Miami Mixer Upgrades for Immersive Audio

Grammy Award-winning recording and mixing engineer Javier Valverde has created a Dolby Atmos room with a 7.1.4 monitor setup from KRK.

By Mix Staff

Published: 07/14/2022

Miami, FL (July 14, 2022)―Grammy Award-winning recording and mixing engineer Javier Valverde has transformed his mixing studio in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District into a Dolby Atmos room with a 7.1.4 monitor setup from KRK.

Valverde placed three of the brand’s V-Series 8 Studio Monitors in the front left, center, and right of the studio, along with two additional V8 monitors in the rear. Two V-Series 6 Studio Monitors on the right and left sides, four V-Series 4 Studio Monitors in the front and back of the ceiling, and an S12 Subwoofer below his desk complete Valverde’s new Dolby Atmos room.

First introduced to KRK while assisting at The Hit Factory, Valverde — a native of Bolivia who has worked with Maná, Alejandro Sanz, Brandy and Timbaland, and was T-Pain’s main engineer for nine years — was already familiar with the brand’s performance in the studio. “An engineer came in for a project I was working on and had the original V8s, and I just thought, ‘Wow, these sound really good,’” he says.

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“The fullness and the bottom that they were getting out of the KRKs was very clean and powerful and so much better than the regular monitors we had in the studio at that time. I found them very impressive. After finding KRK in different studios throughout my career, it was a no-brainer what monitors I would choose when I finally opened my own.”

Valverde performed the upgrade with the help of friend and colleague Carlito Cobos. “I was originally mixing with KRK Rokit 5 Studio Monitors, and I was really digging the mixes I was getting out of them; they made everything sound great,” Valverde explains. “When Carlito approached me about making an Atmos room, I didn’t think it would be in the budget, but he showed me how we could use all KRKs. He helped me with the acoustic paneling and tuning of the room, and by the time we were up and running in January, the monitors sounded great. The room is awesome.”

Since opening the doors to his new Atmos room, Valverde has worked on a single, “Like Dis,” by Nappy Boy Entertainment artist Chayo Nash, who collaborated with the label’s front man, T-Pain, on the song. Valverde also worked on the upcoming single for Moroccan artist Ghita.