EMIKA’s fans helped her raise €25,000 to bring Dolby Atmos into her own studio. With Fountain Immersive now released, she’s coming to Sonic Days to share how she got there, how she makes music in the space she built, and what other independent artists can learn from the experience.
An artist building her own way
A classically trained composer, producer and vocalist, EMIKA spent years in Berlin’s electronic music scene before settling in Rottweil. There, she runs Emika Records and a Dolby Atmos studio with her husband, Peter Ettwein. Piano, voice and electronic sound are all part of her musical vocabulary.
The move into Atmos grew out of that independent way of working. A crowdfunding campaign with her listeners helped pay for the studio upgrade, giving her a place to develop the music on her own terms. At Sonic Days, she’ll talk about both sides of that process: making the creative decisions and finding the means to carry them out.
Inside Fountain Immersive
Fountain Immersive, released on 30 October, brings her voice, piano and electronic production together with orchestra and choir recorded in Prague. The album was composed and mixed in Dolby Atmos in her 7.1.4 studio in Rottweil.
Among the collaborators is composer Bernat Vivancos, whose string and choral arrangements feature on “Butterfly” and “As If We Had”. The recordings include the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra and Vox Pragae choir, conducted by Miriam Němcová. It’s a meeting of the intimate scale of a voice or piano and the much larger sound of an ensemble.
Letting space into the writing
EMIKA calls her method “Dolby Atmos First”: she creates the immersive mix first, then derives the stereo version from it. Working this way brings decisions about space into the making of the music. The position and distance of a sound can become part of the arrangement, alongside its notes, tone and rhythm.
For music that brings together vocals, electronics, strings and choir, that extra room offers plenty to work with. Her session is a chance to hear how she approaches those choices and to ask what it takes to use Atmos in your own practice.
That thinking also reaches beyond the studio. Her planetarium show If We Disappear has been running since 2019, and she’ll share experience from presenting immersive music in live settings. How a piece meets its audience matters as much as how it leaves the studio.
Listen to Fountain Immersive
Join EMIKA at Sonic Days
If you make music and are curious about working in Atmos, bring your questions. EMIKA’s workshop will cover the studio, the funding and the creative process, with time to discuss the decisions behind her work.
Dolby Atmos all the way: An Independent Artist’s Journey
With EMIKA
Thursday 19 November 2026, 11:00–12:00 CET
Dolby Creator Lab, room 3.21
Music Production track · Sonic College, Kolding
Add EMIKA’s session to your Sched programme.
Sonic Days takes place on 18–19 November 2026, with a warm-up programme on 17 November. See the full programme and plan your visit.