without the intimidation
This is the part a lot of people will find motivating: Noah makes Atmos feel reachable.
He explains that immersive audio isn’t only for high-end facilities. Between modern workflows and headphone-based binaural monitoring, you can start learning the concepts without owning a room full of speakers.
That’s a big deal because it turns Atmos from “someday” into “a skill I can start building now.”
Spatial audio explained like a normal human
Noah breaks spatial audio down in a way that doesn’t feel like a science class:
Humans locate sound using timing and frequency cues between both ears. Spatial audio tools simulate that perception. It’s basically taking concepts we already understand—panning, space, depth—and pushing them into a more dimensional environment.
Once you hear it that way, it stops sounding mystical and starts sounding like another creative tool.
Atmos basics: beds vs objects (the quick mental model)
Beds = stable placements
Objects = moveable elements you can automate through space (including height)
Objects are where the “immersive” fun really starts—motion, placement, and arrangement becoming part of the experience.
The career reality check: audio is a craft and a business
Noah talks education without being dogmatic: college can help, certificates can help, internships can help.
But he circles back to the part many people skip: entrepreneurship, client relationships, sustainability. If you want this to be more than a passion project, you need the business muscles too.
Rapid-fire gems worth stealing
If he could keep one plugin: FabFilter Pro-Q (flexible, powerful, problem-solving friendly)
Most overrated advice: “just use your ears” (true, but incomplete—meters and visuals help you learn faster)
Most underrated technique: mid/side EQ (great for width and clarity without losing a strong center)
The real takeaway from Episode 2
This episode is a reminder that you don’t need perfect conditions—you need better fundamentals and consistent reps.
If you:
tighten up your recording chain,
improve your monitoring (even a little),
treat your room as best you can,
collaborate without ego,
and start learning where audio is headed (Atmos / spatial),
…you’re not just making better tracks. You’re positioning yourself for where the platforms and listeners are going.
📍 Find Noah
You can find Noah at hollandharmonics.com or at the following handles. 📲 IG: @HollandHarmonics / @TheNoahHolland
A natural next step
If this episode sparked anything—curiosity about Atmos, frustration about your low end, or just that feeling of “okay, I need to level up”—do yourself a favor: go listen to the full conversation and take notes. It’s one of those episodes where a single idea can clean up months of trial-and-error.
And if you know another producer or artist who’s been stuck in the “my mixes don’t translate” loop, send it to them—this is exactly the kind of perspective that helps people stop fighting their setup and start finishing records.
